Oil Really Is a Lubricant

Diverse groups, unlikely allies join fight for energy independence

Military officials, environmental activists, and others from across the political spectrum are speaking up about the need for radical change in American energy policy. Over the last year, a number of labor groups and think tanks have joined the chorus, releasing detailed plans for reducing oil imports. Last month, the Energy Future Coalition -- a group of national-security "energy hawks," military leaders, and industry officials -- released a plan to use tax credits to promote hybrid and ethanol-production technology. The bipartisan National Commission on Energy Policy and the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, a Washington energy think tank, have unveiled plans of their own. "It's one of the great failures of American politics and policy that we are so dependent on oil from one of the most corrupt and unstable areas of the world," says former U.S. Sen. Timothy Wirth. "The world's in crisis, and the U.S. is doing nothing to limit our dependence and extraordinary vulnerability."