Clean energy, domestically produced, is the way of the future.

The future, however, is not now.

Not yet, anyway.

Oil and gas currently supply nearly two-thirds of the energy consumed in the United States. You can't simply throw a switch and change the energy basis of the U.S. economy, from cars and planes to homes and factories.

The conversion to energy sources that are environmentally friendly and made in America will require years, perhaps decades. So will the technological advances necessary to make them affordable.

In the interim, maintaining a healthy domestic oil and gas industry is the best way to reduce U.S. exposure to the volatile energy market. Even the most ambitious plans to alter energy production in the United States such as the one promoted by T. Boone Pickens envision a transition period during which oil and gas remain important sources.

Unfortunately, elements of President Obama's 2010 budget proposal will substantially reduce domestic oil and gas production. The elimination of tax credits and the imposition of a new excise tax on production in the Gulf of Mexico would increase our nation's reliance on foreign sources and hurt the U.S. and especially the Texas economy.

This isn't a partisan issue. That's why a group of a dozen House Democrats, including Charlie Gonzalez, D-San Antonio, Ciro Rodriguez, D-San Antonio, and Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, sent a letter to Budget Committee Chairman John Spratt, D-S.C., warning him about the dangers of the proposed changes.

The Obama administration's clean energy goals put the nation on the right track. Until those goals are attainable, oil and gas will remain crucial to the U.S. economy.

As long as that's the case, domestic sources are far preferable and far more reliable than foreign sources.