Addiction is a dangerous thing, and tough to break.
Right now, the United States has an addiction to foreign oil -- an addiction that is not only crippling our economy, but is also funneling hundreds of billions of dollars to foreign governments and corporations. It's the biggest problem in America that no one seems serious about discussing and solving.
Part of breaking that habit is acknowledging just what kind of problem we have, and who benefits from it. That's why we've been working together to build support for country-of-origin labeling at the pump -- so that we know where that $4/gallon is coming from, and move beyond acknowledging our problem to solving it.
Today, I am introducing legislation in the House that would require a label that clearly states the nation of origin for the fuel you're pumping. The legislation, dubbed "COOL for Fuels," will require the Department of Energy to conduct a study and implement its recommendations to ensure American consumers have the ability to decide at the gas pump whether they want to purchase domestic fuel products or gas produced by potentially hostile oil-producing nations.
The numbers are clear: Foreign oil isn't a winning investment for our country. In April, we nearly shut down the government in a dispute over a final total of just over $40 billion in budget cuts; meanwhile we send over $300 billion overseas every year to cover our ravenous consumption of foreign oil.
In the long term, solving this problem is going to involve bringing that money back home and investing in new infrastructure and new technologies -- the backbone of a clean energy economy that will power a new era of innovation and growth.
But to do that, we need to end foreign oil's influence in the short term. And without incremental steps toward breaking our addiction to foreign oil, we'll not only be pumping billions of dollars to foreign nations but taking a huge step backwards away from building a strong and sustainable green economy. Instead of winning the future, we'll be exporting it.
Americans need to know what this addiction is costing us in real terms, and country-of-origin labeling is a commonsense way to get that message across. And that's why we hope you will sign on as a citizen co-sponsor of Congressman Braley's country-of-origin labeling legislation.
In capital not reinvested in new technology at home, in the damage to our environment and the health of our communities, and in American money that goes to states known to sponsor terrorism, our addiction to foreign oil is one of if not the greatest immediate and long-term threat to America's national security.
We've got a lot of work to do to fully break this addiction, but it's our sincere hope that this can be a real first step.
Follow Rep. Bruce Braley on Twitter: www.twitter.com/BruceBraley
http://www.grist.org/renewable-energy/2011-05-26-how-to-get-to-a-fully-renewable-power-system
Germans are now planning to go 100% renewable. Yes, they know it has problems. There plan: fix the problems, then profit from the technology.
Meanwhile, the U.S. subsidizes oil consumption to the tune of $300 billion annually (says wri.org).
"Not even to save the world?" asked Jack Herer
"No, not even to save the world. You can't use it. It's illegal." replied Steve Rawlings, the US Dept of Ag top guy on the Greenhouse effect in 1989.
www.jackherer/thebook chapter 2
When you need a car to get to work or go to the grocery you dont care where the oil came from you just worry aboutthe price you paid at the pump and what you will have to get rid of because the price of gasoline is so high.
ALL of our oil gets sold on the world market and very little if any of our own oil gets processed into gasoline and distributed nationally. If you want the price of gasoline to go down, stop wall street oil speculation. Oil companies AND Saudi Arabia have both stated that oil speculation activity is the main driver of high gasoline oil prices. Saudi Arabian oil officials have repeatedly stated that they want the price per barrel to be consistently around $70 but the oil speculator activity drives the price up and just enrichens the pocket of those wall street speculators.
If you want the price of gasoline to stay low and stabalize, outlaw oil speculation, force domestic oil to be priced lower than the world market price (or tax oil companies very high until they do), refine and distrubute domestic oil locally
or
nationalize domestic oil production and refining.
We should also highly incentize alternative energy production (wind. solar, geothermal) and appliances that use alternative energy (electric cars for example).
Create jobs by rebuilding our archaic electrical grid (transmission lines), bridges and roads.
NAL
Only people will be able to change the culture. We have to fight for the cars that use electric and not oil. BOTH sides have to pressure our congress people and say that this oil addiction is a CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER TO THE SECURITY OF THE UNITED STATES.
We had the initiative in the 70's, we knew where oil was headed. But the GOP, led by President Reagan, chose to ignore the facts and keep things going the way they always had.
Innovative fuels exist and deserve government funding, since they will be the salvation of the nation.
I think it should be handled like a challenge. Any innovative fuel or technology should be able to apply for a limited amount of start-up funding. Once the results prove viable, the industry and the government can re-negotiate where the fuel or technology can be applied, and how the financing will work. But we have to start somewhere, and very, very soon.
The oil subsidies are decades too old to be continued. Oil companies have been breaking profit records, and NOT paying taxes to the nation, a two-fer.
That's $0.025/mile. To put that in persecutive a scooter that gets 90 miles/gallon still cost about $0.04/mile!
But I get a certain satisfaction knowing I'm not supporting Hugo Chavez, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, orMuammar Muhammad al-Gaddafi!!!!!
Sometimes doing the right thing has it's own rewards!
If there are any civilized people left in 100 years, they will look back at us as the most wasteful, shortsighted, delusional society in history. Conservation, altering our way of life is not even considered, just miracles of "innovation" that will keep the "motoring fiesta" (James Howard Kunstler's phrase) continuing. In light of peak oil, and, more immediately, the disruption to the world economy that ending our foreign oil "addiction" would cause, (check out "Gusher of Lies" by Robert Bryce) the proposal to label gas with the country of origin is the most ridiculous idea I've heard yet. It's like expecting factory farming to end because Whole Foods is selling free range chicken for three times the price. How's that workin' out? People will buy what's cheapest. And then buy some more.
Then read E-Cat on the same website for power promised at a penny per kilowatt hour. Imagine what that can mean for electric cars.
Both are Black Swans, highly improbable innovations with huge implications. See more in the birth canal on the same site.
Then read TRILLION DOLLAR THREAT on that website to see why and how getting off of fossil fuels may become an urgent priority.
And that's the absolute pie-in-the-sky best case scenario.
The cost of coal should reflect the true costs of global warming, pollution, mountaintop removal, childhood asthema, etc.
The price of every gallon of gas should include a dollar or two to pay for our wars in Iraq and beyond.
Yep, this'll be a bitter pill to pay. It will hurt our economy even more. But we're living on borrowed time as it is. Oil has made modern society possible yes, but it is time to move on.