Last time Congress helped alleviate fuel problems was 1973
Last Updated on 12/1/2008
Published on 8/31/2008
By John Brock
Once again, the folks, who do not agree with my recent assessments regarding the reasons fuel prices are much too high and what we should do about it, undertook to instruct me on where I was wrong.
Some responses were thoughtful and some were just plain nasty, but, that comes with the territory whenever a column writer puts his thoughts before the public on a weekly basis. I have a lot more to say on the subject and I await your response.
The bottom line is that we have an ample supply and potential of fossil fuels and we should take advantage of this fact while we develop alternative sources of energy. Place a windmill in every community; tap the earth's heat for geothermal energy; harness the tide; make fuel from plant life; conserve; over inflate your tires, whatever. Do all of these things while we drill for more oil and gas in a desperate attempt to save our economy.
Most opponents to drilling insist that it will take 10 to 15 years, or more, before we could deliver any new oil or natural gas from off-shore or other sources. To this, I say "Hogwash." No one can convince me that a country that put a man on the moon in less than 10 years is incapable of pumping oil and/or natural gas from proven sources in very short order. What really will take many years is the development of viable sources of "new" energy from windmills, sun, organic gasoline, nuclear, etc.
While Congress is on hiatus, there is little comfort that gasoline is now only $3.50 a gallon instead of $4. It should and could be well under $2. Americans from all walks of life are suffering from inflated fuel costs and wintertime is still to come when some of our citizens will struggle with high heating costs. Who's to blame?
Congress is the only body that can solve these problems but, oh, that's right, they went on vacation without even trying. A vote was not even allowed that would set into motion plans to solve the energy problem for the short haul.
The simple fact is that the last time Congress did anything that produced any additional energy was in the mid-1970s oil crisis when our economy was about to crumble under our dependence on foreign oil. At that time, we were buying about 30 percent of our oil on the foreign market. Now, it's over 70 percent but, yet, Congress fiddles with partisan politics and inflated environmental pressures. It's time to drill!
The House of Representatives majority would not allow a vote and claimed that oil companies have at their disposal, millions of acres of already leased land to drill on. But guess what, folks, in most cases they have done their homework and explored but there ain't any oil there! Or, they have been straddled with overwhelming bureaucratic rules and regulations and what oil is there is not economically feasible to recover. Cuss the oil companies all you want but only Congress can alleviate the problem.
If Congress would open up off-shore, ANWAR and other federally controlled lands for exploration and/or drilling, we could have relief within a couple of years or so. The last time Congress took any appreciable action to head off an economic fuel disaster was in 1973 when they authorized the Alaska oil line. To the folks who claim that it would take a decade or more to transport new oil to the market place, Get this:
According to a speech on the floor of the House of Representatives, Rep. Don Young of Alaska proclaimed that within three years after the initial start of the Alaska Oil Line, fuel flowed through an 800-mile pipeline and supplied as much as 2.2 million barrels of oil a day. ANWAR is located only 74 miles from that pipeline and oil could be flowing our way in short order. And, there's even more oil and natural gas nearby.
In all fairness, Congress tried 13 years ago to open ANWAR but Bill Clinton vetoed the move under pressure from environmentalists, who claimed it would destroy wilderness areas and take ten years or more to move the oil to our automobiles and homes. Even if they were correct (and they were not) we would have had additional Alaska oil flowing our way for many of the last 13 years. Opponents have claimed that the product would meet only a small portion of our needs. How do they know? Ask a hungry person if they would like a little food or no food at all! Americans are hungry for any amount of oil we can get that will alleviate our dependence on foreign oil and stop the hemorrhaging of money from our wallets.
The facts are that we need to take advantage of all immediate sources of energy available on American soil - oil, natural gas and coal which are there in abundance. Together, these sources can relieve our short-term problems expeditiously. And, while we are about saving our economy and the American Way of life with more available resources, we can concentrate on what the environmentalists claim as "saving our planet" by experimenting with and developing alternative sources of energy. In ten years or more, these so-called renewable energies may become viable alternatives for our fuel needs. In the meantime, proven fuels are at our fingertips.
If we can accomplish what seemed an unattainable feat as going to the moon, I think American ingenuity can fill your gas and oil tanks as well, as natural gas pipelines, in short order. And, at a reasonable price.
Makes sense to me.
*
John Brock is a retired professor and newspaper editor/publisher who lives in Georgetown County. He can be reached by mail at this newspaper or via Email: brock@johnbrock.com. His website is: www.SouthernObserver.com
