Over at MyDD, my jaw dropped when I read a post by Jerome Armstrong that advocated that the Democrats "strategically" imitate John McCain in allowing some offshore drilling. This is on the basis of some half-assed polling data, with questions worded to practically invite the respondents to say they supported this oil drilling. What was even more disturbing was that Mr. Armstrong was buying the Republican framing that doing this will reduce gasoline prices. A very quick check of the facts will show that this isn't true, and, in fact, there is also a very easy pushback on this issue.
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Fortunately other Democrats are on the job regarding some pushback to this nonsense. The House Committee on Natural Resources has assembled a staff report explaining that there are plenty of current oil leases not being drilled by the oil companies to provide additional production of 4.8 million barrels per day, which could double our current production of 5 million barrels per day. So if they're not drilling the leases they have, why do the oil companies need more? The allegation is that they hold the leases for speculative purposes or to manipulate their stock prices. But in any event, why should we let them have more leases when they're not drilling the ones they already have?
By the way, according to the Energy Information Administration, Production from the Arctic National Wildlife refuge would only yield production of about 0.6 to 1.6 million barrels per day, depending on how optimistic you are about the amount of oil that's actually there. Compare this to total U.S. oil Consumption ("product supplied") of 20 million barrels per year. Drilling ANWR certainly isn't going to do much to prices, and I doubt that even producing the undrilled leases will make much of a long-term difference.
But what's most disturbing to me is not that Mr. Armstrong, like most political types, seems to be proudly oblivious of technical considerations, it's that he thinks our leaders need to pander to the base instinct that says that Americans have an inalienable right to as much cheap gasoline as they can burn. Our leaders need to lead on this issue. Too much of America is in such denial about the relations among petroleum supply, price, global warming, and their lifestyle that leadership is needed to bring the truth into the public discourse.
This is more than about being able to drive an SUV around and live in the suburbs. Our entire civilization is based on the availability of cheap oil. Farming is basically a processes whereby petroleum is transformed into (more or less) edible substances. Food has to be shipped from the farms and processing plants to the stores. What's going to happen to the food shipments to your local Safweway if there are diesel supply disruptions?
The fastest way to keep these problems from getting our of hand is to reduce the demand. And guess what? Expensive gasoline is doing just that. Americans are smarter than the pandering politicians give them credit for. Reducing demand will not only prevent fuel supply disruptions that will be a lot more serious than high gas prices, but they will also reduce CO2 emissions and prevent global warming from being worse than it is. And if we can make the demand reduction permanent, gas prices will eventually come down, too. But maybe by then we won't care, because we won't be enslaved by a need for the stuff.
Right now, though, we need leadership, and political leaders who have the guts to tell us the truth, not what all to many of us of us want to hear.