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US: Bush Remarks on Oil Draw Skepticism, Hope

President Bush's call to break the U.S. "addiction" to oil generally drew a mixture of skepticism and hope abroad Wednesday, while the president of OPEC said such a change in energy policy wasn't possible in such a short time.

The French daily Le Monde expressed doubt that Bush could reach his goal of cutting oil imports from the Middle East by 75 percent in the next two decades.

"The goal seems difficult to reach for the United States, which is expected to consume 26 million barrels of oil per day in 2025, with 60 percent from imports," it said.

Bush said in his State of the Union speech Tuesday night that America must look to coal-fired plants, solar and wind technology and nuclear energy to heat homes and offices, and develop hybrid and electric cars for transportation. He also urged new ways of producing ethanol, not just from corn but also "wood chips, stalks or switch grass" _ and do it within six years.

"By applying the talent and technology of America, this country can dramatically improve our environment, move beyond a petroleum-based economy and make our dependence on Middle Eastern oil a thing of the past," Bush said.

OPEC President Edmund Daukoru, who is also Nigeria's oil minister, reacted coolly, cautioning against taking a "unilateral" approach to rising oil prices.

"OPEC itself does not subscribe to a view that one can simply sidestep oil overnight or within a short timespan, or that we could do without oil from certain parts of the world," Daukoru said at a news conference in Vienna, Austria. "I see oil as a resource for the entire human race, and that is the OPEC viewpoint."

But Bush won praise from other quarters.

"Many people have said it is amazing that an oil man would do that. But the oil man is the president and the president has low ratings," said Robert McGeehan, a fellow in American Foreign Policy at the Royal Institute of International Affairs. "Americans love motor cars, and high petrol prices have affected them."

Even so, activists such as Steven Sawyer, a spokesman for Greenpeace International, wished him well _ and offered hope that the Congress would back his vision with funding.

"The first step in dealing with an addiction is recognizing the problem, so you could call this the first step in a 12-step program to end oil-aholism," Sawyer said. "Good luck to him. It's something that desperately needs to be done."

Other environmentalists saw the moment as a watershed in efforts to bring about change in energy policies.

"I heard the speech and I thought it was pretty radical to hear the president of the United States finally saying U.S. is addicted to oil," said Amanda Roll-Pickering, from the Center for Alternative Technology in Wales. "I've heard American environmentalists say it, but never the president, so it is a pretty big milestone."

However, other environmentalists said the words rang hollow given that the United States still refuses to take part in efforts to reduce global emissions.

And the reliance on new technology troubled Kevin Curtis, a top official at the National Environmental Trust, a non-profit organization based in Washington.

"It's the fifth year of empty rhetoric." he said. "There was no call for action, or to drive less. Just that we need new technology to solve our problems, someday somehow. He didn't even call for higher fuel efficiency in cars and trucks."

Valerie Marcel, an expert on energy and oil at the Chatham House think-tank, said Bush has good reasons to make America less dependent on Middle East oil.

"The big concern for Republican senators is ... the idea that Middle East producers are making so much money from high oil prices. This money they feel could, and will, fund terrorism against the U.S.," she said.

However, she cautioned against expecting anything dramatic.

"In contrast to Europe, what George Bush's speech reflects is that there is no question of changing lifestyles in the U.S.," she said. "It is only about finding new energy that isn't so politically costly that can maintain this lifestyle. People can keep buying the SUVs but they can run them on ethanol instead."

In Jordan, political analyst Labib Kamhawi saw Bush's statements on Middle Eastern oil as tied to the war in Iraq.

"Bush wants to prove that he has no interest in the Iraqi oil by doing what he did to Iraq," Kamhawi told The Associated Press.

"He specially mentioned the year 2025 as a goal, but with the accelerated technology development which is bound to happen, it means that the world's dependance on oil will diminish anyhow without being limited to the Middle East," Kamhawi said.

On the streets of Baghdad, residents like Baqir Jaafar, 52, an employee with the Ministry of Health, saw the need for oil as the reason for Bush's plan to stay the course in Iraq.

"The United States of America didn't come to Iraq for the sake of Iraqi people, but they are here for oil and other interests," he said. "I think the mission of the U.S. army came to (an) end when they toppled Saddam and there is no excuse for their presence in Iraq."

Posted by: SoulRiser
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Posted in: News on February 1, 2006 @ 12:00 AM

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