President Barack Obama today discussed a new policy toward fuel-efficient commercial vehicles as part of his goal to reduce U.S. dependency on foreign oil, reported the Associated Press (News - Alert). The president made a short stop-over in Landover, Md. to visit a UPS shipping facility that features fuel-saving vehicles. During his speech, he announced a public-private partnership designed to help large commercial fleets cut back on their diesel and gasoline use.

The President also planned to view examples of fuel efficiency in the fleets of AT&T (News - Alert), PepsiCo and Verizon. The stop represents Obama's second energy-related event of the week, an effort by the White House to respond to rising gasoline prices by placing a focus on Obama's long-term energy strategies.

The visits are a follow-up to an address the President made two days ago pointing out that the United States must embark on a long-term plan to reduce the nation’s use of fossil fuels. He called for the U.S. to cut oil imports by a third by 2025 from the 2008 level of 11 million barrels daily, reported Bloomberg.

According to the Energy Department, more than three million commercial vehicles used American roads in 2009, guzzling nearly 4 billion gallons of fuel.

UPS, FedEx, PepsiCo, AT&T and Verizon (News - Alert) are charter members of the public-private partnership. They are five of the 10 largest commercial fleets operating in the United States.

The five companies have made a commitment to use 20,000 fuel-efficient vehicles with an estimated fuel savings of 7 million gallons of diesel or gasoline a year. The White House says that together the companies operate more than 275,000 vehicles.