Sen. Lugar fights for act to decrease U.S. oil dependence

Five years after former president George Bush’s State of the Union address in which he claimed the United States “is addicted to oil,” Sen. Dick Lugar, R-Ind., suggested the Obama administration adopt a policy of taking steps to ensure oil independence.

“Senator Lugar, for many years, warned about America’s over-reliance on foreign oil,” said Mark Helmke, Sen. Lugar’s senior adviser. “It reduces our ability to act in the world and is costing us billions of dollars in defense spending.”

Sen. Lugar, the most senior Republican in the Senate and the ranking Republican on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, addressed the issue in a speech at the First Annual Clean Energy Summit in Washington, D.C.

“The president should say unequivocally that the United States is going to achieve a particular goal or goals related to overcoming our oil dependence,” Sen. Lugar said at the Summit.

The senator was the leadoff speaker for the two-day event that gathered policy-makers, investors and utility owners from different parts of the country.

In his address, Sen. Lugar warned against possible oil embargoes, continuous threats to America’s oil supplies in foreign lands and oil profits that fund anti-American regimes.

He discussed the Practical Energy and Climate Plan Act of 2010, S. 3464, which he began drafting one year ago. Helmke said the act would “take steps to decrease our dependency on oil.”

“The bill would reduce the need for imported oil by 40 percent by 2030, cut the average American household’s energy bill by 15 percent and cut overall U.S. power demand by 11 percent,” Sen. Lugar said at the Summit.

Helmke said the bill would also spur economic development in Indiana around bio-fuels and electric vehicles.

Although the senator’s plan can be interpreted as similar to Obama’s agenda to promote clean energy, Helmke said the president needs to get to the root of the problem.

“All the political pressure that Obama put last year into climate change diverted attention from the real threats we faced: reliance on petroleum,” Helmke said.

The difference between the stances of the senator and the president is their main priorities. Obama is focused on reducing carbon emissions through cap and trade policies.

Helmke said the lower emissions that could stem from petroleum independence, through investments in clean energy, is an added benefit but should not be the motivating factor.

“In so far that reducing petroleum use reduces carbon emissions, great. But let’s focus on what the public understands right now,” Helmke said.

Sen. Lugar is currently pushing for “green” initiatives that will improve the likelihood of independence, but his adviser said he is not completely opposed to domestic drilling.

“He’s in favor of efficiency,” Helmke said. “Create new jobs in Indiana and save the public money.”