In his annual State of the Union speech to Congress, Bush said the United States should reduce its reliance on foreign oil by developing alternative energy sources, such as ethanol-blended gasoline and hydrogen fuel cells to run pollution-free vehicles. “America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world,” Bush said. “By applying the talent and technology of America, this country can dramatically improve our environment -- move beyond a petroleum-based economy -- and make our dependence on Middle Eastern oil a thing of the past,” he said. However, the federal Energy Information Administration forecasts that one out of every four barrels of oil produced globally in 2025 will come from the Middle East, making it difficult for the United States to avoid suppliers there. Bush also said he would ask next week for a 22 percent increase in funding for clean-energy research in his 2007 budget, to develop solar and wind energy, cleaner-burning coal, nuclear energy and gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles that can be recharged in ordinary home outlets. Many of Bushs energy goals and promises were not new and in some form were part of energy legislation that he signed into law last August. Noticeably absent from the speech was a short-term plan to ease high gasoline and natural gas prices, or to sharply raise government fuel standards for cars and trucks -- which environmentalists say is the only way to significantly reduce gasoline use and oil imports. “Only one measure has ever stopped the growth of foreign oil imports and helped the Big Three auto makers stave off foreign competition: increased fuel efficiency standards for American-made cars,” Philip Clapp, President of the National Environmental Trust, said in response to Bushs speech. The administration plans to announce this spring another small rise in fuel requirements for pickups, minivans and SUVs. Bush also made no mention of his often-thwarted aim to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. Bush faces a formidable challenge to increase ethanol production enough to help wean the United States off its Middle East oil suppliers, which are mostly OPEC members. The Energy Information Administrations latest long-term forecast last month does not see ethanol helping to replace a big share of US oil imports two decades from now. Ethanol is blended into gasoline to stretch supplies. Nearly all of it is distilled from corn, but last Augusts energy law pushes ethanol producers to use alternatives to corn, such as barley, wheat and rice. It calls for millions of dollars in production incentives for ethanol derived from cellulose-based or forest material that is now burned or deposited in landfills. “We will also fund additional research in cutting-edge methods of producing ethanol, not just from corn but from wood chips, stalks, or switch grass. Our goal is to make this new kind of ethanol practical and competitive within six years,” Bush said. Bob Dinneen, president of the Renewable Fuels Association said he was pleased Bush wants “to move the country toward an energy future that is less reliant on unreliable and increasingly costly foreign sources of oil and more dependent on domestically produced renewable fuels like ethanol.” However, the Energy Departments analytical arm predicts ethanol made from corn and cellulose will account for just 4.3 percent of US gasoline demand of 11.9 million barrels a day in 2025. The EIA forecasts total US petroleum demand at 26.1 million barrels per day in two decades, with imports averaging 15.7 million, equal to 60 percent of domestic consumption. The United States will have little choice but to buy oil from Middle East countries, which in 2025 are forecast to account for 29.7 million barrels of total daily world oil production of 110.6 million barrels, according to the EIA. PIN/REUTER