Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
The obstinacy of President G.W. Bush on this issue required the country to wait
until 2009 to find a way out of this strategic impasse.
The dilemma is also technological. After the nuclear accident at Three Mile
Island in 1979, the US froze its civil nuclear program. As a result, most of the
electricity consumed in the United States is produced in thermal power stations
fueled by coal, gas or oil.
There is now talk of reviving the nuclear program and the production of
electricity from renewable energy sources. In his State of the Union address in 2006,
President Bush proposed a plan along these lines (Advanced Energy Initiative);
meanwhile, his administration continued to support the development of domestic oil
production, which clearly contradicts the Advanced Energy Initiative.
The third dilemma is related to the environment. After much stalling and denial
of the obvious, American public opinion is now convinced that the burning of fossil
fuels is responsible for global warming which is in turn threatening the security of
the country itself, particularly on the coasts with coastal erosion in Alaska, increased
hurricane hazards in South-Eastern states, the threat of coastal regions being
permanently submerged under water, and the excessive heat and forest fires in the
West.
Other more indirect problems result from global warming. Insect infestation of
forests and the arrival of new diseases of tropical origin are two examples. After the
West Nile virus traveled from Africa to New York by plane in 1999, the mosquitoes
that carry this tropical disease grew accustomed to the United States. In 2001, cases
of this virus were identified throughout the eastern half of the country. The West has
been infested since 2003, and the number of cases increases every year.
The main problem is that the transportation sector in the United States, entirely
dependent on oil, already represents 28% of the total domestic consumption of
energy, and this consumption continues to grow. Air transportation has become
crucial to facilitating mobility within the national territory just as road transport has
become essential to ensuring connections within cities that are extremely spread out.
To reduce the country's dependency on oil would therefore either require radical
changes in lifestyle and a reorganization of territory - both difficult to imagine - or
radical innovations in technology (biofuels, hybrid vehicles, hydrogen engines, etc.)
capable of completely remodeling the transportation industry. Today, the United
States seems to be engaging in this second approach, which also has the advantage
of providing promising economic growth opportunities.
