We aren't addicted to oil, but our cars are.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
For decades the American people have had an addiction to oil and gas.
Practically every environmental problem we have can be traced to our addiction to fossil fuels, primarily oil.
And almost half of American oil consumption is for motor vehicles.
We all know we have a problem, a broad problem. Ninety-eight percent of the fuel that is used by our vehicles, our autos and trucks for personal and commercial purposes, for highway and air travel operates on oil. The world has the same problem.
Despite the previous efforts of Congresses, our addiction to foreign oil, as the President stated, is greater today than ever before. That dependency is a threat to our national security, and we must address that threat.
We need to reduce or at least limit U.S. demand for oil as quickly as possible, and we need to develop new technologies that can further help address our addiction to oil in the future.
We need to move away from oil, period.
The country remains dependent on oil. But as we are now learning, oil is becoming increasingly scarce.
The popular notion is that Americans are addicted to fossil fuels, but I find that's not true; most people would be happy to power their lives with anything else.
Life without oil, in fact, would be so different that it is frightening to contemplate. We are addicted, and it is no comfortable addiction.