Former US presidential advisors call for comprehensive energy plan

23 February 2012 23:21  [Source: ICIS news]

ORLANDO, Florida (ICIS)--Former US presidential advisors Karl Rove and Robert Gibbs agreed on Thursday that the US needs an "all of the above" energy policy that includes renewable sources.

Rove was an advisor to former President George W Bush, while Gibbs was a confidant of President Barack Obama.

The two disagreed on everything else during a debate-like keynote luncheon presentation at the National Ethanol Conference in Orlando.

Gibbs said the US uses 25% of the world's oil supply while only having 2% of the reserves.

"We have to redouble our commitment to renewable energy, be it wind, be it solar, be it renewable fuels," he said. "We have to figure out how to get more natural gas out of the ground. We have to figure out how to use coal competitively."

Rove said the 2% statistic that Gibbs used was a "phony number".

That statistic does not count reserves in shale rock formations, the outer continental shelf of the US or the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, he added.

Rove said the US was using less foreign oil, in part, because of Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), which requires refiners to blend renewable fuels, like ethanol, into gasoline.

By: Bobbie Clark
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