Thanks, as always, to Fenton Communications for passing this news along. I’m particularly happy to see a number of conservative luminaries, like C. Boyden Gray, Robert McFarlane and R. James Woolsey, on the list of signatories, as it demonstrates once again that issues of energy security and sustainability have the ability to cut across party and ideological lines.
Energy Future Coalition
For Immediate Release
March 28, 2005
For More Information Contact
- Michael Khoo, Fenton Communications, 202-822-5200
- Reid Detchon, Energy Future Coalition, 202-463-8744
As Oil Prices Soar and the Arctic Refuge Debate Brews, Bipartisan NationalSecurity Leaders Call for ‘Major New Initiative’
Reduced Foreign Oil Dependence Seen As”A Top National Security Priority” for the U.S.
Washington, D.C. – Thirty-one national security leaders have called on the President to respond to U.S. oil dependence “with a focused, determined effort that accepts nothing less than success.”
In a letter sent to the President and released today, the group urges “amajor new initiative” to significantly reduce U.S. consumption of foreignoil through “improved efficiency and the rapid substitution of advanced biomass, alcohol and other available alternative fuels.”
The signers believe that hybrid vehicles and alternative fuels like ethanol can substantially reduce U.S. oil consumption but will require “funding ata level proportionate with other priorities for the defense of the nation.”Specifically, they recommend providing up to $1 billion for alternativefuel production in the next five years, and tax incentives for moreefficient vehicles, including hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and flexible fuel vehicles.
The letter was signed by senior foreign policy and former military leaders,including:
·Frank J. Gaffney, Jr., President & CEO, The Center for Security Policy
·C. Boyden Gray, Partner, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr, and former White House Counsel to President George H.W. Bush
·Robert C. McFarlane, Chairman & CEO, Energy & Communications Solutions, and former National Security Advisor to President Ronald Reagan
·Vice Adm. Dennis McGinn, Former Deputy Chief of Naval Operations, USN(Ret.)
·Timothy E. Wirth, President, United Nations Foundation, and former U.S.Senator
·R. James Woolsey, Former Director of Central Intelligence
The letter states, “We do not know today what form a crisis over oil will take, but we know that a crisis is coming – one that could harm the UnitedStates.” The document explains that with the U.S. having only two percentof the world’s oil reserves but 25 percent of the world’s consumption,domestic production alone will not meet America’s needs.
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For a copy of the letter, please go to http://www.energyfuturecoalition.org