The 4th of July is a day of noisy celebration. Independence Day is one of quiet gratitude. Amid the fun of families, friends, and communities coming together for America’s birthday party, we give thanks to the founding generation of Americans who risked all to overcome tyranny so that they, and all the generations to come, could live in freedom.
We are mindful that freedom was not won in a day. It took those patriots of long ago six long years of hardship, sacrifice, and courage to gain their independence. It has taken the commitment of Americans ever since to keep it.
We Americans of today are confronted by a challenge to our independence that is unprecedented in nature. The threat comes not from a hostile foreign power bent on military conquest and political dominance, but from our reliance on foreign oil. We have known since the first oil embargo 35 years ago that this dependence is unwise. We have seen in recent years, and especially in recent months, that it is a dire threat to the security of our nation and the well-being of our people. Facing up to this threat by achieving energy independence is the new American imperative.
The sharp spikes in the price of oil are causing great harm to our economy, from the major industries that drive our nation forward to the small businesses that are the lifeblood of our communities.
As I travel throughout Maine, I hear again and again of the hardship this is causing. With summer barely underway, Mainers are genuinely worried about next winter. For far too many, keeping warm will not be merely an expensive inconvenience, but impossibility. Worse still, we are impoverishing ourselves in order to enrich regimes in the Middle East and in Venezuela that are openly hostile to America and to our ideals of democracy and liberty.
First and foremost, we must alleviate the hardship to our working families, elderly and disadvantaged citizens. Last week, as co-chairman of the Senate Northeast-Midwest Coalition, I was joined by 44 other senators in calling on the President to release $120 million in remaining contingency funds from the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. In addition to helping to pay energy bills for low-income families and the elderly, LIHEAP helps to fund energy crisis intervention programs, low-cost residential weatherization and other energy-related home repairs. In addition, I have proposed significant increases in funding for weatherization efforts, with Americorps volunteers assisting with these vital home-improvement projects.
But conservation and financial assistance will not resolve this crisis. We will achieve energy self-sufficiency and true independence only by developing new energy sources. While I believe today’s improved technology enables us to open up new areas in the Gulf of Mexico for oil exploration safely and responsibly, we must invest in the clean, renewable energy of the future.
Maine is well positioned to help lead our nation into this future. Our “Three Ws” – wind, water, and wood – are three of the most promising renewable resources. The potential of wind farms, the power of our tides and ocean currents, and advancements in clean-burning wood and wood-pellet stoves hold the promise of a new era in affordable and economically responsible energy production.
Tapping this potential will require investment and ingenuity. Just as we remember July 4, 1776, we should also remember July 20, 1969. It was on that day that Apollo 11 landed on the Moon and our American flag was planted in the heavens. The challenge we had taken on 12 years earlier with the launch of the Soviet satellite Sputnik had been met with a national commitment to science and technology.
A new commitment to our future is essential. Just as we answered Sputnik with 12 years of concerted national effort, we now must set a national goal of achieving energy independence by the year 2020. We may not reach that goal in full during that time, but every step toward it is a step toward greater independence.
The American spirit was born on a July day in 1776. Its capacity to achieve great things was evident on a July day in 1969. With that same spirit, we can meet the challenge of achieving energy independence.