Energy Secretary Stephen Chu testified to the House Appropriations Committee today, defending his 27.2 billion budget request for 2012.
Rep. Alan Nunnelee of Mississippi challenged Chu on rising gas prices, reminding him that it was a “cruel tax” on the poor people of his state and suggested that the Obama administration was dragging its feet on oil exploration.
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Chu said that he was aware of the rising prices, and cited “agressive efforts” to develop alternative fuels for transportation such as natrual gas, electrification, and bio-fuels for American vehicles as a solution.
“Is the overall goal to get our price (down)? Nunnelee began. “No.” interrupted Chu, “The overall goal is to decrease our dependency on oil, to build and strengthen our economy and decrease our dependency on oil.
Chu admitted, however, that domestic oil production was at the highest level in the last 8 years thanks to the Obama and Bush administrations, but repeated his goal to reduce American consumption of oil.
“We think that we can go a long way on becoming less dependent on oil and diversifying our supply and helping the American economy and American consumers,” he concluded.
