Weaning ourselves off our oil addiction
Governor Bill Richardson
I’d like to talk to you about the threats to
America’s energy security, and our generation’s challenge to build a
new economy based on clean energy.
It’s easy to say the US is addicted to oil. Understanding the
stranglehold of that addiction—and constructively working to end our
"habit"—is hard.
Oil dependence is America’s Achilles’ heel, and it’s
allowed our foreign policy to go weak in the knees. Our oil
addiction limits our power to deter Iran’s Nuclear Program, to
challenge Russia when it behaves badly, to respond effectively to
anti-American rhetoric from Venezuela’s president, to push for
reform in Nigeria, or to build a coalition to stop the genocide in
the Sudan.
And while America’s last two wars in the Middle East weren’t only
about oil, our dependence on oil is too often the unspoken subtext
that compels us to act and causes others to view our foreign policy
with suspicion.
Almost 70 percent of the world’s oil reserves are
concentrated in the Middle East or in OPEC nations. The cartel’s
ability to control oil prices leaves consumers, investors and policy
makers perpetually off-balance: Oil price volatility with highs and
lows so divergent that they either stunt the world economy or kill
investment in and development of alternative fuels.
As a former Secretary of Energy and as the governor of an oil and
gas producing state, I’ve come to know some of the needs of the
energy industry.
Energy companies and investors base decisions, not on political
terms of two, four or eight years, but in generational terms of 30
years or more.
I don’t believe the energy industry fears change.
But to make the billion and trillion dollar energy
infrastructure and resource development investments, you don’t need
a conflicted vision of next year—you need leadership and consistent
vision of the next fifty years.
I believe it’s time for America to get off of its knees and stand up
for a new energy future. We should lead the world in reducing
greenhouse gases and in preparing for the post-oil economy of the
future.
Gradually, but deliberately, we can wean ourselves of our oil
addiction.
This is not a task government can do alone. Government’s role,
indeed its obligation, is to provide a clear vision, strategic
investment in technology development, incentives to move forward,
and, most importantly, legal and regulatory certainty.
Government investment in new technologies can serve as a sparkplug
for energy "invention" but it is the role of the investment
community to transform those inventions to marketplace
"innovations"—and the role of the business community to move
innovations from the business plan stage to true technology
diffusion.
Only when government and industry work together as partners can we
successfully link together all these pieces of the energy innovation
chain—pushing the nation beyond the tired divisions of "good jobs OR
the environment" and moving to "even better jobs AND a clean
environment."
I’d like to lay out a part of my vision for regaining America’s
energy security—a combined program of business innovation and
government investment comparable in scale to the Manhattan Project
to split the atom, or the Apollo Project to put a man on the
moon. Our goal should be bold: to reduce oil imports by 40 percent
AND replace one quarter of liquid fuels with bio-fuels by 2025, and
reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 75 percent by 2050.
We must expand the use of alternative and renewable energy sources.
We should significantly ramp up federal investments in research and
development and dramatically improve its effectiveness, starting
with some kind of funding certainty over time to make the government
more attractive and reliable to its industry research partners.
I would also specifically carve out a new program of federal
investment in "early-stage technology
development" to help bridge the gap between "invention and
innovation." Too often the federal government stops short
because it is "commercialization-averse," and venture capitalists
don’t pick up the ball because they are "risk-averse."
Effectively bridging this "valley of death" is essential to our
energy future.
And in terms of global warming, we must ask
everyone—citizens, government and businesses—to do their part to
dramatically reduce their emissions. This doesn’t just make sense
for our air, it’s good business.
BP estimates it has saved $600 million to $1 billion over the last
several years by addressing climate change and methane loss. So,
indeed we can afford to change.
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