Last modified: Saturday, November 15, 2008 1:57 AM EST HAND: Alternative fuels run out of energy If you watched any of the presidential campaign coverage on television, you must have seen the advertisements by oilman T. Boone Pickens promoting his plan to build a massive wind farm in Texas. His idea is to replace foreign oil by generating electrical power through wind turbines and fuel new automobiles with natural gas. He has proposed pouring billions of dollars of his own money into the idea. But this week, Pickens announced he is suspending his plan because the dropping price of oil makes wind power too expensive compared with oil. The international credit crunch is also making it more difficult to obtain financing, he said. The fact the price of oil has plummeted 50 percent since July is great news for consumers, but another setback for the goal of energy independence and projects like the one envisioned by Pickens. Alternative fuel sources need government subsidies and high oil prices to be competitive. U.S. Rep. James McGovern said this week he is as happy as anyone the price of gasoline and heating oil has come down, but he said the federal government cannot use that as an excuse to lessen its commitment to alternatives to oil. He said he is looking at ideas for tapping into the power of ocean tides to generate power. McGovern, D-Worcester, said alternatives could become a reality if the government diverted billions of dollars in tax breaks from highly profitable oil companies to new sources of energy. "We can't lull ourselves into believing we don't have to do anything," he said. But, we have heard all this before. Way back in the administration of President Jimmy Carter, there were plans to break America's addiction to foreign oil after OPEC cut off supplies. As soon as the emergency passed with the lifting of the oil embargo, so did the desire to develop alternatives. The same thing could be happening again. During the just past election, both presidential candidates got sky-high ratings from focus groups when they talked about alternative energy. Now, however, gasoline is dipping below $2 a gallon and the shipwrecked economy is draining the government of the resources needed to encourage research and development of new ways to power cars and heat homes. The public will to attack the problem could be going the way of T. Boone Pickens' wind farm. No GOP coup There were rumors of a Statehouse coup within the tiny Republican caucus at the Massachusetts House this week, but local representatives said the reports were overblown. Both Reps. Richard Ross, R-Wrentham, and Betty Poirier, R-North Attleboro, said there was a lot of frustration vented at a caucus meeting, but they are sticking with House Minority Leader Brad Jones. Jones could possibly face a challenge and the local lawmakers said the bad feelings are understandable with the party's weak showing in the Nov. 4 election. Still, they said, there are too few Republicans for the party to start turning on itself.