MoveBeyondOil.org

About MBO

MBO’s Vision — A letter from our Chairman & Founder Peter Forman

What will MoveBeyondOil.org do?

— We will use sophisticated materials to educate key media and legislative leaders.

· We will focus on the two “tip of the spear” issues:
> The hidden cost of oil
> The unrealized geo-political implications

· We will recommend a non-partisan solution that will encourage private industry to step-up to rapidly provide alternatives.

— We will explain to traditional environmentalists and national security/economic conservatives why their interests are actually aligned.

— We will not lobby congress, lobby for bills, nor use inefficient commercial advertising.

Change can only come when Americans at a grass-roots and grass-tops level understand the dangers and demand change—change that counts!

MBO’s Vision — A letter from our Chairman & Founder Peter Forman

A Letter from MBO Chairman & Founder Peter Forman...

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend."

An old Chinese and Arab proverb holds that the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
Americans of all political bents, left, right, and center have a common enemy even if they disagree on so much else.
Oil.
Our enemy.

Oil is an addiction that is destroying its consumer.

Most people know the "pocketbook" costs and the environmental costs of that dependency.

They don't recognize the hidden economic, national security, and cultural costs of that dependency.

This dependence is "funding both sides of the war," as some have said.
More clearly, we are CREATING, not just funding dysfunctional societies around the world whose values are antithetical to ours.
It is not just mere happenstance that many of countries whose economies are preponderantly oil-driven are always repressive, regressive, or totalitarian-leaning.
It is because oil wealth attracts and creates the opportunities for these repressive regimes to flourish.
And it permits a breeding ground for societies that don't develop socially--where woman, foreigners, other religions, and most others have few rights.

In the Middle East, in Russia, in Venezuela, and other countries the corrosive effects of oil-based economies can be seen.
These countries often end up with beliefs that are in stark contradiction to the values that we hold dear: democracy, capitalism, and our cultural values.

These suppliers are now often dedicated to the demise of our country and our values.

Furthermore, there are material, long-term detrimental consequences for the US economy from the daily exporting of $2 to $3 billion petro-dollars. It destroys our currency, exports jobs, causes us to spend untold billions more on military, security, and foreign-aid, and is the lifeblood of these competitive societies.
We spend untold billions protecting our oil-supply routes from the Middle East and in supporting regimes in that same defense.
We would spend our defense and foreign-aid monies very differently if not for our oil dependence.

As I tell my more conservative friends, it doesn't make a difference if you don't believe in global warming.

And as I tell my liberal friends, it doesn't make a difference if you don’t see the national-security or economic risks.

I tell them that they are, in fact, allies and have a common cause—even if for differing reasons.

The INCORRECT answers:

What are the wrong answers; the wrong solutions? Ones that can’t be implemented and/or legislated. Or any that perpetuate our oil dependency.

Again, to my conservative friends, I explain that even if drilling in Anwar were to be legislatively passed, although unlikely, it would yield little extra oil, come way too late, and only serve to allow us to believe we have made progress.

To my liberal friends, I explain that higher taxes on oil and a floor on oil prices are also unlikely. We need a solution that will bring together both sides of the political spectrum and that achieves long-term oil relief.

The CORRECT answer:

The correct solution is one that will actually get implemented. It should be as close to a free-market solution as possible—one that allows business and individuals to bear risk and earn profits. One in which the government does not pick the technology or the energy solutions. One where private industry funds all but the most expensive, most risky research. One that allows multiple sources of energy to compete amongst themselves and does not create a new energy monopoly. One that is environmentally acceptable to those concerned about global warming and other environmental challenges. One that is incented by as few government policies and incentives as possible—but no fewer than are required.

Specifically, the solution is straight-forward:

Cars need to be powered principally by the "grid" — the electric system.
They can be augmented by liquid fuel but should be principally electric (plug-in hybrids). If the market-place can develop hydrogen or other non-emitting vehicles, those would be great as well.
Additionally, the power generators and distributors need to be incented to use ABDFF--Anything But Dirty Fossil Fuels.

Why ABDFF? Because to achieve bi-partisanship, the solutions need to be clean.
What is ABDFF? Wind, solar, hydro, tidal, clean-coal, nuclear, bio-fuels, etc…

(Why nuclear? Local control. Local communities should decide what they want as long as it is ABDFF.)

Why is this best? It will permit the clean fuels to compete in as close to a free-market solution as possible at the entry to the grid.

Utilities are regulated and can be incented to obtain the least expensive most secure energy available, whatever it may be.
Free-market solutions are always best.
From an investment perspective and time-to-market perspective, it is less expensive to get clean power to the grid than to try to distribute new liquid fuels through the American landscape — to every service station.

We, nonetheless, fully support the conversion of cars to use methanol with an inexpensive adaptor that will provide some immediate, but short-term relief to our energy crisis.

How should the power generators be incented? With a credit of x cents per KwH. This will level, to a small extent, the playing field to offset some of the "subsidies" that oil has. It is estimated that the hidden cost of oil is $1 to $15/gallon over the cost at the pump. We believe it is likely in the $3 range.

The technology for electric cars is already approaching the quality for broad scale acceptance. Business requires certainty to invest and bear risk.

In the short-run, we advocate flex-fuels for cars, eliminating the tax on imported ethanol, and turning the ANWR oil fields into our real Strategic Petroleum Reserve; (tap it and cork it till needed.)

The power grid and its potential multiple sources of fuel are the best long-term solution. It permits every community to choose the choice of fuel with which it is most comfortable.

Summary:

It is time for the left and the right and the middle to join hands to fight their common enemy—oil dependence.
The goal of MoveBeyondOil.org is for the United States to declare its intention to have an Oil Independence Day within 10 years.

Help us make it happen.

Peter Forman
Chairman & Founder
MoveBeyondOil.org

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