Energy Security Leadership Council Steps Forward, Pushing for National Energy Independence

The NYT reported today that a group entitled the Energy Security Leadership Council (ESLC), is lobbying Congress and the White House to initiate a campaign to lessen the country's reliance on foreign sources of oil. The council's members hail from the transport and chemical sectors, and include Frederick W. Smith, the founder and chief executive of FedEx (an ESLC co-chair), P.X. Kelley, a retired Marine commandant (the other ESLC co-chair), and prestigious executives from Dow Chemical, Waste Management, Southwest Airlines, a former Navy secretary and the Air Force chief of staff.

The group plans to launch a television and print ad campaign to convey its message that the US must reduce its dependence on foreign oil, and hopefully initiate a paradigm shift that changes the view of oil reserves as a key strategic and economic motivator for the nation's actions.

According to the piece, the group is also begining to meet with government officials. It is pushing for better fuel economy standards for cars, SUVs and heavy trucks, specifically proposing a 4 percent annual increase in fuel economy for vehicles up to 10,000 pounds, increased drilling offshore and within the United States, and increased development of the ethanol and biofuels sector.

Efforts to drill in the continental US, most notably the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), have been met with strong opposition from environmentalists; and the debate on the sustainability and practicality of proposed ethanol industry growth is still ablaze. It is difficult to say how successful the group will be in its efforts.

Nonetheless, the membership of this group is impressive, and it has won the endorsement from several politicians. Quoted in the Times piece, is Rep. Steny H. Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat. He states, "when prominent C.E.O.s and military leaders get together to advocate an issue as important as energy security, people listen."

With eyes around the world focused on the situation in Iraq right now, and the US government's current deliberations geared toward changing a strategy that is increasingly being viewed as broken - the timing for such a well-staffed panel to step forward is not all that surprising.


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