Robert Redford: Obama Should Use Gulf Spill to Push 'Decent Energy Policy'

Robert Redford, one of the most popular and succesful actors of our age, has joined with other entertainers, including Sir Paul McCartney and Rosie O'Donnell in encouraging the Obama administration to actively politicize the Gulf crisis and use it to push through on energy policy.

In an interview with ExtraTV, Redford said that Obama should "Grab this moment in history and get a decent energy policy." He also said "Here's a moment in our history where he [Obama] should grab leadership and run with it."

He said that "We blew it in the late seventies," referring to laws like the National Energy Act, National Energy Conservation Policy Act and the Energy Policy and Conservation Act made in the wake of the OPEC embargo and the Three Mile Island nuclear disaster.

Redford has long combined his interest in liberal and environmentalist politics with his career as an actor and film maker, producing The Motorcycle Diaries, based on the memoir by Che Guevara and contributing money to Democratic candidates 58 percent of the time.

He added that the government needs to start planning for the end of oil and sustainable energy now. Apparently, the failure of the plans from the 70's does not phase his faith in the ability of the government to plan energy policy. He did say that BP is responsible for the spill and the government needs to make them pay.

Meanwhile, unlike McCartney, O'Donnell and Redford who urge political action, Kevin Costner has funded the development of machines which can aid tremendously in the clean up, using centrifuges to separate up to 99 percent of oil from water, despite prohibitive federal regulations preventing them from being developed. Costner has contributed money to Al Gore's past campaigns and campaigned for Obama in Colorado.

At least one celebrity is doing something useful regarding the spill.