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Courier-Journal Op-Ed: Northup on American energy
By Anne M. Northup
June 17, 2008
Special to The Courier-Journal
Two years ago, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and the Democrat Congress promised to devise a national energy policy and lower the cost of gas, which was about half the price it is now. When asked what he and the other Democrats have done to fulfill that pledge, Congressman John Yarmuth of Louisville points to the legislation they passed to suspend shipments to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. He initially claimed this legislation “could reduce prices by about … 25 cents per gallon of gasoline,” but later downgraded the expected effect of this action to only 5 cents per gallon. It’s a little surprising that anyone would boast about saving a nickel when gas prices have risen $1.63 since Yarmuth took office and the Democrats took control of Congress.
But there’s more. Just last week, our representative joined 10 Democrats who filed a “use it or lose it” bill which would force oil companies to use the federal leases they currently have or forfeit them. The truth is, oil companies have had very little success with these leased lands, with 52 percent of the leases turning up no oil. Many more were leased for the purpose of recovering natural gas only. Other areas are prohibitive in terms of the cost to drill and questionable in the amount of recoverable oil. It is hard to fathom the thinking of a person who would propose forcing companies to drill all over the continent in places with marginal or no reserves, but refuses to allow drilling where there are plentiful reserves.
Other actions contemplated by the Democrats in Congress include suing OPEC to increase production. They also plan on launching their seventh investigation into “price gougers” and their fourth investigation into “speculators.” In addition, they want $20 billion in windfall profit taxes on oil producers, a failed strategy tried by a previous Democratic Congress in 1980 and signed into law by then-President Jimmy Carter. It stifled domestic oil production, resulting in an even greater dependence on foreign oil. One needn’t be an energy expert to understand that none of these actions will produce one more drop of oil for our country.
By halting shipments to the SPR and trying to force OPEC or our own energy companies to increase production, the Democrats are at least indicating that they understand that increasing the supply of oil is vital to lowering our prices. The question is, why won’t they take realistic, concrete steps to do that instead of trying to demonize the oil companies and posturing against OPEC?
We do not have to look overseas for our oil. Alaska’s ANWR alone contains 10.4 billion barrels of oil. Likewise, the Outer Continental Shelf is estimated to contain 19 billion barrels of oil. There are other estimates that put our oil reserves in the hundreds of billions of barrels. When given the opportunity to tap these abundant resources, the House Democrats overwhelmingly opposed it while House Republicans overwhelmingly supported the increased production. Even when the Republicans were in the majority and passed it in the House, the Senate could not muster the 60 votes necessary to pass the bill and send it to the President because of Democratic opposition.
Recently, such large reserves of shale oil were discovered that some now refer the United States as the “Saudi Arabia of shale oil.” Yet last year this Congress banned all new shale oil extraction. That’s right: No matter where or how safely it could be extracted, this new reserve is now off limits nationwide.
We know where the major reserves of clean, light and easy-to-refine crude oil are located. Even though a majority of people in this country believe we can harvest our oil in an environmentally safe manner, this Congress seems to be too frightened of an environmental lobby that has become increasingly irrational.
The high price of oil is jeopardizing the entire economy and our balance of trade. It has triggered fears of inflation and a subsequent recession around the country. >From Wall Street to the unemployment office to family dinner tables, the talk moves from higher gas prices to higher food prices to higher unemployment to greater inflation, and a real fear of the economy collapsing is rising. As for our trade balance, when we depend on foreign oil and the price goes up, we ship more of our American dollars overseas. Today we send $500 billion to countries, most of whom do not even like us. This is simply unacceptable.
Conservation is important, but it’s not enough. Some individuals can bike or carpool to work, or consolidate trips, or take a shorter vacation, but many people and many industries must depend on energy for their livelihood, and high fuel prices are threatening their survival. Hard-working truck drivers, farmers and airline workers rely on oil to fuel their businesses, as do millions of other Americans. Energy underpins our whole economy, and the long-term need for energy is vital.
The United States must start drilling now. While it will take years for the new oil to enter the marketplace, that is no excuse for not starting now. Economists agree that passing legislation to open up drilling in ANWR, the gulf and the Outer Continental Shelf will instantly lower oil prices. It will send a clear message to speculators and other countries that we are serious and proactive about solving our energy problems. In seven to 10 years, oil will start flowing from these and other explorations and will become an asset to our economy, improve our trade balance, increase our international competitiveness, and ensure that our national security is unthreatened by the need for foreign oil.
This will give us the time we need to begin a national path toward energy independence using not only our own oil, but clean coal, nuclear, fusion, hydrogen, solar and wind energy. There will be new economic confidence, a pride in our country’s “can-do” determination and new technologies to export around the world.
Affordable, dependable energy is not a new issue. Economists have been warning us for years that energy independence and the need for more oil are critically important. For 10 years, I supported every effort to expand drilling in ANWR, in the gulf and off our coasts despite the political and personal attacks — especially in the last election — because the people in this district deserve a strong, honest leader who says what needs to be said. But today, this issue is more than a campaign issue. It is a national emergency. To purposely stand in the way of an obvious solution to a national crisis is inexcusable. Let’s get going.
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Dead on accurate.
Jefferson County serves as a hub for UPS and TWO Ford truck plants. These companies rely on affordable fuel to meet their profit goals and provide tens of thousands of jobs. The rising cost of fuel threatens every single one of those jobs.
Last time I looked, no corporation had proposed replacing those jobs with a wind farm, hydrogen fuel cell plant, or ethanol refinery.
Standing in the way of letting states decide for themselves how to use their resources is indefensible.
Comment by Ty Mattheu — June 20, 2008 @ 9:33 am
It is far past the time to stop the political games being played out on our country’s energy problem. Drill now, clean coal convertion for diesel and alternitive energy. Yes that’s right. Do all the above at the same time, NOW.
Comment by Doug Miller — June 21, 2008 @ 5:00 pm
We should have started doing these things last year. What is going to happen when China really gets ramped up industrially? We need our own resources. We never relied on outside sources to support us before why do so now. We can also quit giving terrorist our money to attack us with.
Comment by Tom Dick — June 30, 2008 @ 11:26 am