Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard Lugar Monday sounded
a stern warning about US reliance on foreign oil, saying it has diminished the
country's influence in the world.
No one who is honestly assessing the decline of American leverage around
the world due to our energy dependence can fail to see that energy is the
albatross of US national security, Lugar said in remarks prepared for a
presentation at the Brookings Institution think tank in Washington.
In the absence of revolutionary changes in energy policy, we are risking
multiple disasters for our country that will constrain living standards,
undermine our foreign policy goals, and leave us highly vulnerable to the
machinations of rogue states, the Indiana Republican said.
Lugar said he planned to introduce two bills to strengthen US energy security.
One bill, which he said he would cosponsor with Senator Barack Obama,
Democrat-Illinois, would promote biofuels by creating a standard much like one
for ethanol included in the the Energy Policy Act of 2005. That standard
mandates the use of 7.5 billion gal of renewable fuels, mostly ethanol, in the
US by 2012.
The proposed bill would also provide new incentives for vehicles capable
of running on both gasoline and ethanol fuel in any mixture, he said.
Lugar indicated the proposal may include a provision requiring major oil
companies to install E85 pumps at their stations in appropriate markets, if
they do not provide expanded access to the fuel.
Lugar's second proposed bill, which he said he would call the Energy
Diplomacy and Security Act," would call for the US to work with other
countries, such as China and India, to develop strategic petroleum stockpiles.
This will help draw them into the international system, providing supply
reassurance, and thereby reducing potential for conflict, he said.
--Daniel Whitten, daniel_whitten@platts.com
For more information, take a trial to Platts Oilgram News at
http://oilgramnews.platts.com
Copyright © 2005 - Platts
Please visit: www.platts.com
Their coverage of energy matters is extensive!!.