Solving America’s oil vulnerability

Politicians have been deploring our dependence on foreign oil for decades. Every one of us can probably recite the key statistic: Every single day we send $1 billion out of our economy to import oil from overseas.

We all know this because it’s a compelling and serious problem. Economically, it’s the equivalent of having every man, woman and child in America send $3 every day — $360 a month for my family of four — to countries such as Venezuela, Nigeria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia. That’s a lot of money that could otherwise be spent paying the bills, buying groceries and otherwise circulating and creating jobs in our economy.

And, of course, this dependence on foreign oil is a threat to America’s national security, because the foreign governments on the receiving end of our handout often don’t share our national interests. Our cash payments even find their way to terrorist organizations with a mission to harm us. Our oil dependence increases our vulnerability to economic decline by exporting investment that could be used to create new American jobs and by allowing nations like Germany and China to take the lead in clean energy technology. And we increase our vulnerability to environmental disasters like the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico that has put the livelihoods of thousands of Americans, critical natural resources and an entire regional economy at risk. 

We all know about these problems, but despite decades of declaring our intentions we haven’t made significant progress in ending our oil addiction. The question before us now is whether our current focus on our oil dependence, made sharper by the 24-hour-a-day live video stream of black sludge gushing into the ocean, will be enough that we take sustained action to seriously reduce the use of oil.

 In order to start making real progress, we need an oil independence roadmap that sets aggressive, but realistic, targets for oil reduction and accompanies those targets with a comprehensive plan for meeting them.  

 Based on assessments of available technologies made by a range of experts, it is clear that with a serious commitment we can reduce oil consumption by more than 8 million barrels per day over the next 20 years. This savings is enough to completely replace the oil we would otherwise import from overseas (non-North American) nations. Moreover, this savings would take a big chunk out of our total oil appetite, reducing consumption by nearly 40 percent. Even though this target is well within our reach, it will require a serious commitment on four fronts: improvement in vehicle efficiency; increased transportation options for families and businesses; development of next-generation biofuels; and investment in energy-efficient building renovations.

To dramatically increase vehicle efficiency, our most promising opportunity for significant progress is the rapid deployment of electric vehicles. I recently joined Sens. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) to introduce the Electric Vehicle Deployment Act, which will provide aggressive incentives for the purchase of vehicles and the installation of charging infrastructure in a number of deployment communities around the country. We can also incorporate electric vehicles into the federal fleet, especially for agencies, such as the Postal Service, that can take advantage of current electric vehicle technology.

In addition, we can provide improved transportation options for families and businesses by improving and expanding public transportation and providing more capacity for American companies to ship goods by rail or barge. We can create economic opportunity for American farmers and timber communities by accelerating the commercialization of next-generation biofuels. And we can cut our oil dependence and save money at the same time by investing in energy-efficiency programs for homes and businesses that rely on heating oil.

To ensure these goals are met, Congress should establish a National Council on Energy Security in the Executive Office of the President, similar to the National Economic Council. The council would be made up of national experts on energy, the economy and the environmental implications of energy, as well as the Secretaries for Energy, Transportation, Commerce, Defense, and Labor, and the Administrator of the EPA. This group would coordinate efforts across government agencies and make budget and policy recommendations to the president and Congress on how to meet our oil reduction goals over the next two decades.

By relying on current technologies and setting reasonable goals for increased efficiency, this roadmap is a common-sense approach to realistically reducing our oil dependence.

We have the ingenuity, the technology and the means to grow a clean energy economy and secure America’s energy future. The question is whether we have the drive to choose strength over vulnerability and set real oil reduction goals. It is time for America to meet its challenges head on, chart a course to a stronger economy and a stronger nation and commit — finally — to breaking the strangling grip of our oil addiction.

Sen. Merkley is a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.