By DAVID HERBERT
President-elect Barack Obama must resist the temptation to reap short-term political gains in his push for energy independence and reduced greenhouse gases, experts on a Brookings Institution transition panel warned this afternoon.
Charles Ebinger, director of the Energy Security initiative, said Obama ought to make increased production of hybrid vehicles the cornerstone of any federal bailout agreement with the faltering auto industry.
"It's time to get tough on Detroit," Ebinger said. Rotating more green vehicles into the nation's fleet is the key to reducing petroleum consumption, he added, since the vast majority of oil is used as transportation fuel.
The three factors driving public support for alternative energy -- climate change concerns, national security worries and the high price of energy -- will not always go hand in hand or necessarily all fire on the same cylinders, the panelists argued. The marked decline in fuel prices in recent weeks will benefit the economy and take some leverage away from oil-producing states, but it may also deplete the political will for bold new energy policies, they said.
And while politicians and businesses may celebrate the cheaper oil, Ebinger doesn't expect those low rates to last long.
"The further the price oil goes down," Ebinger warned, "the faster it will go back up."
Also on the panel were William Antholis, the managing director of Brookings, Suzanne Maloney, a senior fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy, and E.J. Dionne, a senior fellow at Brookings and a columnist for the Washington Post. The panel discussion was the second in a 12-part series dealing with the transition that Brookings is hosting this fall.
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