WASHINGTON, Feb. 21 (UPI) -- President Bush on Tuesday continued to make his pitch for a shift toward renewable energy during a visit to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
"In order for us to achieve this national goal of becoming less dependent on foreign sources of oil, we've got to spend money, and the best place to do that is through research labs such as NREL," he said.
Bush's visit to Golden, Colo., Tuesday was part of his two-day three-state swing that took him to Michigan and Wisconsin on Monday. His remarks in all stops have been an echo of comments the administration has pushed since last month's State of the Union address when Bush said the United States was "addicted to oil" and called for a 75 percent reduction on Middle Eastern oil by 2025. The administration's plan combines the development of new technologies, government spending and tax credits for companies doing research and development. Since then, with a 22 percent increase in funding for research in clean energy at the Energy Department, the president has pushed ethanol, nuclear power and solar power, among others, as means to end U.S. dependence on oil.
"Some of the nations we rely on for oil have unstable governments, or fundamental differences with the United States," he said Monday during a stop at Johnson Controls, a Milwaukee firm that is making advanced batteries for hybrid-electric vehicles. "These countries know we need their oil and that reduces influence. It creates a national security issue when we're held hostage for energy by foreign nations that may not like us."
The call for energy independence has been made by almost every president since Richard Nixon and it is unclear whether Bush's attempts to move away from foreign oil will translate into action.
"The president is only proposing a 22 percent increase and I rather suspect that Congress will be inclined to provide that assistance," Jerry Taylor, a senior fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute in Washington, told United Press International. "But since the increase is modest, it's probably not going to be enough."
Taylor and other critics say, however, renewable energy is not economically feasible. They note that it's been around for two decades, and in some cases longer, but has never attracted the same kind of private investment as more traditional sources of energy.
"If they were promising economically, you wouldn't need government help," Taylor said. "The fact is that they haven't been able to generate much electricity, and so the people most inclined to make money out of this are probably going to put their money elsewhere."
Others, however, argue that some government impetus is needed for renewable energy to succeed, noting that energy has both a private and public aspect.
"As you set hard goals, industry is driven to profitability," said George Sterzinger, executive director of the Renewable Energy policy Project in Washington. "You can produce energy for the private sphere and for public benefit. The public goal is important and the idea that the best prevails in the marketplace is ridiculous. "
But amid the push for renewable energy, the government has also slashed funding for oil. The Energy Department cut funding for fossil fuels by $192.8 million to $650 million, a 23 percent decrease from the FY2006 appropriation. Most projections show oil and gas are key components of the economy and supply 65 percent of the nation's energy needs. This trend is likely to continue over the next few decades.
"Our concern is that the budget terminates funding research into oil and gas. That's a mistake," said Lee Fuller, vice president of government relations at the Independent Petroleum Association of America. "There are important benefits to derive from it."
The oil industry is not the only one, however, that is subject to the vagaries of government. Soon after the initial push for renewable energy, 32 workers at NREL were fired. They were all rehired over the weekend, just ahead of the president's trip.
"I recognize that there has been some interesting -- let me say -- mixed signals when it comes to funding," Bush said on Tuesday. "The issue, of course, is whether good intentions are met with actual dollars spent. Part of the issue we face, unfortunately, is that sometimes decisions made as the result of the appropriations process, may not end going to where it was supposed to have gone."
Concerns such as these remain high among those who hope to benefit from the administration's emphasis on new technologies to meet the country's energy needs.
Sterzinger, executive director of the Renewable Energy policy Project, said it remained to be seen how serious the administration was over the efforts.
"The question is whether this is another trip to Mars or is it going to have the steady commitment that is needed?" he said.
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