Since the first successful oil well was drilled in Titusville, Pennsylvania in 1859, America has become steadily more dependent on petroleum to fuel our economy.

We use it not only in our automobiles but also in vital products like plastics, textiles and agrochemicals. In the late 1990s oil consistently traded for less than $20 a barrel. Many economists partially credit such cheap oil prices as the driving force behind the ‘90s bull market. But last year prices climbed as high as $55 a barrel.

Unfortunately, most experts agree that world oil production will peak sometime in the next five to 15 years. We’re not going to run out of oil anytime soon, but we will run out of cheap oil. Factor in the rising energy needs of the more than 2 billion people in China and India, and you have the making of a shortage that could put the price of crude oil uncomfortably high.

Because America is the world’s chief oil consumer (about 25 percent of the market), we have a lot at stake here. Since we have to import a majority of the oil we use, we’re especially vulnerable to supply interruptions, price shocks and the coming shortage. The energy policy the White House favors does almost nothing to address any of these problems, opting instead for more coal-fired power plants and a quixotic obsession with drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which even oil companies admit would yield an insignificant amount of oil.

Fortunately, alternative energies like wind and solar power are maturing to the point where they’re becoming cost-competitive with oil, coal and nuclear power – all three of which are heavily subsidized by the government. While increased investment in cleaner energy would be a step forward, what America really needs is a new Manhattan Project, a new moon shot: we should commit ourselves to the goal of weaning the country off of foreign oil by the year 2020.

Government investment in alternative technologies would pay off in several ways. We could take several approaches to this monumental undertaking: we could focus on increasing fuel efficiency standards for automobiles; we could replace oil with alternative energy in electricity generation; or we could invest in synthetic chemicals that could replace petroleum. Perhaps there are other, as-of-yet unimagined approaches that some enterprising entrepreneur will devise.

Eliminating our dependence on foreign oil would have tremendous ancillary benefits, too. First and foremost, our economy would no longer be tied to the fortunes of the petroleum market. Without a need for oil, America could reduce our military presence in the Middle East, lessening tension in the area and perhaps allowing us to act as an honest broker for peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis. Our air quality would improve as we reduce pollution from cars, and we could profit from greener technology by selling it to the rest of the industrial world.

As a final, intangible benefit, succeeding at such an ambitious project might reinvigorate our sense of national pride and shared unity and bring us together as Americans.

Columns reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily that of the Northern Star staff.