Contracts for an important crude oil type called a "benchmark" -- West Texas Intermediate (WTI) -- reached another landmark today: $90, for the first time EVER.
Why? Concerns about energy security, specifically that Turkey may intervene in Iraq.
This means that consumers and businesses will continue to feel the pain of high prices due to our overreliance on this resource. We remain shackled to the volatile Middle East, which holds all the trump cards in the global oil game with about 2/3 of the world's proven reserves.
Meanwhile, at a conference in Oklahoma -- smackdab in the middle of the U.S. oil patch -- former CIA Chief Jim Woolsey discussed the implications for national security, and laid out some cleaner domestic substitutes for oil in transportation: Plug-in cars and biofuels.
He probably talked about the bumper sticker he proudly sports on his Prius:
This striking statement and eye-popping oil price runups frame the message that Congress and the Administration must heed as they hammer out an energy bill: Tackling our oil addiction won't just cut pollution, it will provide consumer relief and make us more secure as a nation.