New York Times reporter Simon Romero dug up suggestions for reducing oil imports that didn’t make it into the president’s speech. Among them:
Perhaps the most significant step the nation could take in reducing oil dependence is to change the way cars are produced, according to the Rocky Mountain Institute …
In fact, overall federal funding for research and development in energy efficiency has declined 14 percent since 2002, adjusted for inflation.
Some measures that President Bush left out of his state-of-union address could also bring big payoffs: measures that might actually curb oil consumption like greater fuel-efficiency rules for cars, a gasoline tax or increasing ethanol imports from Brazil…
“It’s remarkable that we’re not taxing fuel from Saudi Arabia while we’re taxing fuel from Brazil,” said Gal Luft, a co-director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, a research organization in Washington that specializes in energy issues.
