Break America's Addiction to Oil

by: EndOil
recipient: Presidential Candidates, U.S. Congress

Think $4 for a gallon of gas is high? America's record-high prices at the pump are a mere fraction of the true cost of oil, when we figure in the lost jobs, higher taxes, terrorism threats, unnecessary wars, death and health problems caused by our dependence on oil. As a nation, we spend nearly $51 million on foreign oil each hour.

Not only are U.S. taxpayers paying record-high prices at the pump, we are also providing big oil companies with billions of dollars in subsidies despite their record profits. It's time for our government to enact a comprehensive national plan to free us from oil dependency. Call on the presidential candidates, your representatives and your senators to develop a plan before Independence Day 2009 to end our addiction to oil!

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Dear [Decision-maker],

We, the American People, recognize that our dependence on oil poses an urgent and dire threat to our health, economy and national security. Therefore, we urge you to take immediate, concrete and comprehensive action to address this addiction and spur job creation by replacing oil with clean, low-carbon energy alternatives.

The costs of oil dependency - in sickness and deaths, lost jobs and higher taxes, terrorism and unnecessary wars - are staggering, and are more than the American people should have to bear.

Oil funds terrorists and some of the world's most dangerous, corrupt regimes.

Oil is responsible for "Diesel Death Zones" around too many of our nation's ports and goods-movement hubs, where high cancer risk rates, premature deaths, childhood asthma and heart and lung disease plague innocent Americans.

Oil is one of the world's primary sources of greenhouse gases, creating a global climate catastrophe that threatens life as we know it on this planet, in our lifetimes.

Oil's toll on our economy and our pocketbooks is huge, and extends well beyond the record-high prices of gasoline and diesel.

Oil costs Americans more than $2 billion a day. Every hour, we spend nearly $51 million on foreign oil. And, as one senior Bush Administration official has warned, "Every recession in the last 40 years was preceded by a significant increase in oil prices."

And yet, U.S. taxpayers are still providing big oil companies with billions of dollars in subsidies, even while sky-high oil prices result in record profits for them.

Therefore, by Independence Day of 2009, we call on you to enact a comprehensive national plan to free us from oil dependency.

This plan must decrease oil use sufficiently to meet the greenhouse gas reductions that scientists say are needed to avoid a global warming catastrophe: 85 percent (below 2000 levels) by 2050.

This plan must be implemented immediately. The head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - who was selected to run that premier scientific authority on climate change with the support of the Bush Administration - has said it best: "If there's no action before 2012, that's too late. What we do in the next two to three years will determine our future. This is the defining moment."

The American people have the will to end our oil addiction. Proven technologies exist to do the job. And where America goes, the world will follow.

All we need is leadership, commitment and action from you.

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Oil funds terrorists and some of the world's most dangerous, corrupt regimes.
Oil is responsible for "Diesel Death Zones" around too many of our nation's ports and goods-movement hubs, where high cancer risk rates, premature deaths, childhood asthma and heart and lung disease plague innocent Americans.
Oil is one of the world's primary sources of greenhouse gases, creating a global climate catastrophe that threatens life as we know it on this planet, in our lifetimes.
Oil's toll on our economy and our pocketbooks is huge, and extends well beyond the record-high prices of gasoline and diesel.
Oil costs Americans more than $2 billion a day. Every hour, we spend nearly $51 million on foreign oil. And, as one senior Bush Administration official has warned, "Every recession in the last 40 years was preceded by a significant increase in oil prices."

And yet, U.S. taxpayers are still providing big oil companies with billions of dollars in subsidies, even while sky-high oil prices result in record profits for them. Therefore, by Independence Day of 2009, we call on you to enact a comprehensive national plan to free us from oil dependency.

This plan must decrease oil use sufficiently to meet the greenhouse gas reductions that scientists say are needed to avoid a global warming catastrophe: 85 percent (below 2000 levels) by 2050.
This plan must be implemented immediately. The head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - who was selected to run that premier scientific authority on climate change with the support of the Bush Administration - has said it best: "If there's no action before 2012, that's too late. What we do in the next two to three years will determine our future. This is the defining moment."

The American people have the will to end our oil addiction. Proven technologies exist to do the job. And where America goes, the world will follow. All we need is leadership, commitment and action from you.

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Break America's Addiction to Oil