Bush State of Union to stress energy security

Congressional efforts
Congress has not been all that helpful, either.

The energy law passed in 2005 authorized $3.8 billion worth of renewable energy and conservation programs. But a vast majority of those programs are without funds, neither requested by the administration nor approved by Congress.

Callahan points to a $450 million consumer education and outreach campaign on energy efficiency in that law, but says "not one penny has been appropriated" nor has the money been sought by the administration.

Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman says the administration over the years has spent nearly $12 billion in developing new energy technologies. He cited the president's $2.1 billion "advanced energy initiative" in the State of the Union a year ago.

Renewable fuels
But most of that program goes for nuclear research and clean coal technology that generally has little impact on the country's dependence on oil, 70 percent of which is used in transportation.

For that, Bush told a renewable fuels conference last year in St. Louis, "we need to change how we power our automobiles. ... I like the idea of promoting a fuel that relies upon our farmers."

Bush has supported lawmakers' push to use more corn-based ethanol as a gasoline blend and he is expected to call for a sharp escalation of ethanol use in his speech.

It is a political sure bet as ethanol has widespread bipartisan support.

Among the first bills introduced in the new Democratic-run Senate calls for using 60 billion gallons of ethanol, 10 times current production capacity, by 2030.

Two 2008 presidential hopefuls, Democratic Sens. Barack Obama of Illinois and Joe Biden of Delaware, are its leading co-sponsors.

Ethanol is "riding a big wave" this year, says Mark McMinimy, a policy analyst at the Stanford Group. "The renewable fuels-ethanol juggernaut enjoys one of the most prized commodities in Washington - broad-based support, bipartisan political momentum."

But even there, the administration has been criticized for not living up to the rhetoric.

In last year's State of the Union speech, Bush announced a goal to make a "new kind of ethanol practical and competitive within six years." His administration followed within days with a budget calling for only a modest increase - about $29 million - for research into cellulosic ethanol development.

Last week, the House passed legislation that would funnel $14 billion in money collected from oil companies into a renewable fuel fund. Ethanol lobbyist Bob Dinneen of the Renewable Fuels Association welcomed the action and urged that the fund finance loan guarantees - approved by Congress in 2005, but not funded - for cellulosic ethanol plants.

Yet the White House strongly opposed the House-passed bill in part because it said additional taxes on the oil companies should not be used to pay for such new programs.

A report last week by the General Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, concluded "it is unlikely" that the government's current research and development programs will provide the alternative energy sources needed to "reverse our growing dependence on imported oil."

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