Washington Editor
WASHINGTON, DC, Aug. 4 -- More domestic oil and gas exploration will be needed as the US makes a transition to a new energy economy, US Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) said in a presidential campaign address in Michigan.
"But we should start by telling the oil companies to drill on the 68 million acres they currently have access to but haven't touched. And if they don't, we should require them to give up their leases to someone who will," he continued in remarks prepared for delivery at Michigan State University in Lansing.
"We should invest in the technology that can help us recover more from existing oil fields and speed up the process of recovering oil and gas resources in Montana and North Dakota, Texas, and Arkansas, and in parts of the West and Central Gulf of Mexico," Obama maintained.
He also reiterated congressional Democrats' proposals to release 70 million bbl of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve as a way to reduce gasoline prices, and to accelerate leasing within the Strategic Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. "And we should also tap more of our substantial natural gas reserves and work with the Canadian government to finally build the Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline, delivering clean natural gas and creating good jobs in the process," Obama said.
Obama, who is the Democrats' presumed 2008 presidential nominee, used the address to introduce what he called a New Energy Plan for America after weeks of energy legislative deadlock in the US Senate and House. Bipartisan groups on both sides of the US Capitol proposed compromises as Congress left for its late summer recess on Aug. 1.
Defer priorities
Emphasizing that simply producing more oil and gas domestically will not come close to making the nation more energy-secure in the long term, Obama said a full transformation of the US economy will be necessary. "This transformation will be costly, and given the disaster we will inherit from the last administration, it will likely require us to defer some priorities," he said.
"Energy independence will require an all-hands-on-deck effort from America: effort from our scientists and entrepreneurs, from businesses, and from every American citizen. Factories will have to retool and redesign. Businesses will need to find ways to emit less carbon dioxide. All of us will need to buy more fuel-efficient cars…and find new ways to improve efficiency and save energy in our homes and businesses," Obama said.
He said that the bipartisan proposal that a group of US senators—calling themselves the "Gang of 10"—announced on Aug. 1 represented progress in developing new energy sources quickly. "It's a plan that would invest in renewable fuels and batteries for fuel-efficient cars, help automakers retool, and make a real investment in renewable sources of energy," he said.
The legislative proposal also has drawbacks, Obama continued. "It includes a limited amount of new offshore drilling, and while I still don't believe that's a particularly meaningful short-term or long-term solution, I am willing to consider it if it's necessary to actually pass a comprehensive plan. I am not interested in making the perfect the enemy of the good, particularly since there is so much good in this compromise that would actually reduce our dependence on foreign oil," he said.
Obama said that if he is elected president, he would immediately direct the full resources of the federal government and the full energy of the private sector to eliminate the US need for oil from the Middle East and Venezuela within 10 years. "To do this, we will invest $150 billion over the next 10 years and leverage billions more in private capital to build a new energy economy that harnesses American energy and creates 5 million new American jobs," he said.
Contact Nick Snow at nicks@pennwell.com.
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