Moving Beyond Oil
America is facing a serious energy crisis. As Rhode Islanders pay record-high prices at the gas pump, oil company profits are skyrocketing. Our country is frighteningly dependent on foreign oil. We need a long-term American energy strategy to eliminate our crippling dependence on foreign oil by promoting renewable energy sources and improving energy efficiency.
At the end of my first year in the Senate, I was proud to support the most progressive and comprehensive energy reform that Congress has passed in years. We raised fuel economy standards for cars and trucks for the first time in over 20 years, set tough new energy efficiency standards for appliances in homes and workplaces, and mandated a dramatic increase in production and use of renewable fuels - saving money for consumers and helping protect our precious environment from the harmful effects of expanded fossil fuel exploration.
More recently, with my strong support, Congress also temporarily shut off the flow of oil into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, helping ease prices at the pump by putting tens of thousands of barrels of oil back on the market each day.
But there is much more to do. I also believe we should repeal the billions of dollars in tax breaks for big oil and direct that money to help reduce consumer energy costs, including investments in new clean energy technologies. Instead of giving tax breaks to oil companies that are raking in record profits, we should create tax incentives to promote investment in residential and commercial energy efficiency initiatives, in large-scale wind, solar and other renewable energy projects, and in new vehicle technology such as plug-in hybrid cars. And we need to do more to assure the integrity of energy markets, and curb price-gouging, manipulation, and speculation to prevent artificial price increases.
High gas prices and heating oil bills strain our families' budgets and leave too many Rhode Islanders struggling to make ends meet. I will do all I can to support a new American energy policy that will save consumers money, protect our environment, move us into the green American economy that beckons us, and address the serious threat of global warming.