For decades the American people have had an addiction to oil and gas.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Thousands upon thousands of people across America and many more across the globe are suffering at the hands of the oil and gas industry.
Practically every environmental problem we have can be traced to our addiction to fossil fuels, primarily oil.
In 1973, America imported 30 percent of its crude oil needs. Today, that number has doubled to more than 60 percent. Gas prices are as high as they are now in part because we've had no comprehensive national energy policy for the past few decades.
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.
Life without oil, in fact, would be so different that it is frightening to contemplate. We are addicted, and it is no comfortable addiction.
Right now too much American time and resources are spent dealing with situations caused by our dependence on oil that we import from unstable countries.
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.
And almost half of American oil consumption is for motor vehicles.
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.
We aren't addicted to oil, but our cars are.