One of the enduring security threats to the US is its dependence on imported oil. President Obama was at Georgetown University this morning to address the problem. He noted that in 2008, the US imported 11 million barrels of oil per day. His ambition is to cut that by 1/3 by 2025. I hesitate to use the word ambition because it seems to me that the goal should be ending the importation of oil by then. Politics is likely the reason he does not press for more.
How? He proposed expanding safe and responsible domestic oil and gas development and production. That means safety reforms so that the Deepwater Horizon oil leak is not repeated, identifying underdeveloped domestic resources (57 percent of all leased onshore acres and 70 percent of offshore leased acres are inactive, and developing incentives for expedited development and production.
He also supports: developing alternatives to oil, Including biofuels and natural gas as well as cutting costs at the with more efficient cars and trucks, setting historic new fuel economy standards.
The president also said that America can innovate its way to a more energy secure future. He proposed creating markets for clean energy, cutting energy bills through more efficient homes and buildings, and staying on the cutting edge through clean energy research and development.
I hate to say it, but I think I’ve heard this song before, sung by Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter. I borrow from the Center for Public Integrity here:
In 1973, when President Richard Nixon said, “Our independence will depend on maintaining and achieving self-sufficiency in energy,” the United States imported 34.8 percent of its oil from foreign countries. In 1979, when President Jimmy Carter said the country will “never again use more foreign oil than we did in 1977,” imports were up to 45 percent of the nation’s oil supply.”
How’d we do? “By 2006, when President Bush declared in his State of the Union that the nation was addicted to oil, foreign countries were delivering 59.9 percent of the fix.” Plus ca change . . .