Wendy Sherman: “there is no greater problem in this world than our dependence on petroleum. There is no greater problem for our Nation.…”

“there is no greater problem in this world than our dependence on petroleum. There is no greater problem for our Nation. There is no greater problem for our economy than the fact that we have to import so much oil, sending billions of dollars every year to other countries, thereby impacting our balance of payments. There is no greater problem for families than paying for gasoline and paying to cool or heat their homes. There is no greater problem for the environment than the pollution caused when we burn petroleum, and there is no greater problem for the environment than global warming and the production of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. There is no greater problem for our national security than our reliance on foreign petroleum, first, the physical security of that petroleum and, second, the fact that the rest of the world, if not the United States, finds it necessary in order to acquire petroleum to give money to such countries as Iran and others who use that money for nefarious purposes. Therefore, there is nothing that we can do that is more important than weaning the United States and the world off its dependence of petroleum. And the first step is research, and an important part of that research is cooperative research with other countries similarly dedicated to finding alternative energy. {time} 1345 There is perhaps no better partner than Israel.…”