Breaking the Oil Addiction

Our country is addicted to oil, and we are paying a fearful price. Our profligate use of petroleum contributes to air pollution, urban smog and global warming. Our addiction leaves us dependant on relatively unstable foreign sources of supply. And, it increases the pressure for oil and gas exploration in sensitive areas like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the front range of the Rockies.

We must end this addiction. There are several possible substitutes for oil as a transportation fuel, each of which has its advantages and disadvantages. But for the last fifteen years, we have made far too little effort to develop these less damaging alternatives. Less than 2% of the fuels used in transportation come from non-petroleum sources — most of it from ethanol produced from corn.