President Barack Obama yesterday delivered a speech at Georgetown University, calling for a one-third reduction in U.S. oil imports by 2025 and emphasizing the need for the development and cultivation of alternative energy sources. While Obama addressed issues of rising oil prices — and noted that in order to reduce foreign imports, the United States will need to take advantage of domestic oil options in the meantime — he insisted that we cannot rely on a resource that is eventually going to run out. Instead, he said, alternative energy should be the real focus of energy policy efforts.
The Daily applauds Obama for making a pledge to change oil dependency in a quantifiable way. His decision to set specific deadlines will pressure his administration to make good on its promises and begin making real headway in the nation's transition to sustainable energy. In his speech, Obama said that the federal government will lead by example, announcing a plan to direct federal agencies to purchase only alternative fuel, hybrid or electric vehicles by 2015. His administration yesterday released a Blueprint for a Secure Energy Future, which outlines specific goals and plans for reducing foreign oil dependence while creating cost-effective, environmentally sound alternative energy solutions.
While Obama's pledges represent a significant positive step towards the U.S. effort of making sustainable energy mainstream and decreasing oil dependence, it is crucial that these pledges quickly move beyond rhetoric and beget specific policies. Obama has made a promising start by outlining his administration's strategies, however, it is important that these strategies be carried out quickly and that the ideas behind his promises crystallize into specific policies.
As campaign season approaches, it is tempting for politicians to make sweeping promises for the future that may not be so easy to implement. Obama in his speech realistically noted that the elimination of foreign oil dependence will not be a reality for a long time. He also acknowledged that while the United States is developing alternative energy sources, it will be necessary to draw on domestic oil sources in order to supplement the oil lost from foreign imports. These realities cannot be ignored, but neither can they be used as excuses for government inaction. The administration must live up to its promises and begin acting immediately and decisively to fulfill its promises of making alternative energy the norm.
It is commendable that the Obama administration has publicly acknowledged the need to set a deadline for reducing foreign oil dependence and institute explicit policies to ensure a sustainable future for energy in the United States. These are issues that cannot be solved simply with idealistic speech and goals of a distant future, but they can be vastly improved if the administration sticks to its pledges and acts quickly.
