Susan Collins:Now is the time to seek energy independence

Bangor Daily News - As I travel throughout Maine, time and time again people ask me what should be done about the high cost of energy which is causing an almost unprecedented burden on families in Maine. To address this issue, we must first understand the magnitude of this serious problem.

The spike in energy costs is due to many causes: increased global demand for crude oil, instability that threatens supplies from the Middle East, the price-fixing actions of OPEC, insufficient refining capacity, and speculative trading on futures markets. Paramount among our challenges is our over-reliance on foreign oil, which threatens both our economic and national security.

To understand how we can meet this challenge, we should look back a half century to 1961 when President Kennedy set a goal of landing a man on the moon. It is time for another such Herculean effort; it is time for a national commitment to achieve energy independence.

We know that a commitment to energy independence can succeed. Last year, Brazil reached this goal through a concerted research effort that began in 1975 to develop ethanol from sugarcane. While it took Brazil 31 years to reach energy independence, experts tell me this goal can be achieved here by 2020, if we make it a national priority.

Energy independence will require a multipronged approach. Vital development of alternative fuels is already under way at institutions such as the University of Maine, where researchers are at the forefront of a technique known as "life cycle analysis" which identifies alternative fuels that reduce our dependence on imported oil while having the least environmental impact. When the energy bill was considered by the Senate in June, I offered a successful amendment to authorize $275 million over five years for research and development of new technologies to efficiently convert materials such as wood chips, switch grass and other organic waste to ethanol.

Energy independence also requires a stronger commitment to energy efficiency. The Senate energy bill establishes gas mileage standards for vehicles of 35 miles per gallon by 2020. By raising these standards, we can save more than a million barrels of oil each day. It is the single most important action we can take down the road to energy independence and will save consumers millions of dollars.

Congress must also pass legislation to help curb speculation on futures markets that artificially drives up energy prices. In my role as chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee in 2005, I asked one of the subcommittees, the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, to conduct an investigation into the price of gasoline and crude oil. That investigation concluded that speculators can create additional demand for oil, driving up the price.

There are no publicly available data that can be used to track the effect of speculation on prices, and manipulation can go undetected on these unregulated markets. That is why I support expanding the authority of the federal government to oversee energy futures markets and provide greater transparency to guard against manipulation. Also, next week I will participate in another investigative hearing to look at the impact of futures trading on the recent spike in crude oil prices.

We need to set different priorities in our tax code to support a new energy policy. At a time of record-high prices for oil and hardship for our citizens, it is absurd to expect taxpayers to continue to subsidize the soaring profits of the oil and gas industry. Earlier this year, I introduced a bill to eliminate needless tax subsidies for oil and gas companies. The dollars saved could be used instead to provide tax incentives to encourage consumers, schools, and small businesses to invest more in energy-efficient vehicles, home weatherization, and green buildings.

In addition to working toward energy independence, we must help low-income families struggling right now. It is estimated that heating oil costs will rise by an onerous $495 per household this winter. Throughout my time in the Senate, I have fought for increased funds for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, the program that provides states with funding to help low-income families and the elderly meet their energy needs. LIHEAP provides assistance for 48,000 Mainers each year, and the need is even more urgent this winter, with requests for help already exceeding available funds.

This fall, I secured $7.2 million in contingency LIHEAP funds for Maine, and I recently urged the president to release immediately the additional $20 million that remains in the LIHEAP fund. In addition, Sen. Olympia Snowe and I have asked our colleagues to provide an additional $1 billion in emergency LIHEAP funds this year.

I am also continuing to work with Gov. John Baldacci and the other delegation members to explore solutions for truckers who are finding rising fuel costs to be a crushing burden.

Energy independence and stable energy costs, and environmental stewardship, are goals that are within our reach, but they require a major national effort equivalent to the goal of putting a man on the moon. The time to begin that effort is now.

Susan Collins is Maine’s junior U.S. senator.