US Secretary of Energy Samuel W. Bodman has criticized a call by both Republic Party presumptive nominee Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) for a suspension of the 18.4¢/gal federal gasoline tax during the US summer driving season.
With record oil prices underpinning soaring gasoline prices, the two Senators have been calling for a tax waiver, but on May 13 Bodman called their suggestion nothing short of “pandering to the electorate.”
Speaking to OGJ during his recent trip to Trinidad and Tobago, Bodman said of the call: “My view is that is a terrible idea. I am not running for president, and I am not pandering to the electorate, and I think that is what that is.”
The energy secretary told Trinidad and Tobago’s chapter of the American Chamber of Commerce that the world will remain dependent on hydrocarbons, but clearly new energy options in the form of alternative fuels and clean energy technologies are required.
He said, “In particular I would highlight the development of commercially competitive cellulosic biofuels, advanced vehicle technologies like plug-in electric hybrids, hydrogen fuel cells, solar energy (including an acceleration of the development of solar photovoltaics), high-efficiency wind power, and carbon sequestration and clean-coal technologies.”
Bodman told the Chamber that the US has been aggressively funding both basic science and applied research and development to hasten the type of breakthroughs “that truly change the nature of our thinking and fundamentally alter how we produce, deliver, and use energy.”
He said efforts already are bearing fruit, and he believes the effort may be his most important contribution during his 4 years as energy secretary.
LNG and terrorism
With Trinidad and Tobago being the largest exporter of LNG, ammonia, methanol, and urea to the US, Bodman said, the two countries must ensure that the Caribbean island nation’s energy sector is protected from terrorism.
Bodman said, with this in mind, the US energy department led an interagency effort to assist Trinidad and Tobago with an LNG sector safety assessment.
“We look forward to working with the government of Trinidad and Tobago—and, as importantly, with the private sector—to develop action plans to implement the recommendations contained in the assessment,” he added.
Bodman said he was embarrassed that political gridlock has led to the inability to unlock crude resources in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, but he does not see an end to the problem as neither side is likely to budge even though he hopes a new president and a new administration can lead to some compromise on the issue.
Bodman said he is more hopeful that there will be an increase in the construction of new LNG import terminals in the US. He said there already are more terminals being built, but he hopes they will not be limited to the Gulf Coast region.
On the question of Trinidad and Tobago’s neighbor Venezuela, Bodman said President Hugo Chavez’s use of energy as a political and diplomatic tool creates “a slippery slope.”
“Any time you use energy or the presence of energy or the cost of energy as a diplomatic tool, I think that tends to be a slippery slope, and you tend to move in the wrong direction,” he said.
While in Trinidad and Tobago, Bodman also met with Prime Minister Patrick Manning and Energy Minister Conrad Enill.