Published: July 19, 2008 05:32 pm            

Flashpoint: Energy independence is well within America’s reach

“Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard.” H.L. Mencken



With oil hovering around $140 per barrel, Americans are pointing fingers and pursuing scapegoats. But they need look no further than the nearest mirror. True, Congress has spent the past three decades ducking its responsibility by refusing to implement a sound energy policy. But who keeps sending those same politicians back to Washington every election cycle? In a democracy people usually get the government they deserve.

Thirty-five years ago, after the initial oil shock, voters should have demanded of their politicians that they do two things:

1) Turn a deaf ear to environmentalists and proceed with the construction of nuclear power plants. Nuclear facilities provide clean, reliable energy at competitive prices. France gets 80 percent of its electricity from nukes while boasting a pristine countryside that’s the envy of the world.

For decades environmentalists have massaged science and stooped to fear mongering in order to demonize nuclear power. Today we are witnessing a delicious irony as their hysteria over carbon emissions — born of another fear campaign: global warming — makes a persuasive case for the construction of nuclear power plants.

2) Politicians should have been made to understand that the extraction of domestic oil must be priority number one. The concept is easy to grasp. The more oil we harvest here the less we have to purchase from over there.

Each day the world uses about 86 million barrels of oil while producing less than 87 million. The supply margin is too tight and must be widened. Part of the problem is that 25 years ago China and India consumed little oil. Today they are the world’s fastest growing economies, requiring vast amounts of petroleum.

Admittedly, a six-year Fed policy of devaluing the dollar has also contributed to rising oil prices. But the major problem is one of supply. Increased drilling will augment oil supplies and lessen price strains on global markets. Congress needs to stop blaming “speculators” and oil companies for a situation not of their making.

While commodity traders can magnify a trend they cannot create one. Unfortunately, Congress can. Its draconian restrictions vis-à-vis drilling have served to create an artificial shortage.

Geological surveys indicate that America has more oil reserves offshore, and in its interior, than the combined reserves of Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia. But Congress, at the behest of environmentalists, has made it illegal to drill in 85 percent of America’s offshore territory and other promising areas.

Moreover, U.S. oil companies are discovering that their current drilling leases in the Gulf of Mexico are not being renewed. As a result, we’re faced with the bizarre spectacle of Cuba drilling a few miles off Florida’s coastline while U.S. companies are prevented from doing so.

It gets worse. Recently, Democrats refused to end the moratorium on oil shale development in Colorado. Geologists estimate that there is more oil in the shale of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming (800 billion barrels) than in the Middle East. But Democrats have made exploration illegal. This is the same Democratically controlled Congress that refuses to allow drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which may hold up to 20 billion barrels of crude.

ANWR is nearly the size of Indiana. Drilling along its coastal plain would be confined to an area smaller than the Indianapolis airport. But that’s too much exploration for environmentalists and their puppets in Congress.

America’s message to the rest of the world might be summed up thus: “We aren’t going to drill in our country due to ecological concerns, but we urge you to continue drilling in yours, so that your efforts might allow us to maintain the lifestyle to which we’ve grown accustom.”

Such hubris is breathtaking. This “not in my backyard!” mentality is why there hasn’t been a new refinery built in the U.S. in over 30 years, even though there are 35 percent more cars on the road today.

A favorite ploy of environmentalists is to point out that there are millions of government acres already allocated for oil leasing, therefore we don’t need to make more land available. But as drillers will tell you, just because the government leases you the land is no guarantee it will grant you a drilling permit. It’s not unusual to wait two or three years only to be denied access.

Another excuse is “safety concerns.” But there hasn’t been a significant spill from an offshore well since 1969. Hurricane Katrina destroyed dozens of drilling rigs without causing a single spill.

The simple truth is that environmentalists abhor oil — viewing it as a major impediment in their quixotic quest to lower some arbitrary carbon emission number. They seek to manufacture a scarcity, which gives government the rationale to ration, which gives them what they really want, i.e., increased government control over our lives.

Europe is their model. Where gas prices range from $7-$11 per gallon and mass transit systems are the norm. Greens are fond of making the point that if Europe’s middle class can cope with $9 per gallon gas, so can ours.

But let’s focus on another continent. Brazil is a country similar in size and population to the U.S. In 2006, Brazilians celebrated their first year of energy independence because Brazilian politicians had the vision (years ago) to implement sound energy policies.

No, I’m not referring to Brazil’s over-hyped ethanol program. Ethanol has proven to be a bust in the U.S. Ethanol-fueled cars are only 70 percent as fuel-efficient as conventional cars and E85 is nearly as costly as regular gas — assuming you can find it. Moreover, America’s corn-based ethanol subsidy is largely responsible for escalating food prices.

Investors Business Daily reports that Brazil’s energy independence is largely the result of increased domestic oil production, much of it offshore. While we dither, as prices soar, Brazil is drilling.

Unlike their Brazilian counterparts, our politicians have opted to keep our oil in the ground and punish us with higher prices as a result. Consider that fact the next time you pull up to the pump … or enter a voting booth.

— Reggie McConnell

Terre Haute

        

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