Tuesday, October 31, 2006

U.S. Sen. Dick Lugar welcomed Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s recent announcement of her intent to appoint Mr. Gregory Manuel to the newly created position of Special Advisor and International Energy Coordinator at the State Department.

“The Secretary’s establishment of a Special Advisor and International Energy Coordinator position is an important step in strengthening our foreign policy apparatus. By creating this position, Secretary Rice has signaled her personal priority for mobilizing the Department’s resources to make progress on energy security. The Coordinator must have full access to the Secretary and support from the highest levels of the State Department bureaucracy,” Lugar said.

Senator Lugar introduced the Energy Diplomacy and Security Act (S.2435) in March 2006. The bill calls for creation of a Coordinator for International Energy Affairs within the Office of Secretary of State in order to integrate energy security priorities into U.S. diplomacy. In letters and personal conversations, Lugar had urged Secretary Rice to establish this position through her own authority.

“The State Department should seize this moment to greatly enhance the priority of diplomatic efforts related to energy security.” Lugar said. “Increasingly, our foreign policy options are being constrained by the energy vulnerability of the United States and our allies. In addition to vigorous efforts to develop home-grown energy alternatives, American national security will depend on improving our relationships with both energy consumer and producer nations and developing the means to counter the use of energy as a weapon. A foreign policy course that fails to adequately incorporate global energy considerations into our strategic thinking will fail.”

The Energy Diplomacy and Security Act also contains provisions to invigorate existing bilateral energy partnerships and seek new ones with key producing and consuming countries, with a special emphasis on increasing the use of sustainable energy sources. It directs the Administration to seek formal agreements with India and China that commit those countries to establish their own strategic petroleum reserves that are coordinated with other consumer nations. Such a move would give oil consuming nations more leverage and flexibility during international oil supply disruptions and help stabilize world oil markets. Finally, the bill calls on the Administration to weave a more reliable energy security fabric within our own hemisphere, working more closely with Canada and Latin America on emergency preparedness, conservation, sustainable energy, and energy access for the poor. The Energy Diplomacy and Security Act has 16 bipartisan co-sponsors in the Senate.

Lugar recently returned from a seven-day trip in Indiana, covering more than 1,000 miles of roads throughout the state, and participating in more than a dozen events to highlight renewable energy and in particular the contributions Hoosiers are making to U.S. national security by supporting initiatives to expand energy sectors.

On the web:
The Lugar Energy Initiative http://lugar.senate.gov/energy
The Energy Diplomacy and Security Act http://www.lugar.senate.gov/energy/legislation/index.html#2435