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Initiate a full-scale Manhattan Project to find new energy sources.
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This is a frequent, call that especially the libs love to repeat, but has fallen on deaf ears so far.
In truth, the President of the United States could start this "Manhattan Project" just like Roosevelt did- with an executive order. In today's Project that order would declare it is in the national security interest to stop purchasing oil from any country outside of North America. The order would instruct the appropriate government department to immediately impose a system of oil import licenses that could only be purchased by open auction, similar to the way the Treasury sells public debt.
The power of this idea is that the quantity of foreign oil that would be licensed to import would go to *zero* at a date certain in the future. This date certain would be set, maybe 15 years in the future, but would be set to allow the free domestic market to build sufficient facilities to convert whatever resources we have into suitable fuels.
At the very least, we have more hydrocarbons in the form of coal under Illinois than the Saudis have in oil. We likewise for oil shale in Utah and Colorado. At this very moment the governor of Montana is pushing conversion of his state's small ocean of coal into diesel with several commercial projects.
Given that the present price of oil is at or above the breakeven costs of these proven conversion technologies, moving in an orderly and deliberate way to zero oil imports would not result in an increase in the domestic cost of fuels. Further, if properly structured, this conversion would be happily funded by private capital (even a lot from overseas), where the prospect was tangible in profiting from the ocean of money now being directed domestically instead of to the Saudis.
For US hydrocarbon resources, the 1mb PDF presentation:
http://www.westgov.org/wieb/meetings/boardsprg2005/briefing/ppt/congressionalbrief.pdfThe power of this idea is that the quantity of foreign oil that would be licensed to import would go to *zero* at a date certain in the future. Not necessary, to keep the price reasonable, and adversary political leverage at a minimum.
You can still import -- even from Moslem countries -- without encouraging that kind of behavior.