PCAP - Presidential Climate Action Project

The President should establish the following goals, milestones andperformance indicators for national energy policy: …From 2010 to 2050: Economywide energy demand will be reduced atleast 2.5% annually, leading to reductions of at least 25% by 2020 and50% by 2030. The savings will involve all sectors – buildings, industry,transportation and energy supply. PCAP Report 3:4.2. Reduce domestic oil consumption 50% by 2020.This reduction exceeds the amount of petroleum the U.S. imports from thePersian Gulf and from OPEC. However, the way petroleum is handled inthe world oil market makes it difficult to ensure that the United States isno longer consuming oil from the Persian Gulf. The President shouldconvene a Presidential Commission on Energy Independence to develop astrategy for: 1) achieving the 50% reduction target, 2) reducing or endingthe flow of American dollars to the Gulf, and 3) eliminating oil imports bymid-century. The Commission should build upon the work already doneon these goals by other groups, including the National Commission onEnergy Policy. PCAP Report 4:4.This target is framed in terms of recalibrating the energy plan. The President has a key role inplanning national energy policy. Further, this is consistent with a national policy that has beenestablished for over twenty years. Chapter 4(C) of the Boundaries Report reviews some keypieces of legislation passed in the 1970s, largely in response to the “Oil Crisis” that resulted fromthe OPEC oil embargo. The primary purpose of this legislation is to reduce reliance on importedsources of energy, specifically petroleum, and one of the key strategies employed in thelegislation is the reduction of energy consumption through conservation and efficiency. 91 TheEnergy Independence and Security Act of 2007 is a more recent declaration of this nationalpolicy. 92The President has the authority to convene the commission contemplated by this proposal.Depending on the composition of the commission it may be subject to the administrative andopen-government requirements of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA). Advisorycommittees are the subject matter of Proposal F.3) Reduce vehicle miles traveled 20% by 2020; 50% by 2050.The President should set these parameters [as part of 1 above]:91 See, e.g., National Energy Conservation Policy Act, Pub. L. No. 95-619, 92 Stat. 3206 (1978), (codified at 42U.S.C. §§ 8201-8287d); Energy Policy and Conservation Act, Pub. L. No. 94-163, 89 Stat. 871 (1975) (primarilycodified at 42 U.S.C. §§ 6201-6244); Boundaries Report, Chapter (C)(2).92 Pub. L. No. 110-140, 121 Stat. 1498 (2007) (“An Act to move the United States toward greater energyindependence and security, to increase the production of clean renewable fuels, to protect consumers, to increase theefficiency of products, buildings, and vehicles, to promote research on and deploy greenhouse gas capture andstorage options, and to improve the energy performance of the Federal Government, and for other purposes.”)CEES 21 | P age