Obama calls for deep cuts in U.S. oil imports
President Barack Obama on Wednesday proposed to cut U.S. oil imports by a third over 10 years, a goal that eluded his predecessors and seen as extremely ambitious by analysts skeptical it can succeed. (Reuters)
Energy Policy: President Obama wants to cut oil imports by a third after telling Brazil he wants to be their best customer. Cellulosic ethanol won’t cut it, and neither will talking out of both sides of your teleprompter.
In a Georgetown University address that echoed President Jimmy Carter’s “moral equivalent of war” speech in 1977, the president on Wednesday outlined his plan to reduce oil imports by one-third over the next decade.
Carter, too, set the goal of reducing oil imports by a third through conservation, increased fuel efficiency, more use of ethanol and other alternative energy sources, and the wearing of more sweaters.
There was nothing new in Obama’s version. It didn’t work then. It won’t work now. (Investors.com)
Israel Targets Energy Superpower Status
By Peter C Glover
First it was two major offshore natural gas field discoveries. Now it’s an ambitious plan to exploit Israel’s massive shale oil deposits in the Shfela Basin. The gas finds alone will make the country self-sufficient in natural gas for decades and debut Israel as a key regional energy exporter. The latter, if successful, would quite simply catapult Israel into the energy superpower league.
Not surprisingly domestic excitement over Israel’s prospective new energy status is palpable, with the state’s energy insiders barely able to contain themselves, and with good reason. (Energy Tribune)
