Senate Democrats Call on Bush Administration to Outline a Real Energy Strategy

SENATE DEMOCRATS CALL ON BUSH ADMINISTRATION TO OUTLINE A REAL ENERGY STRATEGY

A group of Senate Democrats wrote to Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman to outline a specific strategy to support the president's goal to reduce our dependence on Middle Eastern oil by 75 percent by 2025.

The full text of the letter follows below:

February 21, 2006

The Honorable Samuel W. Bodman
Secretary of Energy
Washington, D.C. 20585

Dear Mr. Secretary:

In his State of the Union Address last month, the President set the goal of replacing "more than 75 percent of our oil imports from the Middle East by 2025." Yet the Energy Information Administration's Annual Energy Outlook 2006, released earlier this month, states that "net imports of petroleum are projected to meet a growing share of total petroleum demand" in 2025. According to EIA, "Net petroleum imports are expected to account for 60 percent of demand (on the basis of barrels per day) in 2025..., up from 58 percent in 2004." EIA's Administrator, Guy Caruso, confirmed the projected increase in imports when he testified before the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on February 16, 2006, and further stated that because Persian Gulf countries are the only global suppliers who can rapidly increase production to meet additional demand in international oil markets, it is likely all of this increase will come from the Middle East.

Could you please identify for us and the public the specific policy initiatives the Administration has underway or will propose to reverse the current trend and at a minimum meet the President's goal of a 75 percent decrease in oil imports from the Middle East by 2025?

Sincerely,

Jeff Bingaman
Maria Cantwell
Harry Reid
Dick Durbin
Hillary Clinton

Diane Feinstein
Evan Bayh
Daniel Akaka
Byron Dorgan
Ron Wyden

Tim Johnson
Robert Menendez
Chuck Schumer
Barbara Boxer
Patty Murray

John Kerry
Barbara Mikulski
Jack Reed
Joe Lieberman
Joe Biden

Barack Obama
Russ Feingold
Jim Jeffords
Tom Harkin
Chris Dodd

Frank Lautenberg
Mark Dayton
Edward Kennedy

http://energy.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Detail&PressRelease_id=234868&Month=2&Year=2006&Party=0