We are facing an epic dilemma: Our use of fossil fuels isn’t being curbed by supply or demand. Domestic natural gas supplies are growing, and prices are dropping. Yet if we burn all the fossil fuels that are accessible with modern techniques such as fracking and directional drilling, we are doomed.

Burning coal, oil and natural gas releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which contributes to global warming. This is what causes extreme weather like blazing heat waves, prolonged droughts, storm surges and intense flooding.

Our accessible fossil fuel supplies now amount to roughly five times the quantity that’s been burned worldwide since the start of the industrial revolution, according to a recent study. Think of what this could do to our climate. So it’s clear that in the long run, the only hope is to find new technologies that deliver energy at a lower cost.

But tell that to House Republicans. As part of their rebuke of President Obama, they’ve proposed deep cuts in clean energy research. To slash this money is beyond irrational — it’s deliberately destructive. This is the work of the fossil fuel industry, which has Republicans by the throat, gives them much more money and does not want to see new technologies threaten its business model.

The research money for clean energy was not enough to begin with, and nowhere near the tens of billions we give as subsidies to fossil fuel industries. And Republicans are now proposing to cut the clean energy budget by as much as half, from $1.9 billion last year to $983 million this year.

All six members of New Jersey’s Republican delegation voted for this appropriations bill. Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-11th Dist.), who chairs the appropriations subcommittee on energy and water, said last week that he supports clean energy, but “do we still want to be making these type of investments when gas prices are so low?”

Besides, he added of the vote, “We’ve got a lot of people from coal-producing states, gas- and oil-producing states.”

This is a matter of political will. Once carbon emissions are released, they stay in our atmosphere for centuries. Renewable energy is getting cheaper, and the use of wind and solar power has been growing. But so has the use of fossil fuels, backed by a powerful industry.

And if lawmakers lack the conviction to turn around this trend, clean energy — and our climate — is done for.

FOLLOW STAR-LEDGER OPINION: TWITTER | FACEBOOK