Sean O’Hanlon

To most Americans this is not about global warming. For them, this is about the price at the pump - pure and simple. Most people will decide with their wallet every day of the week and twice on Sunday. Whatever is cheapest goes in the tank.

What they have not been told thus far is that there is a 5 year back order on drilling rigs that cost hundreds of millions of dollars to build or that it will cost an additional $200-300 billion dollars to develop the 1 new oil field that was found in recent times. (off the coast of Brazil) Did I mention that there needs to be new refineries built to process that new crude and to meet the growing demand? Tack on another 20 billion or so. And, since we are all so quick to say: “not in my back yard” (NIMBY), where are we going to build those refineries? In hurricane alley, where they shut down every time a named storm blows through?

There is zero guarantee that we will find enough oil to satisfy our growing needs, much less drive down the price at the pump as promised. Talk to geologists and geophysicists from the oil industry and most will tell you that whatever oil is left to find is further offshore, in deeper water, and even deeper under the sea floor. They will also tell you that is not “light sweet crude” down there either. It is dirtier and more difficult to refine. (i.e. more expensive)

The ongoing threat to national security and a reliable supply of transportation fuels is unacceptable. From Islamic extremism in Iran, virtual dictatorship in Venezuela, to Russian expansion in order to gain control of the pipelines in Georgia, these represent just a few of the types of challenges we face in the years ahead.

While I applaud the Republicans for a well executed strategy designed to scare the speculators and drive down the market price of oil (it worked), this was a short term solution to what will be an ever increasing problem in the years to come.

When the economy gets humming again then demand for oil will rise right along with it. Not just from the U.S. but from China, India, and Latin America as well. Expect the price of oil to go right back up to where it was and even higher.

Biofuels represent our first best chance to break the cycle of addiction. We must not turn back now. We must continue to diversify the types of transportation fuels we use and the sources of those fuels beyond ethanol from corn and biodiesel from soy or palm. To do anything less would be counter to the tradition of American progress in the face of adversity.

America is at a crossroads.
Every day, we burn through 20 million barrels of oil. And still we want more: if current trends continue, by 2025 our daily fix will reach 28 million barrels — 70 percent of which we’ll have to import.

Now consider who controls the supply: 80 percent of the world’s known oil reserves come from state-run oil companies, many of which operate in unstable or hostile regimes. Every time they rattle their sabers, the price of oil goes up and with our current pace of consumption, we make ourselves increasingly vulnerable.

Add to this Americans’ growing concern over global warming and you have the major issue that will define our social, economic and political lives for the next 25 years and beyond. Most Americans can’t quote statistics on crude oil supply, but they know we’re addicted to it.

Public awareness is encouraging, but it’s just a start — and that’s where we find our purpose. Americans can tackle energy security, global warming and our involvement in overseas conflicts all at once by coming together to work for one daring goal: complete energy independence. If the policies and logistics required for real energy independence seem challenging, the goal of bringing Americans together is clearly within reach. Americans yearn for a reason to come together again and have something to feel good about.

The question is who will rise up to give them one. We will!
This isn’t a matter of following the shifting winds of political discourse on climate change or the war on terror. This is about a long-term geopolitical strategy that provides for American security and continued prosperity. And that makes the idea of American energy independence a question of desire, determination and courage.

To some, the thought of energy independence is preposterous, while to others it is a moral imperative. To us, it is a calling and the next great challenge in a breathtaking legacy of American achievement. Such challenge is the raw material with which Americans forged this great nation. We were founded on achieving the impossible and that’s precisely what we need to be reminded of.

We achieved the impossible when our grandparents rose from the fields and farmlands to the streets of our great cities to fight and defeat the scourge of Nazi evil.

We did it when President Kennedy inspired us to reach for the moon — and nine years later there we were. Indeed, the indomitable character of the United States can be captured in the simple question, “Why not?”

We’ve done the impossible before. We can do it again. We must do it now!
As in the past, this great new movement requires a shared sense of purpose, a unifying force that brings Americans together and gives them something to fight for.
It requires inspiration.

None of America’s great achievements were intellectual exercises alone. They made us feel something profound and powerful. This is the prerequisite to achieving a movement for energy independence with real traction for decades to come.

Rational appeals to the science and economics of replacing fossil fuels have been critical to force the issue into the spotlight. Where they fall short is in capturing the hearts, minds and imaginations of ordinary people. Science and reason alone can’t provide the catalyst that brings people together with the zeal to effect real change.

Intellectual rationality won’t rally Americans. Emotional intensity will.
To do our part, then, we must speak to the people, not just professors and pundits.
The American people will only rally behind ideas that make them feel something. Only then will we awaken the sleeping giant of the American will — that force in history that has achieved great things for so many people and will do so again.

Imagine what the world will look like when that giant rises to answer the call:
Our loved ones will sleep under a blanket of security that can only come with the end of hostile regimes whose main source of power, America’s thirst for oil, dries up. The economy will hum with vibrant new opportunities for our children and our grandchildren in a thousand corners of industry and life we can only imagine.

The time is right to call forth the power of the American people. The requisite forces have begun to converge: the people see the problem, they see the promise and now they’re looking for leadership — searching for a reason to come together.
It is our solemn duty to provide them one.