It's become a bad joke.
Ever since 1973, when the Arab Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (AOPEC) first imposed a crippling oil boycott, one president after another has promised to wean us off our dependence on unstable sources of oil.
With great solemnity, our leaders have spoken of the dangers of our vulnerability, while pledging to usher in a new energy era.
Yet, nearly four decades after the first oil shock, startlingly, our dependence on imported oil has jumped from one-third of total consumption to nearly two-thirds.
So much for pledges and promises.
Meanwhile, take a country like Brazil, nearly the size of our own.
In 1973, it imported approximately 80 percent of its oil needs. Today, by contrast, the country is self-sufficient.
The difference between the United States and Brazil? Above all, national will.
Brazil's leaders didn't just talk up a good game. They acted with determination.
They shifted vehicles to flex fuel, drawing on domestically-grown sugar cane to produce ethanol. They focused on renewable energy sources and made great strides. They explored for offshore oil and found vast deposits. The results speak for themselves.
How tragic that we haven't quite followed suit!
Take sugar-based ethanol as one telling example of the mess we're in. It's been tough to import for our vehicles. Why? Thanks to corn-growing states fearful of the competition, we've put in place high tariffs that make it prohibitively expensive to import from Brazil. That leaves us with corn-based ethanol, whose energy yield is approximately one-seventh -- yes, one-seventh -- of its sugar-based counterpart.
We've had one chance after another to get serious, but to no avail.
Think back to President Jimmy Carter's efforts to set an example of energy efficiency in the White House.
Rather than emulate him, many Americans derided the chief executive. How dare we Americans be asked to drive less, drive slower, drive smaller, stay cooler in winter, or warmer in summer! Aren't these all violations of our birthright?
Perhaps our best chance to get off the dime came right after 9/11.
President Bush had the American people in the palm of his hand. He could have asked for just about anything he billed as serving America's vital interests, and he would have gotten it.
At AJC, we urged the White House to seize the moment. We even had the chutzpah to draft a speech we hoped the president might deliver on the need to get serious -- and fast -- on energy security, and shared it with top White House advisers. But, in the end, the president didn't seize the moment and, within a short time, we were back to the all-too-familiar pattern of partisan and interest-group squabbling when it comes to energy.
The result is that today we're on tenterhooks as Middle East crises unfold one after another, fearful of where the oil will come from, how much more prices will rise, and whether more costly oil will damage the chances for a sustained economic recovery.
A few days ago, President Obama set forth, in a major address, an ambitious goal of strengthening our energy security.
Will it turn out any differently this time than before?
It's tempting to be cynical and list all the reasons why it just won't happen, not today, not tomorrow.
But I refuse to believe that the American people would rather continue to live with the untenable status quo.
Why should Brazil be able to achieve energy security and not us?
Why should we have to shudder every time another oil-exporting nation experiences instability, civil war, or terrorist attacks against energy infrastructure?
Why should we continue to watch as literally hundreds of billions of petrodollars make their way into the coffers of nations like Chavez's Venezuela and Gaddafi's Libya, hardly our friends?
Aren't we aware that China, seeing the future with 20/20 foresight, has announced its determination to be the leading industrial innovator of the coming post-oil economy? What that would mean, if we don't succeed in looking beyond the present, is still more imports from China rather than new opportunities for U.S. exports -- and the jobs here they create.
Is it a secret that there are European cars on the roads -- made for the European market -- that today get 50 percent better mileage than the Toyota Prius? Why not in the U.S.? And why not flex-fuel vehicles here, using what should be competitively-priced, sugar-based ethanol, as there are throughout Brazil?
And while states from Wisconsin to Florida are turning down the chance to build high-speed trains with the help of federal funds, the rest of the world is going in the opposite direction. The state-of-the-art, energy-efficient trains across much of Europe and parts of Asia -- exceptionally comfortable, convenient, and smooth -- make Amtrak's Acela look like the little engine that couldn't.
So I say bravo to President Obama's vision, as well as to those of his predecessors in the White House.
But this time to make it work, really work, also requires the American people, us, to make energy security our priority and say so resoundingly.
It won't be easy, and, given the magnitude of the challenge, it can't happen overnight. All around, it will take persistence and perseverance, and require investment and innovation on many fronts, as there's no single magic bullet. It will require unusual political courage and constancy. And each of us may need to consider modest adjustments in the choices we make.
But always, at every step, through thick and thin, we should keep our eye on the tantalizing prize -- an America far stronger, more secure, and more prosperous than today.
Others have done it. So, surely, can a mobilized America.
For more information, visit ajc.org.
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Otherwise, what's the reason for our not drilling off our own shores, without a "partner."
We Americans have the most lame leaders when it comes to building an economy based on oil independence.
We The People created a free democratic nation to be enslaved by oil???
In this world economy, we ABSOLUTELY NEED to be able to be independent of the unfriendly and insecure oil producing nations.
