An emerging House proposal for a multi-year transportation bill, highlighted at a press conference today by Speaker John Boehner, is already raising strong concerns due to the stated intent to fund the massive shortfall in gas tax revenues for transportation through controversial increases in oil drilling and speculative energy exploration. It’s encouraging to hear House leaders [...]

America’s reliance on oil, particularly by our thirsty transportation system, comes with numerous costs that do not always show up at the pump, as well as the heavy dependence on foreign sources to sell us most of the oil we need to keep things moving each day.

When Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced last week that he was unable to secure the 60 votes needed to move forward on comprehensive climate legislation, it put an end to any realistic chance of capping carbon emissions in 2010, making it more urgent than ever to pass a reformed transportation bill that can help us reduce emissions and oil use.

President Obama stressed America’s reliance on oil during his Oval Office address last week, noting that we consume 20 percent of the world’s reserves while supplying only 2 percent. The transportation sector accounts for 70 percent of the nation’s oil consumption. The need for a blueprint to address these imbalances could not be clearer, says Natural Resources Defense Council Executive Director Peter Lehner. Lehner points to the T4 Blueprint as an important guidepost.

While certainly not the lone culprit for the tragic Gulf oil spill itself, our demand for oil is one reason we have thousands of holes poked in the earth’s crust in delicate places like the Gulf of Mexico. As we’ve pointed out here before, 70 percent of the oil we consume goes into our transportation system to get us and our goods from A to B each day. One thing is certain: if we’re ever going to prevent disasters like this in the future and rid ourselves of our dependence on oil, we’re going to have to use less of the stuff. But how can we do such a thing?