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WASHINGTON – Senator Joe Lieberman (D-CT) today unveiled a package of legislative proposals to help America break its dangerous dependence on foreign oil that threatens the nation’s security, economy and environment. Before an audience of professors, students and academics, Lieberman delivered Georgetown’s Loewy Memorial Lecture in Science, Technology and International Affairs at Georgetown University.
“What we are seeing is more than just a temporary drain on our budgets – a passing inconvenience and temporary increase in costs” Lieberman said. “I fear that we are literally watching the slow but steady erosion of America’s power and independence as a nation – our economic and military power and our political independence. We’re burning it up in our engines and spewing it from our tailpipes because of our absolute dependence on oil to fuel our cars and trucks.”
“The bill I will propose puts our nation’s transportation system on a new road where the tanks are filled with more home-grown fuel …We will push harder for more and quicker production and commercialization of biomass based fuels…The bill would also create a program to guarantee that filling stations had the pumps to provide the fuel to keep pace with the growing alternative-fuel fleet produced by the mandate.”
Lieberman’s proposal will mandate 10 million barrels in oil-savings in 20 years and will also mandate the mass-production of cars that can burn any combination of gasoline and alternative fuels or, alternatively, cars powered by efficient hybrid engines. In addition, the bill will include:
• An aggressive strategy for pushing the development and mass marketing of hybrid technologies, including hybrids that give drivers the option to plug them in at night;
• A program to ensure an adequate number of alternative fuel retail outlets;
• For the first time, fuel-efficiency standards for trucks;
• Standards to ensure fuel efficient replacement tires are offered for cars and trucks;
• Financial support for retooling manufacturing facilities for advanced technology and alternative fuel cars and trucks.
“Our present energy and transportation systems were born at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th Centuries with the twin discoveries of oil extraction and the internal combustion engine,” Lieberman said. “Those systems have served us well – bringing growth to our nation and the world. But it is now the 21st Century and its time to move on. The era of big oil is over. It’s time to kick start our entire infrastructure – from the refinery to the tailpipe – and build this new era of energy independence.”
Partial video of the speech is available here.
The full text of the speech is available at http://lieberman.senate.gov/newsroom/release.cfm?id=247129
An outline of the legislative plan is available at: http://lieberman.senate.gov/documents/bills/051006gtownspchsum.pdf
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