Bush Administration doing little to treat "addiction to oil"
Bush Administration doing little to treat "addiction to oil"
mongabay.com
August 9, 2006
The Bush Administration is doing little to treat America’s “addiction to oil” according to an article in today’s Wall Street Journal.
In his January 31 State of the Union address, President Bush said it was time to do something about America’s dependence on foreign oil. Rising oil prices and unrest in the Middle East are of growing concern in the United States which leads the world in oil consumption — the vast majority of which comes from overseas, especially the Middle East.
President Bush personally inserted the “addicted to oil” phrase in his speech, knowing it would carry shock value coming from a one-time oilman. “I kind of startled my country when, at my State of the Union, I said we’re hooked on oil and we need to get off oil,” he said during a June 2006 trip to Europe. “That seemed counterintuitive, for some people, to hear a Texan say.”
Nevertheless, The Wall Street Journal says that President Bush is not putting his words into action.
Crude oil imports by country of origin, thousand barrels per day – 2005. Source: DOE/EIA. Click to enlarge.
Graph showing domestic crude production versus crude oil imports, thousand barrels per day – 1920-2005. Source: DOE/EIA. Click to enlarge. |
“He isn’t proposing new mandates for ethanol use or new incentives for gasoline stations to stock the fuel,” write John D. McKinnon and Laura Meckler, authors of the article. “He isn’t making tougher auto fuel-economy standards a high priority and doesn’t support a higher gasoline tax.”
Bush critics say that without major new federal initiatives, the president will not be able to achieve his stated goals. Supporters counter that by giving ethanol high-profile visibility and funding new research into renewable energy sources, President Bush is well on the way to transforming the American energy landscape.
McKinnon and Meckler argue that there mixed signals the president’s research funding, noting “Mr. Bush’s budget for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1 seeks less than $500 million in federal spending on research for the major alternative-fuel technologies, including cellulosic ethanol. That’s less than Americans spend each day on gasoline, by some measures. The administration says its proposed spending for clean-energy research overall represents a 22% increase.”
McKinnon and Meckler say that a November trip to Brazil sparked the president’s enthusiasm for ethanol but has yet to lead to any mandates for installing ethanol-capable pumps at gas stations. Bush did call on American automakers to talk about expanding ethanol use in the U.S.
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This article used quotes and information from “Bush Eschews Harsh Medicine In Treating U.S. Oil ‘Addiction'” by John D. McKinnon and Laura Meckler. The article appeared in the August 9, 2006 issue of The Wall Street Journal.