[greenyes] Energy and Bedfellows

["Peter Anderson" <anderson@no.address>]

WALL STREET JOURNAL

 POLITICS AND POLICY


Unlikely Allies Fight
U.S. Oil Dependence
Bipartisan Network to Press
For Reduced Consumption,
Quicker Development of Fuels
By JOHN J. FIALKA and JEFFREY BALL
Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
March 28, 2005; Page A4

High oil prices are uniting unlikely allies in a campaign to change American 
energy policy. A bipartisan coalition -- including an increasing number of 
defense hawks -- is backing policies to curb petroleum use, a cause 
generally associated with environmental activists.
Today, 26 former national-security officials from Republican and Democratic 
administrations will send a letter to President Bush calling for "a major 
new initiative to curtail U.S. consumption" by improving the fuel economy of 
U.S. autos and developing alternatives to fossil fuels. The group asks the 
federal government to spend as much as $1 billion on the effort over the 
next five years -- "a level proportionate with other priorities for our 
nation's defense."
"The price at the pump is not all we're paying right now. We are also paying 
$400 billion for a defense budget," says Robert C. McFarlane, President 
Reagan's national-security adviser and a signer of the letter.
Frank Gaffney, another signer and former Reagan official who heads the 
Center for Security Policy, a national-security think tank in Washington, 
adds: "I don't often find myself in agreement with those at the Natural 
Resources Defense Council, but I'm delighted to have them joining us in this 
initiative because I do think there is common ground. There is now a 
critical mass of national-security-minded people coming together to make the 
argument that this is no longer something we should do at some point." 
Reducing U.S. oil consumption, he says, is "no longer a nice thing to do. 
It's imperative."
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_________________________
Peter Anderson, President
RECYCLEWORLDS CONSULTING
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