On the campaign trail, Barack Obama pledged to wean the United States off foreign oil.
 
"I will set a clear goal as president: In 10 years we will finally end our dependence on oil in the Middle East," he said when he accepted the Democratic nomination for president.
 
That's no small thing, and Obama has taken some steps to come through on his promise.
 
Here are some examples:
 
Ending fossil fuel subsidies
 
On Sept. 25, 2009, G-20 leaders rallied behind Obama's plan to phase out about $300 billion in fossil fuel subsidies, meaning tax breaks and government assistance for coal and oil. The move will help reduce carbon emissions — by about 10 percent in 2050 — but the White House is also portraying the decision as a way to reduce the United States' dependence on foreign oil.
 
Here's their reasoning: Most of those subsidies go to foreign oil producers. Sending that money overseas impedes investment in energy sources, particularly renewable fuels, at home.
 
Support renewable fuel
 
Taking its cues from California, the Environmental Protection Agency announced on May 26, 2009, that it was planning to increase the Renewable Fuel Standard, an existing mandate that requires gasoline to be blended with ethanol or diesel with biodiesel, from 9 billion gallons of of blended fuel to 36 billion gallons in by 2022. The administration will use the standard to set greenhouse gas limits on these renewable fuels — officially called a Low Carbon Fuel Standard — as well. For example, biofuels would have a minimum 20 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, and advanced and cellulosic biofuels — fuel made from left over biomass such as wood chips — would need to have a 50 or 60 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, respectively.
 
Meanwhile, buried in the cap-and-trade bill now pending in Congress is a provision that would require some electricity companies to produce at least 10 percent of their energy from renewables in 2010 and 20 percent of their energy from renewable resources by 2020.
 
And the stimulus package was chock-full of incentives for renewable energy production, including $2.5 billion for "applied research, development, demonstration and deployment activities" that alternative energy companies will be able to tap into. Of that, the bill earmarks $800 million for biomass projects, $400 million for geothermal projects and another $50 million for research to improve information and communications technology. But that leaves $1.25 billion for such things as solar and wind research.
 
Increasing Energy Efficiency
 
Obama has also used the cap-and-trade bill to advance his energy efficiency agenda. For example, under the bill, new buildings will be 30 percent more energy efficient in 2012 and 50 percent more efficient in 2016. Those standards will increase 5 percent every three years. So by 2030, new buildings will be 75 percent more efficient than they are today.

Making vehicles more efficient is another part of Obama's strategy to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil. The Transportation Department and the Environmental Protection Agency are drafting new rules that would increase fuel efficiency by an average of 5 percent a year. By 2016, cars and trucks would be 40 percent more efficient than today's vehicles, according to Obama's proposal.
 
So, Obama has taken multiple steps toward reducing our dependence on foreign oil. But he did not set a time frame for his goal, and many of these individual efforts are still making their way through Congress and administration bureaucracy. So, for now, we'll rate this one In the Works.