Energy bill shows longevity of foreign oil dependency
Ready to guzzle for decades more?
Even the American Power Act can’t change this soon
If legislation is going to help America ween itself off foreign oil while significantly reducing CO2 emissions, then the American Power Act probably represents one of the most likely scenarios.
Unfortunately, even if the bill makes it to the President’s desk, America will still be very dependent upon foreign oil for decades to come.
If analysis of the bill proves correct, America could reduce spending on foreign oil by $51 billion per year by 2030. Of course, we’d still be spending almost $100 billion per year on foreign oil nonetheless. Even worse, history indicates that Congress will leave many loopholes in the final package, while watering down the bill, if it can even pass such legislation in an extremely cantankerous, bipartisan Congress ramping up for midyear elections amidst declining support for CO2-capping legislation.
Over the last few decades, many significant problems have spawned from US dependence upon foreign oil – with ever-increasing severity and danger. Based upon this history, is not the worst probably yet to come? Ultimately, if this issue cannot bring the people together, can any?
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Smurf,
That sector accounts for what, 20 percent of all US oil consumed? That’s a huge amount. And EV technology probably won’t make sense for this sector for a long time, if ever. Without doubt, natural gas has issues, but is it not better than petroleum? Likewise, according to recent analysis, Canadian tar sands are going to become a much bigger part of US oil consumption. Minimally, natural gas has to be better than tar sands derived gasoline, right?
I’m going to overly-generalize here, but why can’t the left concede a ramp up of natural gas drilling in exchange from the right much more support for much greater long term fuel economy requirements – ones essentially requiring, minimally, hybridization across the personal transport fleet – and vice versa?
I get the feeling one could sell that kind of agreement to the general public – and a majority of Americans – especially if the message came from a group of leading Democrats and leading Republicans. Is change really this hard?
Dahc,
If we can make the transition to natural gas in the commercial sector, we can dramatically reduce foreign oil consumption from transporting food in the not-so-distant future.
This does not require a technological breakthrough, but it does have a significant up-front cost.
Obviously, that is more than most people, Smurf, and I believe that such actions should be commended, as our own actions should be our first priority. Still, even that is more difficult than it seems.
For instance, if you eat meat, then you’re dependent upon foreign oil. If you eat fast food, you’re dependent upon foreign oil. The tentacles of foreign oil reach very far beyond just personal transportation.
Yet, it seems painfully clear to me that America’s foreign oil dependence is entirely unsustainable, but based on today’s ‘progressive’ trajectory, we will still be heavily dependent upon foreign oil for several more decades. Based on the last 30 years of dependence, it seems much more serious pain will be encountered before we take real action that can have a real national impact.
Personally, I’m just looking for a way to ween “myself” off of oil.
The rest of America will do so in their own sweet time.
I am happy to see both the Gov’t and the auto manufacturuers heading in the right direction. Just a few years ago both were headed in the opposite direction.
“A journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step.”