Why More Drilling Is Not The Solution We Need.
Let’s be clear about this – we cannot drill our way out of our energy situation. OK? OK. There is no way we can actually drill enough holes in the earth to meet all of our current and future energy needs, (we only have 3-5% of all the oil in the world under our soil) so why is that pretty much the only thing this administration is concentrating on?
Because the oil companies own many of our government officials.
That being said, there are still a lot of people out there who think that just because one of our Presidential candidates has such groundbreaking (AKA asinine) slogans as “Drill Baby Drill”, that as long as we stick some poles in the ground we can stop depending on oil from “countries that hate us”. (I hate that expression, just hate it) Besides the fact that oil spills from more extreme exploration will be a lot worse than the ones I mentioned the other day, here are some reasons why opening up ANWR and more offshore rigs will not solve our problem in neither the short or long term:
- The Department of Energy (of all departments!) has said that lifting the ban on more offshore exploration on the outer continental shelf would not have a significant impact on crude oil and natural gas production or prices before 2030. That is 20 years from now – that’s a long time for Americans to make big changes and invest in new technologies!
- The oil and gas industry still has over 64 million acres of land that has been granted to them to explore on – which they have not even started using. According to some studies, exploiting this land could possibly double U.S. oil production. Why would we permit more exploration when they have not even used so much of what we already granted them?
- Even if they started licensing anywhere the oil companies wanted to go, it takes an average of 2 years for the licensing process to complete, and an additional 5 years for any significant amount of oil to show up.
- While the number of drilling permits issued has increased by something like 360% over the last 10 years, gas prices have tripled during the same period. More drilling does not equal lower prices at the pump.
- According to the Energy Information Administration in 2004, opening an Alaska wildlife refuge to drilling would only lower oil prices by less than 50 cents a barrel. Yes, a barrel, not a gallon!
- If gasoline prices are so spooked by hurricane season in the Gulf, why in the world would we build even more offshore rigs in the region?
- It is the estimate of the American Petroleum Institute that opening our waters to more drilling would be unlikely to provide Americans with more oil for at least 7 to 10 years. And if they are admitting it…
No matter how you look at it, opening up new lands for drilling make no sense – the oil companies have millions of acres they already have permits for, any oil found would lower the price of a barrel by a mere $.50, and it could take 7-10 years for the oil to show up in our supply line. Does that make any sense as a national policy? Not quite. At least it doesn’t to me; but then again I don’t have coffers full of oil money, either. If we invested the amount of money that the oil companies would have to invest in all this new drilling, I am sure we could accomplish at least the following:
- Put a solar panel or 3 on every single new house that gets built
- Open up our windy deserts to fields of wind turbines
- Convert more of our cars to natural gas instead of oil. We seem to have plenty of it as a stop-gap measure for now
- Increase fuel efficiency standards to a level that actually makes a difference – like 40 or 50 MPG for any and all cars sold in America
- Continue (and increase) tax incentives for using renewable energy at home
- Every house could have a geothermal heating and cooling system as many of them do in Europe
Seriously, how much longer are we going to allow this madness to continue? We can see the cliff already; to continue running towards it is absolutely ridiculous when there are paths leading off to the sides. Let’s get this done.
You may also like:
- It’s Not Foreign Oil We Are Dependent On – It’s All Oil.
- Rise In Global CO2 Emissions Cut In Half.
- Why Oil Shale Extraction Is A Very Bad Idea.
- Greenwash Of The Week: Exxon/Mobil Named “Green Company Of The Year”.
- How To Save Energy & Money In Your Kitchen.
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Why can’t we drill and invest in alternative energies? I have never understood why the choice is “either/or”.
And the logic that says “we won’t see an impact for x number of years, so why do it?” is really a ridiculous argument. Everything worth doing takes time. Clinton refused an opportunity to drill in the mid-90’s. If he had allowed the drilling, we would not be facing the crisis that we currently deal with. Let’s apply the logic to other areas of life:
Why teach a 5 year old to read? It will be years before he can read on a level that will make a difference.
Why reduce carbon emissions? It will be years before we see the results, so why try?
Why fight to make slavery illegal? It took a long time.
And one more question – do you not believe that there are countries and people who hate the United States and wish to destroy it?
There are alternatives to oil that we can use; there are not alternatives to reading and slavery; I fail to see any correlation in that argument. I will never understand why anyone is pro-drilling when we have alternatives that work just as well, are much cleaner, still create jobs, and still create income for those who invest in them. Oil is on it’s way out; lets work towards the future rather than depending on the past.
As for countries who hate us – that is such a childish gunslinger reaction to the world around us; is it any wonder countries don’t like us when we act like a 5 year old in a schoolyard?
And if you read my article, I didn’t say we should stop drilling today, as of course that would not happen – “The oil and gas industry still has over 64 million acres of land that has been granted to them to explore on – which they have not even started using.” So why do we need to open more land to drilling if they have 64 million acres still to explore?
Most of the 64 million acres does not have oil under it . . .
I think you missed my point about reading, slavery, et al. I was simply saying that the fact that something might take a long time is not a reason to not attempt it.
I agree that oil is on it’s way out, so why not use it up?
It is also naive to believe that there are groups of people who don’t hate us. Our way of life was hated long before the Bush administration. Our world is governed by the aggressive use of force. No amount of love or diplomacy will talk a madman/dictator the likes of Hitler, Stalin, Chavez, Castro, Mao, Tojo, Mussolini, or Akmadinijad out of his desire to destroy, kill and control. Islamic fundamentalism, will only be stopped through the use of force.
I agree that drilling aint the answer, but I don’t think it’s the question either. Get people off using carbon and the drilling issue solves itself.
I think this is important because, when McCain & Palin are elected (as is looking likely from where I sit), it’s far more important that you cheer like mad when they do something progressive than you boo and complain when they allow more drilling.
The Green movement in the US needs to start making friends with Republicans!