Bush Going Green?

Fire of Liberty

While I understand the need for President Bush to cleave to the whole American people by presenting a middle-of-the-road agenda of the year like last night's SOTU , I have to say that our Commander in Chief might have fallen into an abyss by laying out that "addicted to oil" line last night. I'm rather disappointed that after all those years of President Bush calling for a sensible energy policy that calls for less regulations on building new refineries (That have been shrinking since the late 70's and stretched to 95% capacity now.), producing gasoline without highly expensive additives (CA has 15 to 20 gas formulas), and greater domestic exploration (ANWR is a good place to start) he has now decided to go all John Kerry and propose a new policy of alternative fuels like ethanol to cut or demand of foreign oil some 75% by 2030. The President noted that we could ensure our economic and energy independence by freeing ourselves from regimes who hold the oil card above our heads but he failed to mention that the magical "ethanol" made from corn and switch grass still has to be mixed with gas to get any of the 200 million cars of America going down the highway. Even more, he also needs to look at the Energy Information Agency report on where the US imports oil from he'd realize that we get a lot more of our oil from places like Canada, Mexico, Nigeria, Iraq, Colombia, Kuwait, United Kingdom, and Norway combined than we do from dangerous places like Iran and Venezuela. (I know we get a good bit from Saudi Arabia but they're manageable at the moment but we've got a hell of a lot in that wilderness state Alaska that Stanton bought from "Mother Russia" all those many years ago to fall back on just in case.) No matter what, we shouldn't start attacking the oil import business due to the fact that some policy wonk said we should. Just think how this will impact our many trading partners not to mention the millions in this country that work for the oil companies and the industries that uses oil like computer makers(plastic cases), plastic makers, tire, paint, and the car industry and not to mention the countless other companies that I've forgotten to mention. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for taking care of our environment to ensure we have clean water, air and beautiful landscapes not to mention keeping our energy needs free from the clutches of a hostile foreign nation like Iran and Venezuela but I'm more akin to use that ole' Texas saying of "that dog won't hunt" when it comes to this policy. Mr. President, please return to a more sensible energy policy than this pooh-poohing the greens and the folks of the center-left. (They aren't voting Republican anytime soon.)

Hat Tip: Ian Murray over at the Corner for the EIA data.