Yesterday, just before the House of Representatives headed home for the holidays, Representatives Jay Inslee (D-WA) and Michael Castle (R-DE) introduced the Oil Independence for a Stronger America Act (HR 6564), a much needed response to our dangerous addiction to oil.
Though we recognize that Representative Castle will not return to Congress next year (the bill will have to be reintroduced), we welcome this bill as a strong start to moving beyond oil. The bill offers direction for how to reduce our oil use by eight million barrels per day in 2030 – more than four times the amount of oil we currently import from the Persian Gulf.
- Establishes a National Oil Savings Goal – The bill establishes a goal of reducing our oil use by 8 million barrels per day in 2030 and tasks the President with coordinating policies and activities to achieve the goal. A National Energy Security Council, consisting of cabinet-level officials, would be set up to advise the President on achieving oil independence.
- Promotes Electric Vehicles – Our passenger cars and trucks are currently the largest source of oil consumption in the country. Electric cars can help us significantly reduce oil consumption and, if powered by renewable energy, our global warming pollution. The Inslee-Castle bill would create a national plan to assist in the rapid deployment electric vehicles throughout the country. Such a national program would help train workers, provide consumer incentives, invest in infrastructure and provide technical assistance to communities. The bill also recognizes the essential role of continuing to strengthen vehicle greenhouse gas and fuel efficiency standards.
- Lays the groundwork for low-carbon transportation choices – The Inslee-Castle bill acknowledges that our transportation system is almost completely dependent on oil and charges the Secretary of Transportation with establishing goals to reduce oil consumption in transportation through operational improvements and through improved planning and access to alternative modes of transportation such as transit, biking and walking. The bill also calls for shifting 10% of freight movement from oil-dependent trucks on to rail and ships.
- Invests in alternative fuels – If we get them right, alternative fuels can play a significant role in creating homegrown solutions to our oil dependence and climate change. The Inslee-Castle bill creates incentives for the production of advanced biofuels, including algae-based fuels – welcome options instead of corn ethanol.
- Begins the phase out of home heating oil through efficiency and alternatives – Heating oil, mainly used in Northeastern homes and older commercial buildings, can be replaced through greater efficiency and switching to biomass or natural gas. The Inslee-Castle bill establishes programs to help states convert buildings from heating oil to more efficient, non-oil means of heating.
The Inslee-Castle bill is a welcome bipartisan way to end this Congress and hopefully a starting place for the next. It is a step towards ending our dependence on oil. While we still need to carefully consider the many provisions in the 224-page bill, including provisions relating to natural gas and ethanol, a quick read proves this to be a positive step forward.
Hopefully this legislation and the leadership shown by Representatives Inslee and Castle will provide momentum for tackling our oil dependence in the 112th Congress.
--Jesse Prentice-Dunn, Sierra Club Green Transportation Team
To find a program that promotes long-term oil-free transportation, that helps meet many other goals including enhancing national security in the face of peaking worldwide oil production, reducing GHGs dramatically in the sector with the fastest rate of GHG emission growth, even while increasing transportation productivity and saving money, go to www.steelinterstate.org.
Posted by: Rees Shearer | December 23, 2010 at 08:02 PM