Professor Dimon
English 091
November 5, 2006
"Oil Dependency: Increase Research Funds" America's dependency on foreign oil is slowly crippling the average citizen's hard-earned income with outrageous fluctuation in gas prices. The American government seriously needs to step it in gear and start taking action on possible supplemental energy sources to replace foreign oil and actually begin providing those sources to the public without overpricing. Today's foreign oil is polluting our air and crushing we as American's pockets. "Rising U.S. demand for imported oil accounts for more than a third of the U.S. trade deficit, draining more than $500 million per day out of the U.S. economy. Burning oil fouls the air, harms public health, and contributes significantly to rising concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere" (www.fcnl.org). The problem in today's American society is greed. There are too many corporate giants that are afraid of their back pocket deflating. If we were to provide these possible alternate energy resources, the corporate giants would have to take a cut in their billion dollar salary in order for the American consumer to afford the alternative. This idea would be very tough to accomplish. My proposal is for politicians, who have the necessary power, to begin a national campaign on helping to increase research funds for alternative fuel sources. The national increase in research funds could greatly benefit this countries oil dependency. There are several companies that are in the process of developing alternative Bryant 2
resources for fuel. We have already seen the new hybrid cars begin coming out to attempt the cut back on foreign oils. But these alternatives are not