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Secure

Across the world, energy has now become the linchpin of economic competitiveness, forcing the U.S. and its industrial competitors to strategically reassess their energy supplies and sources. The perception of energy scarcity has become acute as political instability menaces existing supplies and unfriendly governments threaten to nationalize energy assets.

America’s reliance on foreign oil has repeatedly harmed the nation.  The Arab Oil Embargo of 1973 triggered crippling inflation in the United States.  The 2005 hurricane season exposed the nation’s over-reliance on petroleum refining capacity along the Gulf of Mexico.  Instability in the Middle East today routinely sends gasoline prices soaring in anticipation of potentially serious supply problems.  Additionally, the United States now faces intensified competition for energy from rapidly expanding economies such as China and India.

Clearly, a secure America in the 21st century will require energy security. Our security is jeopardized, however, by our increasing reliance on foreign energy. The United States currently depends on foreign sources for 60 percent of its domestic oil requirements, including crude oil and refined products. According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), that dependence will grow to 70 percent by 2025.

Already, imported energy – including crude oil and natural gas — accounts for a third of the record U.S. trade deficit and was a major reason why Americans pay more for energy with each passing year. The “hidden cost” of defending oil supplies in the Persian Gulf, estimated conservatively at $305 billion annually, must also be added to the bill for our addiction to energy imports.

For a forceful response to the energy challenge, the U.S. must make greater use of its unrivalled coal reserves — to provide significant new supplies of clean gas and liquid fuels, to enhance oil and coal bed methane recovery and to produce ethanol.

The U.S. has 27 percent of world coal supply — the largest of any country — but less than 2 percent of the world’s oil and less than 3 percent of its natural gas. By contrast, Iran and Russia together possess almost half of the world’s supply of natural gas.

Production of coal-derived gas and liquid fuels would expand potential uses of America’s nearly 250 billion tons of recoverable coal reserves beyond electricity generation to help reduce our reliance on foreign sources of oil, while promoting national security and providing for sustained economic growth.

With coal reserves and production dispersed widely among more than two dozen states, the U.S. boasts a geographic diversity of domestic fuel supply that is less susceptible to natural disasters and terrorist threat.  Moreover, U.S. coal reserves cannot be nationalized by a foreign government, require no costly armed forces to protect, nor costly exploration efforts to discover.

For these reasons, gas and liquid fuels derived from coal are among the most practical, promising answers to greater energy security for the United States.