Oct 10, 2002 By M. Bradford Grabowski For The 3 min read

HARRISBURG – By cutting back on oil imports, Pennsylvania and its residents can reduce the risk of future terrorism, state leaders said at a forum on energy use on Wednesday. In place of the foreign oil, Pennsylvanians should use alternative energy sources and energy sources that are indigenous to Pennsylvania. Doing so would simultaneously benefit the environment, leaders said.

“Today, we’re setting the agenda,” Gov. Mark Schweiker said at the state’s third annual Energy Efficiency Forum.

“We can change lifestyles,” he said. “We can create new technologies. As a result, we can make our state and our nation more independent and more secure. Remember, it’s our independence that the terrorists tried to attack on Sept. 11. And as we find new ways to make ourselves energy self-sufficient, we strengthen our independence.”

In the past three decades, the United States has become increasingly dependent on outside suppliers for petroleum. It currently imports 60 percent of its oil, and more than a quarter of imports come from the politically turbulent Middle East. The nation spent $120 billion last year on foreign oil.

“Of course, we know where some of that money ended up,” said state Rep. Ellen Bard, a leading advocate of energy reform in the Legislature. “It’s important we don’t import any more oil than we need to from countries that consider us their enemies.”

The two lawmakers addressed about 150 energy, industry, government and school leaders from around the state. The theme of this year’s day-long conference was “Energy Security and Stability.”

Bard, R-Abington, highlighted a school district in her district as an example of what can be done to reduce dependence on foreign oil. Lower Merion School District in Montgomery County uses compressed natural gas to fuel 68 buses that have logged more than 3 million miles thus far, she said. This has saved 700,000 gallons of diesel fuel in the past six years.

To encourage more of that, state lawmakers must give incentives to encourage residents, businesses and government officials to use alternative fuels, such as natural gas, solar power and ethanol – a corn-based fuel, said Bard, who chaired a state task force that recently developed an energy strategy for Pennsylvania.

She encouraged participants at the conference to lobby their lawmakers to pass a series of proposed bills that would impose a 10-year moratorium on the alternative fuel tax, provide tax incentives for the production of alternative fuels, expand alternative fuel grants from the state, and give sales tax exemptions for the purchase of alternative fuel vehicles.

The legislation “benefits not only our security and economy, but also our environment,” she said.

Although the Legislature will conclude its session at the end of next month, Bard is optimistic that some of the legislation can be passed in time.

“At the end of a session, strange things happen,” she said. “And we’re hoping that someone will wave a magic wand that will make things happen.”