THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume VIII, Issue # 101, June 12, 2006
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
DRILLING FOR THE FUTURE
By Alan Caruba
POLITICAL ENVIRONMENTALISM, CONGRESSIONAL POLITICS, & UNITED STATES ENERGY POLICY: POLITICAL
ENVIRONMENTALISTS, ENVIRONMENTALIST ORGANIZATIONS, & THEIR INFLUENCE OVER THE U.S. CONGRESS & OUR
NATION'S ENERGY POLICY -- CONGRESSIONAL ENACTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS PROHIBITING DRILLING FOR OIL &
NATURAL GAS IN THE ARCTIC NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE & AMERICA'S OFFSHORE CONTINENTAL SHELF -- THE
ADVERSE IMPACT THAT THIS LEGISLATION IS HAVING ON THE AMERICAN ECONOMY & ON U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY
FULL STORY:
As the price of gasoline and the myriad products that utilize petroleum in their manufacture rises, Americans are going to ask
why the Congress has resisted accessing the billions of barrels’ worth of oil and natural gas in our offshore continental shelf.
As the realization of how dependent we are on the importation of Middle Eastern oil, plus the fact that U.S. dollars fund
avowed enemies such as Iran and, in South America, Venezuela, Americans are going to ask why we do not tap our own
Alaskan and offshore resources.
As a matter of national security and as a significant boost to the American economy, it makes no sense to not assure and
achieve a higher level of energy independence.
So why, in mid-May, 2006, did the U.S. House of Representatives reject an end to the quarter-century ban on oil and natural
gas drilling in 85 percent of America’s coastal waters?
At the time, House Democratic Leader, Nancy Pelosi, issued a statement that both defied logic and flatout lied, saying the
vote against offshore drilling was great victory for consumers who have seen prices rise prodigiously.
“In the meantime, working families are turning their wallets inside
out to fill their gas tanks. It is outrageous to ask families to dig
even deeper to subsidize oil drilling on undersea lands that
belong to the American people.”
Americans are paying more because the global price of a barrel of oil has been increased by fears of military conflict in the
Middle East, probably initiated by Iran.
Americans are paying more because, in 2005, Hurricane Katrina and other hurricanes destroyed 115 oil platforms and
damaged another 50, along with 183 pipelines in the Gulf of Mexico and refineries in Louisiana. Despite this, the U.S.
Mineral Management Service (MMS) reported that there were no significant oil spills from offshore platforms and no oil
reached the coastline.
And, no, Americans do not “subsidize” oil drilling. Pelosi’s boogeyman of “Big Oil” does not exist. Indeed, as a report from
the U.S. Energy Information Administration noted in 2005, the MMS “collects and disperses billions of dollars in revenue
from the sale of mineral leases. Offshore leases brought in revenues of $5.2 billion in 2000. This represents 73.1 percent of the
$7.1 billion in revenues collected from all Federal and American Indian mineral leases that year.”
As for those big profits enjoyed by “Big Oil,” it’s worth noting that a single offshore drilling platform costs about $100 million
dollars to build and that comes after the equally enormous costs of exploring for oil and natural gas resources. And “Big Oil”
not only pays big taxes on its profits, but also employs thousands of Americans in the process.
According to the Consumer Alliance for Energy Security, the Offshore Continental Shelf (OCS) — 85 percent of which is
off-limits to exploration — is estimated to have enough natural gas to heat 100 million homes for the next 60 years and enough
oil to drive 85 million cars for 35 years. Thanks to the vote in the House of Representatives, the OCS remains off-limits.
When the House of Representatives voted to open the Arctic Refuge to oil drilling in late May, 2006, Representative Pelosi
again issued a statement decrying “the same, tired ideas on energy such as opening the pristine Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge to oil drilling. She went on to say: We should not sacrifice the Arctic coastal plain, one of America’s last truly wild
places, for the sake of a small amount of oil.”
Small? Well, if anyone considers an estimated 10.4 billion barrels to the nation’s oil supply “small,” then one wonders what
they consider large? The vote was 225 to 201. In truth, only 2,000 of the nearly 20 million acres of ANWR would be needed
for oil and gas production, contributing billions in tax revenue, and creating or sustaining thousands of American jobs.
Opening ANWR and the Offshore Continental Shelf would bring many benefits. Put simply, more oil and natural gas means
lower prices. With it, comes greater national security and more independence from the vagaries of Middle Eastern politics.
Speaking for the Democrats and echoing the cries of environmentalist organizations opposed to energy independence,
Representative Pelosi called for “home-grown renewable energy, innovative technologies, and efficient use of energy in our
homes, vehicles, workplaces, and factories.” Blah, blah, blah!
This is the kind of empty environmentalist rhetoric that has left Americans paying higher prices for oil and natural gas than
ever before. It posits the use of wind and solar energy on a scale that is neither viable nor realistic, because neither wind nor
solar devices will ever produce enough energy to replace conventional sources.
Representative Pelosi said that “America’s farmers will fuel our energy independence,” apparently by “rapidly expand[ing]
the production and distribution of biofuels, encourage[ing] the deployment of new engine technologies for flex fuel, hybrid
and biodiesel vehicles; and encourage[ing] cutting-edge research to develop the next revolution in renewable energy.”
The notion that America or any of the other industrialized nations of the world will, in the near future, be able to depend on
energy sources from corn and other agricultural products is absurd. Moreover, it ignores the vast reserves of known and yet
to be discovered reserves of oil and natural gas that exist.
The problem, of course, is getting Congress to permit America to actually access its own resources! The effort to open a
relatively small portion of ANWR has been stalled for three decades. The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act was passed in
1953! It authorized the Department of the Interior to lease defined areas for development. According to the Energy
Information Administration, “The offshore has accounted for about one-quarter of total U.S. natural gas production over the
past two decades and almost 30 percent of total U.S. oil production in recent years.”
The Energy Information Administration reports: “In 2003, MMS estimated that there was 406.1 trillion cubic feet of remaining
undiscovered technically recoverable natural gas and 76 billion barrels of oil in U.S. offshore regions.”
So why, in 1990, did former President George Herbert Walker Bush enact a blanket moratorium on all unleased areas offshore
of North and Central California, Southern California except for 87 tracts, Washington, Oregon, the North Atlantic coast, and
the Eastern Gulf of Mexico coast? In 1998, former President Clinton extended the moratorium through 2012.
Why has the Congress of the United States refused to permit the exploration and extraction of our nation’s own natural gas
and oil resources? Why does a coalition of 27 of the nation’s leading environmentalist organizations continue to campaign
against access? And why do ordinary Americans have to remain at the mercy of Middle Eastern nations and major suppliers
like Venezuela?
There are literally trillions of cubic feet of natural gas and billions of oil barrels extant in the offshore continental coast of the
United States. Every day, on 4,000 offshore platforms, natural gas and oil are extracted from federal waters in an
environmentally sensitive manner.
There is an extremely dangerous game being played by the White House, Congress, and environmentalist organizations -- a
game that is placing the economy and the security of America at great risk. If energy independence is what this nation needs
— and it does — it is ours for the taking.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Policy Issues Relating to Energy, Environment,
& Natural Resources
Government & the Economy
Alan Caruba is a veteran business and science writer, a Public Relations Counselor, and Founder of the National Anxiety Center, a
clearinghouse for information about media-driven scare campaigns. Caruba writes a weekly commentary, "Warning Signs," posted
on the Internet website of the National Anxiety Center, which is located at
www.anxietycenter.com.
© Alan Caruba 2006
Published with Permission of Alan Caruba
ACaruba@AOL.Com
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Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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