THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume XIII, Issue # 107, May 2, 2011
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
PULL YOUR WEIGHT, AMERICA!
You Consume a Quarter of the World's Oil Production.
It's Time You Started Producing it, Too
By Thompson Ayodele
UNITED STATES ENERGY POLICY: THE U.S.A. MAKES THE MAJORITY OF ITS ENERGY RICHES OFF LIMITS TO
EXPLORATION & DEVELOPMENT, YET EXPECTS THE REST OF THE WORLD TO DEVELOP ITS PETROLEUM & SEND LARGE
QUANTITIES OF IT TO AMERICA FOR AMERICAN CONSUMPTION.
FULL STORY:
Rising global demand for oil, coupled with continuing turmoil in the Middle East, is again causing U.S. energy prices to
spike. Regular gasoline has topped $4 a gallon in many states, and experts predict it could hit $5 per gallon this Summer.
Thousands of former oil patch workers remain unemployed, while the Obama administration and the U.S. Congress
refuse to issue leases or drilling permits and, instead, make more and more oil and gas prospects off limits to exploration.
Meanwhile, the world is feted to the usual hand-wringing over how the United States can possibly feed its oil addiction
in the years ahead, to keep its vehicle fleet moving and its struggling economy making progress. Cover more land with
inefficient, unreliable wind turbines and solar panels? Convert more food crops into biofuels? Mine and burn more coal?
Build more nuclear plants in the wake of Fukushima?
At best, these “solutions” are decades in the future. Thus, the debate quickly comes back to America’s own domestic oil
production. To drill or not to drill?
Here, some global perspective may help Americans find a way out of a blisteringly politicized discussion that generates,
literally, more noise than movement.
As a Nigerian who is proud of his country's contributions to the world's oil supply – we are the single largest producer of
oil in Africa, and one of the top five exporters to your nation – I wonder how it is that you Americans never seem to ask
yourselves one fundamental question: What if all countries restricted access to their oil and gas reserves the way
you do? Where would the world – let alone the United States – get its energy?
Among all the countries of the world, America alone refuses to tap oil and gas deposits that could fuel its vehicles and
economy for many decades. Perhaps America’s unwillingness to tap its oil reserves would be defensible if you were
equally conservative with your consumption. But you’re not.
You consume roughly a quarter of the world’s oil. Meanwhile, you severely restrict or outright forbid access to vast oil
bounties along the Atlantic and Pacific coastlines, in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, in Alaska’s tundra and Arctic seas,
throughout the Rocky Mountain West, and increasingly in eastern states, where the Petroleum Age was launched in 1859.
If countries in the Middle East, South America, or Africa adopted a similar attitude, America (and the world) would be left
gasping for energy.
The arguments against tapping U.S. oil reserves are familiar. Among the most popular is the refrain that there are barely
enough “proven reserves” of oil beneath the U.S.A. to last more than a few years. But that statistic is based on a set of
criteria from the Society of Petroleum Engineers, a set of criteria that is defined by the restrictions on exploration.
These “proved reserves” only count oil that is “commercially recoverable” under “current economic conditions,
operating methods, and government regulations” (emphasis added). In other words, “commercially recoverable”
defines how much oil your government allows you to develop, not how much is actually there. Open more of your
excellent oil prospects, and three years almost magically becomes three decades, or more. Ditto for your natural gas, shale
gas and shale oil reserves.
Indeed, saying you shouldn’t drill, because each well would produce “at most a few days” of oil, makes as much sense as
saying you shouldn’t conserve gasoline or improve energy efficiency, because each effort would save “at most, a few
minutes” of oil.
Another popular anti-drilling argument is that the environmental risks and impacts are unacceptable. Yes, careless mistakes
caused a major oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico one year ago. But that was the first significant spill since the Santa Barbara
blowout in 1969, 41 years earlier – and each reduction in U.S. domestic production increases the likelihood of another
tanker running aground and spilling its cargo of imported oil.
Just as important, foreclosing access to America’s numerous oil and gas deposits for such reasons presumes it is OK for
the rest of the world to assume risks of blowouts and other ecological damage for America’s sake – but it is not OK for the
United States to assume any risks to meet its own energy needs. It presumes the United States’ environmental values, and
its citizens’ sensitivities about them, are somehow more vital than those in other nations.
Meanwhile, tapping America’s reserves would mean significant economic growth, increased energy security and lower
U.S. (and global) energy prices. Developing the oil and natural gas reserves now kept off-limits by Congress, courts,
environmentalist activists, and government agencies could mean another $1.7 trillion in government revenue, according to
an American Petroleum Institute study. It would also mean millions of high-paying jobs in states that could certainly use
an influx of employment right now.
In Nigeria, oil and gas exploration now accounts for 40% of our GDP, as well as 98% of export earnings and 83% of the
Nigerian federal government's revenue. We are a developing nation, but we manage to access our reserves in a safe,
environmentally sound way, despite many challenges, including deliberate sabotage. Were America to embrace full-scale
production, it would force producers everywhere – including Nigeria – to be more competitive, thereby making energy
cheaper for consumers worldwide.
In March, 2011, the Obama administration awarded its first permit for a new deep-water drilling project in the Gulf of
Mexico (with beefed-up safety regulations) since the Deepwater Horizon disaster. This is a step in the right direction.
However, dozens of Gulf permits still await consideration, and the snail-like pace of approval there and throughout the
U.S.A. only exacerbates America’s (and the world’s) energy anxiety.
President Obama has earned global good will for his efforts to make America a better international partner. Those efforts
should not exclude his country’s obligation to pay its fair share of America’s and the world’s travel, heating, and
manufacturing bill.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Political Environmentalism Versus Human Progress & Prosperity:
Policy Issues Relating to Energy, Environment,
& Natural Resources
Political Economy -- Philosophies, Systems, & Public Policies:
Government, the Economy, & Economic Prosperity
Thompson Ayodele is Executive Director of Initiative for Public Policy Analysis (www.ippanigeria.org), a policy think
tank based in Lagos, Nigeria.
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
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Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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