WASHINGTON -- December 10 -- Washington, DC: The biggest challenge facing a new Energy Secretary is cutting America's oil dependence and developing an energy policy to make America safer and cleaner. This is made more difficult because Vice President Cheney and a group of energy industry executives, meeting in secret, put American energy policy on the wrong track.

Dr. Samuel W. Bodman's oversight of NOAA while Deputy Secretary of Commerce gave him first-hand experience with the consequences of global warming. He was literally in charge of watching the polar ice caps melt. With Dr. Bodman's scientific and financial background, one could hope he would have the vision to use new technology to solve America's energy problems. This means increasing reliance on efficiency and renewable energy; not oil, coal and nuclear power.

There's a better way. The Bush Administration should promote a visionary energy policy by:

• Increasing average automobile fuel economy to 40 miles per gallon
• Producing 20 percent of America's electricity from renewable sources like wind and solar power by the year 2020
• Increasing energy efficiency to reduce our energy usage by two percent every year for the next ten years
• Eliminating distorting energy subsidies that promote bad energy policies
• Improving and increasing mass transit systems

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