Sen Lugar Says Imported Oil Makes U.S. Vulnerable; Outlines Energy Program

[Barrett808]

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., Aug. 29 (AScribe Newswire) -- The comments below were made today (Tuesday, Aug. 29) at the Sen. Richard G. Lugar - Purdue University Summit on Energy Security. The summit drew more than 600 leaders to the Purdue campus in West Lafayette, Ind. to discuss national energy issues and policy. A goal of the summit is to discuss ways to reduce America's dependence on foreign oil and to develop new strategies for alternative fuels. Among those joining Sen. Lugar, R-Ind. for the daylong event include Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, Purdue President Martin C. Jischke and U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-Ind. The summit also includes a panel discussion, "Implementing Strategies to Reduce Foreign Oil Dependence." Panelists include Sue Cischke, Ford Motor Co. vice president; Carol Battershell, vice president for alternative energy for BP Inc.; and Amy Myers Jaffe, Wallace S. Wilson Fellow in Energy Studies at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy of Rice University. Brian Lamb, president and CEO of C-SPAN, will serve as panel moderator.

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In the keynote address this morning to the Richard G. Lugar-Purdue University Summit on Energy Security, at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind., U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Dick Lugar calls for dramatic and immediate action to address U.S. energy vulnerability.

"Neither American oil companies, nor American car companies have shown an inclination to dramatically transform their businesses in ways that will achieve the degree of change we need to address a national security emergency," Lugar says in the address. "Most importantly, the federal government is not treating energy vulnerability as a crisis, despite an increase in energy related proposals."

"To this end, the United States should adopt a national program that would make virtually every new car sold in America a flexible fuel vehicle. We should ensure that at least one quarter of filling stations in America have E85 pumps. We should expand ethanol production to 100 billion gallons a year by 2025, a figure that could be achieved by doubling output every five years. We should also create an approximate $45 per barrel price floor on oil through a variable ethanol tax credit to ensure that investments keep flowing to alternatives. And we should enact stricter vehicle mileage standards to point automobile innovation toward conservation. The plan I am proposing today would achieve the replacement of 6.5 million barrels of oil per day by volume - the rough equivalent of one third of the oil used in America and one half of our current oil imports," he says.

"Our failure to act will be all the more unconscionable given that success would bring not only relief from the geopolitical threats of energy-rich regimes, but also restorative economic benefits to our farmers, rural areas, automobile manufacturers, high technology industries, and many others," concludes Lugar. "We must be very clear that this is a political problem. We now have the financial resources, the industrial might, and the technological prowess to shift our economy away from oil dependence. What we are lacking is coordination and political will. We have made choices, as a society, which have given oil a near monopoly on American transportation. Now we must make a different choice in the interest of American national security and our economic future."

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Below is the full text of the speech:

(more)

http://www.ascribe.org/cgi-bin/behold.pl?ascribeid=20060829.080851&time=08

[blm]

1. 2003, Kerry: Alternative fuel research is KEY to national security.

Bush said invading Iraq was key to our national security.

Lugar sided with Bush in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006.

Looks like he fears history now.

[Skink]

2. Yeah and....

Oil companies have the infrastructure in place so they should be told they have to share their supply lines with the competition. Much like the phone companies and cable companies have to share their lines.

[lyonn]

3. Pres. Carter knew this in the 70's and started a program

that Reagan and Bush ignored and said let's live big. Tax cuts, trickle down economy, High Interest Rates, got us in a recession. Clinton got us out of debt but didn't address alternative fuel enough and the vehicles got bigger again. bush gets control and says, hey, you deserve a bigger and better everything, screw fuel efficiency, it's for sissy Democrats that are poor and have not been born to lead like us Repubs!

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

7. And had we followed through with Carter's CAFE standards...

...we'd no longer be importing oil.

:wow:

I believe passenger cars would be at 40 mpg today. Totally doable. Actually, the Civic was getting 40 mpg in Carter's day. Unbelievable. :grr: We have not been served well by our leaders.

[gratuitous]

4. Maybe if we quit exporting oil?

Just a thought, but maybe we should keep all the oil that comes out of the south end of the Alaska pipeline in the United States instead of allowing the oil companies to sell it for more on the Asian market?

After all, Mr. Lugar, we're at war aren't we? Shouldn't Exxon, Mobil, Chevron and BP pitch in a little bit for the war effort? They all seem to be doing pretty well this year. Maybe a small cut in their all-time record profits could help everyone in America fight this war a little better, do you think?

Because otherwise, for all your talk, all I hear is "Blah, blah, blah."

[Skink]

5. That would be ironic seizing oil revenues from the very profiteers....

those that gave us this war would then have to pay for it.

[ConcernedCanuk]

6. Some info of interest on USA oil production/refining/importing

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U.S. PETROLEUM OIL
CONSUMPTION - PRODUCTION - IMPORTS

CONSUMPTION - (upper black line) - - UP, UP AND AWAY - - to a record HIGH.

U.S. PRODUCTION - (red line) - DOWN, DOWN - - back to the level of a half-century ago (1950) when there were 144 million fewer people.

IMPORTS FROM ABROAD - (blue line) - UP, UP AND AWAY - - to a record high of 4.5 billion barrels (averaging 12.4 million barrels per day)

This chart shows U.S. oil consumption (black line) a new record of 7.6 billion barrels per annum (equivalent to an average of 21 million barrels per day).

This chart also shows production (red line) below 2 billion barrels per year, or about 5.2 million barrels per day - - lower than 50 years ago and 44% below 1971 - - covering only 25% of our consumption needs.





Lots more info and graphs HERE