Energy security ranks third behind weapons of mass destruction and terrorism as the top priorities in the United States, according to recently retired U.S. Air Force Gen. Chuck Wald. As a result, a wide-ranging solution to the nation's energy supply must be developed, he said.

Wald was the keynote speaker at the biofuels focused Marketplace for Entrepreneurs on Jan. 17 in Fargo, N.D. He stressed that there was no "silver bullet" for weaning the United States off foreign oil. "Regardless of what we do, oil vulnerability will exist for the next 10 to 20 years," he said.

Wald, who retired from the Air Force in July 2006, is in a unique position, having recently transitioned from a military to an energy role. He most recently served as the deputy commander of the U.S. European Command. Wald now serves on the Energy Security Leadership Council for the Securing America's Energy Future organization. He is also associated with the National Commission on Energy Policy, which is a bipartisan group of energy experts focused on critical long-term energy issues.

The United States needs to shift the burden of maintaining the world's free flow of oil from its military to a combination of industry, military and other countries, Wald said. He touted ethanol, biodiesel and wind power, among other energy sources, as holding the potential to alleviate reliance on foreign crude oil supplies.

Wald endorsed legislation introduced in the 2006 session of Congress by U.S. Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., called Breaking Our Long-term Dependence (BOLD). Similar legislation has yet to be introduced in the current session. The 2006 version called for tax credits, grants and increased renewable fuels standards to increase U.S. ethanol and biodiesel production, and the development of new production technologies.

The marketplace was sponsored, in part, by Conrad. "We are 60 percent dependent on foreign oil, and we have to drastically reduce that dependence," Conrad said.