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National Security & Oil:
"Dangerous Addiction" Report Outlines Risks of Import
Dependence, Offers Roadmap to Save 5 Million Barrels Per
Day
With Senate Poised to Debate Energy, Plan Poses
Challenge to White House, Congress
WASHINGTON (January 16, 2002) -- America uses a quarter of
the world's oil, but has only 3 percent of known reserves.
Today we import more than half of our oil from some of the
unstable regions of the world. Events since September 11
highlight the danger in turning a blind eye to oil dependence.
Our biggest challenge is to reduce the amount of oil we use to
run our passenger vehicles.
Domestic drilling won't solve the problem; the only way to
end the economic and security risks of this imbalance is to
cut our import dependence by using better cars and better
fuels. "Dangerous
Addiction: Ending America's Oil Dependence," a new report
from NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) and the Union of
Concerned Scientists (UCS), details the security threat and
offers a practical simple, five-step plan to cut the oil
needed for our cars and light trucks in half, saving 5 million
barrels per day by 2020.
"Washington has been dragging its feet on energy security.
Now we face the risk of finishing another war with Middle East
origins without a solution in place," said John Podesta,
former White House chief of staff, now a senior fellow at
NRDC. "It's time for the president and Congress to reverse
course, and tackle this national security priority."
The report presents steps we can take now, using American
technology and know-how, to reduce the oil needed to power
America's cars and light trucks. We can cut that oil demand in
half by 2020 -- and give American consumers the best and
safest driving choices in the world -- by building better
vehicles and making better fuels.
"Detroit has the technology to end our oil addiction," said
Jason Mark, director of the Clean Vehicles Program at UCS. "If
cars and trucks live up to their technological potential, by
2010 we can save more oil annually than we currently import
from Saudi Arabia."
Solving a Dangerous Addiction
Sixty-five percent of the world's known reserves lie
beneath the Persian Gulf states. If we do not act, the share
of our oil that is imported will grow from one-half to nearly
two-thirds by 2020. While oil prices are down for the moment,
Middle East instability makes for a situation that could
change at any moment. New suppliers such as Russia and the
Caspian region are hardly more sound.
Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would
increase world reserves by less than one-third of 1 percent.
That makes an energy strategy based only on drilling for new
oil at home into a recipe for continued dependence on these
unstable regions.
The report offers solutions to reduce our oil dependence
with no reduction in safety, performance, or vehicle choice.
Together, they could cut oil use by passenger vehicles nearly
a quarter by 2012, and 50 percent in 2020 compared with
business-as-usual.
The NRDC-UCS Action Plan to Curb Oil Dependence
Includes:
- Improving the fuel economy of new vehicles powered by
gasoline-engine technology. Congress should steadily
increase standards for the combined fleet of cars and light
trucks to 40 mpg by 2012 and 55 mpg by 2020.
- Mass-producing gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles, which
get double the mileage of today's cars. Toyota and Honda
already have hybrids on the road, and more are coming.
Lawmakers should provide consumer tax credits to support the
transition to this new technology.
- Expanding use of renewable, non-petroleum fuels, such as
ethanol made from crop wastes, by steadily increasing
requirements for "renewable content" in gasoline.
- Putting hydrogen-powered fuel-cell vehicles on the road
using incentives and requirements to ramp up production to
100,000 vehicles by 2010 and 2.5 million by 2020. These
vehicles would use one-third the energy of today's cars
(none of it from oil) and produce near-zero
pollution.
- Encouraging "smart growth" instead of suburban sprawl to
increase our transportation choices and make communities
more livable with less driving.
The first step alone -- raising fuel economy standards --
would save nearly 4 billion barrels of oil over the next dozen
years. By 2012, we could save nearly 2 million barrels every
day -- a savings of 18 percent below business-as-usual
projections. That is slightly more oil than we imported from
Saudi Arabia last year, and three times our imports from Iraq.
By 2020, savings would grow to nearly 5 million barrels per
day, almost twice as much as our current total imports from
the Persian Gulf.
That would mean big savings for consumers at the gas pump:
a person buying a 40 mpg car in 2012 would save a net of
$2,200 over the life of the vehicle. Total consumer savings
from all of these policies would equal nearly $13 billion per
year in 2012, and almost $30 billion by 2020.
These measures would cut heat-trapping carbon dioxide and
other global warming emissions by more than 440 million tons
in 2012, and more than a billion tons in 2020. By 2020 we
would avoid more than 1 billion pounds worth of smog-forming
emissions annually.
The High Cost of Oil Imports
American drivers used more than 120 billion gallons of
gasoline in 2000, costing $186 billion. If fuel economy does
not improve, passenger-vehicle fuel use will increase more
than 50 percent by 2020, to almost 190 billion gallons per
year. The United States spent $106 billion -- about $380 per
person -- importing crude oil and petroleum products in 2000.
By 2020, oil import spending is expected to hit $160 billion,
according to the U.S. Department of Energy, an increase of
more than 50 percent.
The environmental impacts of oil addiction are enormous:
Cars and passenger trucks are the second largest U.S. source
of carbon dioxide pollution warming, emitting 1.3 billion tons
of this heat-trapping gas in 2000. Emissions of smog- and
cancer-causing air pollutants are a persistent problem.
Oil addiction also creates constant pressure to drill
unspoiled wilderness areas such as the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge, the Florida and California coasts, Utah's
Redrock canyon country, and lands near Yellowstone National
Park. Meanwhile, oil spills pose a constant threat to the
land, water, wildlife, and coastal livelihoods. Almost 1.5
million gallons of oil were spilled into U.S. waters in
2000.
We Can Do It
A safer, more secure energy future is well within the reach
of America's industrial prowess. Studies by the National
Academy of Sciences, the Union of Concerned Scientists, and
other independent analysts have demonstrated that a 40 mpg
fleet average is achievable within a decade, using technology
that is available today.
America already has proven that such strides are possible.
Fuel economy for new passenger cars nearly doubled between
1975, when standards were first adopted, and their peak in
1988. Fuel economy for new light trucks increased by 50
percent. But the rules haven't changed since 1985. Average
mileage of our new cars and trucks today is at its lowest
level in 21 years.
"These proposals are the best way to curb our reliance on
Middle Eastern oil," said Podesta. "We can regain control over
our future by providing American consumers with the safest and
best performing passengers vehicles in the world. This is the
road to increase our national security, strengthen our
economy, and protect our environment."
The Natural Resources Defense Council is a
national, non-profit organization of scientists, lawyers and
environmental specialists dedicated to protecting public
health and the environment. Founded in 1970, NRDC has more
than 500,000 members nationwide, served from offices in New
York, Washington, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
The Union of Concerned Scientists is a
nonprofit partnership of scientists and citizens combining
rigorous scientific analysis, innovative policy development,
and effective citizen advocacy to achieve practical
environmental solutions. UCS is online at http://www.ucsusa.org/.
Related NRDC Pages
Dangerous
Addiction: Ending America's Oil Dependence