Analysis: Fresh energy problems for new president

WASHINGTON -- No matter who moves into the White House in January, energy problems will hit him with the punch of a winter storm.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain and his Democratic rival, Barack Obama, agree that the era of cheap energy and abundant supplies is over. Both have called for breaking away from the nation's overwhelming oil dependency while dueling bitterly over how to do it. Neither has suggested heavy-handed government intervention such as price controls imposed in response to the 1970s oil crisis.

Their broader visions of where U.S. energy policy should go in the long run are strikingly similar, but they would take some different routes to get there.

Obama would take a decade to wean the nation off its reliance on oil from the Middle East and Venezuela. McCain, dubbing his energy agenda the "Lexington Project" _ after the Massachusetts town where America's war for independence from Britain began 233 years ago _ says his goal is to achieve "energy independence" by 2025.

But the next president is likely to face more immediate concerns.

Atop high gasoline prices, Americans will be getting huge winter heating bills just as he settles in.

Faced with public unrest over soaring energy costs, President Bush once said he wished he had a magic wand to provide relief. The next president may wish that, too, in his first 100 days in office.

Obama says he's ready to turn to the federal Strategic Petroleum Reserve and make available as much as 70 million barrels of the government's emergency oil _ one of the few options he would have at hand under executive order and could move rapidly.

Barring a supply emergency, McCain can be expected to reject such action. His campaign dismissed the idea of tapping the reserve as a political ploy. "The strategic oil reserve exists for America's national security strategy, not Barack Obama's election strategy," snapped McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds.

As for short-term response, McCain has proposed little except for suggesting suspension of the 18-cent a gallon federal gasoline tax. The "tax holiday" was panned widely as a gimmick. Even McCain's allies in Congress showed little interest.

Oil companies might be wary in the first 100 days of an Obama presidency.

Obama wants oil companies to come up with the money for helping people pay their winter heating bills and defray high gasoline costs. He has called for a windfall profits tax on the five largest oil companies, using the money to give Americans up to a $1,000 "emergency energy rebate."