WASHINGTON, DC — At a speech at the National Press Club today, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton called for a “Strategic Energy Fund” to jumpstart research and investment in clean energy technologies, and to help America reach the goal of reducing oil imports by 50 percent by 2025.
“Our present system of energy is weakening our national security, hurting our pocketbooks, violating our common values and threatening our children's future. Right now, instead of national security dictating our energy policy, our failed energy policy dictates our national security,” said Senator Clinton. “Today I want to suggest a concrete goal of reducing our dependence on foreign oil 50 percent by 2025, a reduction in oil consumption of just under 8 million barrels a day. I believe a 50 by 25 initiative will energize our economy, not undermine it.”
In the speech, Senator Clinton announced that she is introducing legislation to create a “Strategic Energy Fund” to help pay for the clean energy transition. The legislation places a temporary fee on major oil company profits that exceed a 2000-2004 profit baseline. The fee would be in place for two years, and companies could offset their fee by investing in refinery capacity, ethanol production, or electricity generation from wind and other renewable sources. The proposal also eliminates oil company tax breaks that the companies have said they don’t need, and ensures that oil companies pay their fair share of royalties for drilling on public lands. It would raise more than $50 billion to fund research, development and deployment of energy technologies that will reduce America’s oil dependence and greenhouse gas emissions. The Strategic Energy Fund will:
http://www.senate.gov/~clinton/news/statements/details.cfm?id=255988
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