We all recognize the need to do something, but won't agree to do what the other side wants. Many who are against alternative energy take that position largely because they don't like what they perceive to be 'hippie technology'. What nonsense. We have to be able to choose the best solution. We can't do that nationally, so it may be that states will make these decisions locally or regionally. You'll see alternative energy in the West before the East. You'll see more coal in the coal belt, and more corn subsidies in the corn belt. What else can we do?
We are stuck, stuck by political extremism of the far right, paralyzed by a jobless recovery, hobbled by Tea Baggers focus on dismantling government. We won't get out of this before we are brought to our knees by the slightest breeze of oil instability.
Who makes us stuck? REPUBLICANS!
Ever since 1973, when OPEC first imposed a crippling oil boycott, one president after another has promised to wean us off our dependence on unstable sources of oil.
Take sugar-based ethanol as one telling example of the mess we're in. It's been tough to import for our vehicles. Why? Thanks to corn-growing states fearful of the competition, we've put in place high tariffs that make it prohibitively expensive to import from Brazil. That leaves us with corn-based ethanol, whose energy yield is approximately one-seventh -- yes, one-seventh -- of its sugar-based counterpart.” (David Harris)
Tariffs introduce distortion in a “market economy”. With this new “let the free market work” congress, perhaps it is the time to get rid of the tariffs protecting corn growers at the expense of the national interest? Is this just wishful thinking?
1, Close the tax loop-holes for GE and tell them to use that money to build solar panels for residential use. We can even let them sell them at retail so they can't complain about profits.
2, Close the tax loop-holes for banks and tell them to use that money for companies to hire workers to install all those panels in every state of our country. Again they make profit on loaning money and receiving interest on loans.
3, Close the tax loop-holes for the oil industry and have them use that money to help convert as many autos to use natural gas as a stop gap till a new energy can be developed.
Just doing these three simple steps you can start the process towards energy independence. Those that say you'll displace workers in coal can be shut up by having these workers help build the panels and other components for solar systems. (and you probably won't get an argument from those that won't have to go in the hole for a living) Since the power doesn't have to pass through the grid, you don't need to update the grid and power companies can develop their systems for commercial and industrial use only-no need for new coal or nuclear plants.
Just put the American flag behind it and tell everyone it's a national pride thing. The PEOPLE will do it.
Even if solar strategies, ocean energy capture, wind turbines, conservation, efficiency, etc. can't, in and of themselves, solve the energy problem as soon as we would like, they start to put the brakes on a growing crisis. That remains so even if you dismiss anthropogenic climate change as a conspiracy hatched by evil, prosperity-hating scientists. Where would we be today if we had made even very modest but steady progress toward energy independence and sustainability since 1973?
I really appreciate your excellent article and the leadership you and the American Jewish Committee have been giving to shift energy policy.
In 1979 I was working in the White House during the last major energy crisis when we had long gas lines. I was assigned to the White House Emergency Energy Task Force that would meet every day to figure out how to get fuel to farmers, truckers and everyone else.
I was given the job of writing about how Americans were conserving energy. I did research all over the country and was inspired by what I saw. Americans were so patriotic. They conserved so much energy in their homes, schools, workplaces and communities. What most people don't realize is that if we kept conserving energy the way we were back then (with compact fluorescent light bulbs or Energy Star appliances), today we'd be importing no foreign oil from the Persian Gulf. Can you imagine what the world would be like today, from energy security to climate change?
We have a choice. We can create a healthy, sustainable future. One effective tool we use is the Natural Step Framework, which is used by a wide range of businesses, government agencies, cities, academic, religious and health care institutions and nonprofits to safe money, improve performance and become socially and environmentally responsible. If every person and institution were trained in this we could turn things around.
Terry Gips, President
Alliance for Sustainability
Terry@afors.org
www.afors.org
This article is right-on: energy self-sufficiency is a huge issue for the USA and the world. For decades, too many of us have been spoiled, arrogant, ignorant, uninterested, lazy and /or in denial on this issue. Let's wake-up, be more conscious of the importance of improving our standard of living as a healthy, productive society, using our resources and intelligence for efficient, happy, profitable endeavors, and away from supporting dictators, terrorists, and others who do not respect us nor the values we aspire to live by!
Let's all start today, especially me!
Thank you,
Dan
Just hope nobody actually explains it to the Saudi's.
1. Your sitting on the Worlds largest reserves.
2. 99% of your Country is a Solar Paradise.
3. Start a solar industry, then raise the price of oil.
- AJB
One word answer..............................................NO
Why?
One word answer.......................................................Profits.
As long as congress can be bought by campaign funding, those making profits from the status quo will guarantee it's continuance.
But don't worry, the Chinese will do it, without us.
We can stick our heads in the sand, yet again, and the rest of the world will simply move on.
Did you campaign for Democrats so there could be a responsible Congress?
Did you do everything you could do to prevent Tea-nonsense from taking over?
Unless you did all the above, shut up. You are part of the problem.