Presidential candidate Lieberman says energy independence an achievable goal

Maureen Lorenzetti
Washington Editor

WASHINGTON, DC, May 8 -- Presidential hopeful Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) Wednesday presented an energy policy blueprint that he said would reduce US dependence on foreign oil by nearly two thirds within 10 years and help the US eliminate all oil imports within 20 years.

Speaking before the environmental think tank Resources for the Future, Lieberman said the US could be energy independent by expanding energy efficiency, investing in new technology, and encouraging credit-trading programs.

Lieberman said he is the first of his fellow Democrats running in the 2004 presidential race who has a comprehensive energy proposal. In 2000, he was the Democrats' vice-presidential candidate.

Lieberman criticized the current Republican White House for not delivering what he called a "realistic" energy plan that acknowledges that the US uses 25% of the world's oil but possesses only 2-3% of its reserves.

"(President) George W. Bush is blind to reality," Lieberman said. Opening up public lands such as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge coastal plain to drilling will do little to help the economy or wean America from its foreign oil habit, he suggested.
"We can drill all we want, but the well will soon run dry, and our economy will be left running on the fumes," he said.

Fuel efficiency, coal
Lieberman said it was time to replace current automobile fuel efficiency rules with a credit-trading program that could save 2 million b/d of oil by 2015.
"If one company decides to build less-efficient cars, it will be able to trade with a more efficient automaker so that the entire industry reaches the plan's overall goal," he said.

Lieberman's plan would also invest $15 billion over 10 years in advancing integrated gasification combined cycle technology to produce hydrogen from coal to use as an alternative fuel. Lieberman said significantly expanding coal use in an environmentally friendly way could preserve high-paying coal jobs in economically troubled areas.

Renewable fuels, ethanol
Lieberman also said he wants to invest $6.5 billion in a comprehensive plan to help put 100,000 fuel cell vehicles on the road by 2010 and 2.5 million such vehicles by 2020.

The Bush administration also is promoting a hydrogen energy initiative. President Bush recently announced a plan that calls for a total of $1.7 billion over the next 5 years to develop hydrogen-powered fuel cells, hydrogen infrastructure, and advanced automotive technologies (OGJ Online, Apr. 28, 2003).

Lieberman also wants to give consumers who purchase hybrid cars tax incentives of $1,000-5,000/vehicle, depending on the amount of oil conserved. A pending energy bill now before Congress may also offer hybrid owners tax incentives.

In a question and answer session following his speech, Lieberman said he supports fuel ethanol production from "various" sources. But he said he generally does not "generally" support ethanol mandates because of some "local" concerns, alluding to California and the Northeast states, where regulators have challenged the benefits of using fuel ethanol as a cost-effective smog-reduction strategy.

But he did not completely rule out supporting a pending fuel ethanol provision in the Senate that has a credit-trading feature. "I have to see the amendment," he said.

Domestic production
Lieberman's energy plan does endorse the use of fiscal incentives to increase domestic production. And he suggested that Democrats acknowledge domestic oil production is a necessary component of any energy strategy.

The senator said that during the administration of President Bill Clinton, more oil and gas acreage was made available for development than during the two administrations preceding Clinton's but without damaging the environment.

He called for "investing in exploring the potential" of deep waters in the Gulf of Mexico.

His plan also would establish a countercyclical tax credit for marginal producing wells so that operators will not cap them when the price of oil falls.

Lieberman suggested that revenue from federal leases should help natural resource programs along coastal states. But he said he strongly supports continuing existing offshore drilling moratoriums.

His proposal also calls for encouraging liquefied natural gas export projects throughout Latin America to "to provide a market for the large resources of these countries and provide the US with additional sources of energy in its own hemisphere."