President Obama’s recent energy address was generally regarded by Washington observers as a rehash of previous policy proposals. Out of the goals layed out in the speech, the President’s commitment to a one third reduction in oil imports by 2020 stood out as the only quantifiable promise. In today’s GR Energy and Climate Brief, Garten Rothkopf takes the President’s oil import reduction goal to task, measuring how different policy initiatives will affect oil consumption.

Moments after President Obama’s Wednesday address on energy, consensus in Washington had formed - the speech did not contain anything new, it was not ambitious in scope and vision and it would not placate his opponents nor activate his base. Further, while there was general agreement that the majority of items in the speech were simply reaffirmations of previous policy initiatives, the President’s commitment to a one-third reduction in oil imports by 2020 stood out as the only quantifiable promise in his address. In today’s GR Energy and Climate Brief, we examine the President’s oil import reduction promise, measuring how his suite of policy proposals: increased oil development, electric vehicle deployment and vehicle efficiency standards will affect US oil imports, as well as how his proposals could fare in Congress and what is not being talked about.

Oil Reduction

While the crux of the President’s speech on Wednesday centered on decreasing oil imports by a third within a decade, the numbers speak to the absence of a strategy that would facilitate an overall decrease in oil demand.

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