Reply #14: Don't Forget Energy Security! [View All]

[DrFunkenstein]

Energy security is American security. Our policy must reflect that we live in one world, not four or five separate ones and we need an energy policy of national purpose that confronts the hard realities and sets real priorities based on the needs of all Americans.

Obviously we all agree that reducing our dependence on foreign oil, especially oil from the politically toxic Middle East, is a necessity. But the American people want honesty about how you do it, not a false security blanket that promises something undeliverable in the short term and precious little amounting to real progress in the long term.

In recent months, I've talked to citizens across our country, to businesspeople, farmers and the energy industry; to academic experts and local officials; to the public health community and public interest organizations, and I have found that more and more Americans "get it."

They are dissatisfied with the fossil-fuel based energy policies that made sense fifty years ago, but which cannot sustain our nation in the future. They are frustrated because we don't pursue alternatives they know we could adopt. They want an economy where hardworking citizens can't automatically be held hostage to the whims of a handful of nations that rig the world oil market. They want leaders setting an agenda where protecting our environment, our land, our water, our air and our public health are national priorities, not after-thoughts.

They want a country where energy security is not just a slogan or an empty promise, but a growing reality. It is with all of their views and with their input, expertise and practical experience that I respectfully suggest it is time now to pursue a national Strategic Energy Initiative.

This is an initiative born out of necessity and its goal is quite simply to initiate a transition from our heavy dependence on polluting and sometimes insecure fossil fuels to more efficient, clean, and reliable energy. It maximizes private sector opportunities and avoids the mistake of command and control. It plays to our entrepenuerial skill as Americans but it commits us as a nation to move in a certain direction.

Today there is a compelling national interest to address the security and environmental threats of fossil fuels. Just as we did in the 1930s and many times since, we should nourish the marketplace, set goals and create incentives that will begin a transition.

We must provide a catalyst for the work that is already happening at the margins of the energy industry. Shell has invested in wind, solar and biomass; Chevron has invested in solar and fuel cells; and BP has heavily invested in solar and predicts more than $1 billion in sales by 2010. These efforts are smaller than they ought to be -- they stand today as Potemkin Villages on a landscape dominated by the old way of doing things, a landscape that reflects the $1.8 billion federal largesse lavished on oil and gas while alternative efforts compete for the scraps of a mere $24 million in federal venture capital. A technological revolution can change the energy landscape itself, and it's time we accelerate the technology - speed up the development process -- push the curve - and join the competition so that American ingenuity can again lead the world.

To accomplish that and excite even more entrepeneurial activity, I believe we should set a national goal of having 20% of our electricity come from domestic alternative and renewable sources by the year 2020. Twenty-twenty - I think it's a vision worthy of America; a goal I believe our citizens are ready to embrace.

http://www.johnkerry.com/pressroom/speeches/spc_2002_0122.html