A Good First Step to Energy Independence

“President Obama’s plan to promote more offshore drilling for oil
and natural gas is an important step in achieving true energy reform.
We should be taking full advantage of every available American
resource to help decrease our crippling dependency on foreign oil --
a dependency that is slowing our economic recovery and jeopardizing
our homeland security.

“Even if the estimates of the reserves are correct, we are 10 years
away from being able to use them. It’s imperative that we promote
other immediately available domestic alternatives to solve the
national security crisis created by foreign oil dependency.

“Transportation has to lead the way -- it accounts for two-thirds of
our oil imports. No energy strategy can be effective unless it promotes
the use of domestic natural gas as a transportation fuel alternative to
foreign oil/diesel, and the focus has to be on America’s eight million
heavy duty vehicles. The NAT GAS Act , a bipartisan bill proposed on
both sides of Congress, would advance the use of natural gas as a
transportation fuel.”