Domestic Oil Everywhere, but Not a Drop to Drill
Commentary by Sanford D. Horn
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So, while we are not drilling here in the United States, nor opening new refineries, something that hasn’t been done in more than 30 years, we continue to grow the economies of countries that wish us harm, failure and ultimate destruction. This is not just deleterious to the economy of the United States Saudi Arabia U.S. Venezuela United States
Angola, one of the few remaining communist countries in the world, ranks number seven, selling us more than a half million barrels per day last year. Iraq Libya
First, the United States, in an effort to begin weaning itself off of foreign oil , should cease conducting business with countries seeking to do us harm. After all, the figures quoted above are far from diaphanous. As long as we need to procure foreign crude oil and products, the United States Canada
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Perhaps one of the most sound business proposals the United States Mexico U.S. Mexico Canada Mexico
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For the allegedly most powerful nation in the world, the United States Florida Epcot Center Cape Canaveral , the beaches, spring training baseball or Mickey Mouse.
Senator John McCain (R-AZ) the GOP nominee for president has also amended his belief system regarding offshore drilling. Call it a flip-flop, call it an epiphany, call it doing one’s homework, but the Senator has also come to realize the necessity of domestic offshore drilling. Now, if he could only see the light regarding ANWR (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge), we’d be in business.
Neither McCain nor his presumptive Democratic opponent Senator Barrack Obama (IL) support drilling in ANWR. This piece of frozen tundra, to borrow a phrase from ESPN’s Chris Berman, clocks in at about 70 degrees below zero and home to some caribou. Caribou. We’re paying more than $4 a gallon at the pump because of caribou. OK, it’s not just the caribou, but ANWR is roughly the size of South Carolina Dulles Airport
I’ve got nothing against the caribou, but they can be relocated. We continue to build houses and the indigenous animals find other places to roam. Bottom line is while we are developing alternative fuel sources, which I absolutely support, we must drill domestically. I’m talking about ANWR, not the Grand Canyon or the Florida Everglades for goodness sakes.
Both major party candidates for the White House must realize the importance of drilling in ANWR. And in the case of Sen. Obama, to him, offshore means off limits. He doesn’t support offshore drilling and has taken the same tack as those opposing domestic drilling because it will not solve anything today. This is terribly short-sighted on Obama’s part. Nothing will solve the energy crisis today – period. This is the same short-sightedness demonstrated by former President Clinton when he vetoed legislation passed by Congress to drill in ANWR.
For a candidate whose slogan is “Yes we can,” he says “no we can’t” at every turn where the energy crisis is concerned such as offshore drilling and nuclear energy, for examples.
Knowing what Obama is against is one thing, but what is he for, aside from mandatory conservation? “We can't drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times,” said Obama last month in Oregon
One thing Obama does seem to advocate is a windfall profits tax against the oil companies. Who should determine how much of a profit is too much? How much of a tax? Where should the federal government draw the line? Should such a tax be imposed, the oil companies will simply recoup their tax loses by raising prices, cutting production and cutting jobs. Thus the potential failure of the windfall profits tax, the downward spiraling of the U.S.
Liberals famously cart out the slippery slope whenever it suits their needs. Here is a prime example of where the slippery slope will run this nation into depression on the way to socialism. Liberals are of the mindset that government control is the proper path to traverse. However, that path will be riddled with tolls and taxes. Should the federal government take over the cola industry because the Coca Cola Company made more of a profit than the oil companies? Certainly not, nor should they do it with the oil industry.
Some of Obama’s Democratic colleagues in the Senate as recently as last week called for the nationalization of the oil companies. Now we are taking a page out of the playbook of Venezuelan anti-American dictator Hugo Chavez. The last thing people want is for the government to get its grubby hands on the oil supply or control its production. If that happens, count on $6 a gallon before too long, or higher. Instead, the federal government needs to overturn its 1982 moratorium and ban on drilling in the outer-continental shelf.
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Yet, the Congress, as usual, is playing politics. In an interview given to the Fox News Channel on Wednesday, May 21 Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) admitted “Congress isn’t doing anything. We have no energy policy in this country.” Hatch called for the extraction of oil shale, which he estimates there are “between 800 billion and 1.9 trillion barrels of oil in Wyoming Colorado Utah
Meanwhile, we continue to blindly pay more than $135 (a figure that will no doubt be obsolete by the time this column is printed) per barrel of imported crude like the lemmings we have become. Hatch’s plan is good for the economy as it will produce jobs, lower the price at the pump – eventually, reduce our dependence on foreign oil and help further secure our nation.
Drilling domestically, both on shore and offshore is much safer than it used to be. There hasn’t been a significant oil spill since 1969. Thousands of rigs in the Gulf of Mexico sustained no damage during Hurricane Katrina.
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Here again the economy and more importantly the American people are the beneficiaries. More jobs are created, gas prices will be reduced, ultimately reducing food prices as well, giving the average consumer more disposable income with which to dine out, take the children to a ballgame, buy new clothes for back to school time in the fall, save for retirement – all of which help grow the economy. Whereas, just the opposite is sure to befall the U.S. as gas prices rise, forcing food prices to continue rising causing the American consumer to pare back on non-essential purchases leading to a surplus on the shelves, which will force employers to scale back their labor force. What a grim picture this paints, except no one can afford to drive to the store to buy the paint.
In addition to the “drill here, drill now, pay less” concept as advocated by former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (see his non-partisan website www.americansolutions.com) and the more than one million signatories who support his effort, the federal government must stop giving subsidies to the oil industry. Pursuit of nuclear energy is vital – something McCain supports but Obama opposes. I support nuclear energy, even though this is something the French do – and successfully, as do the Swedes. France Sweden
I am not the only person to support solar and wind as sources of energy. Senator John Kyl (R-AZ) is a strong supporter of solar energy and Congressman John Peterson (R-PA) fervently supports wind energy. Peterson pointed out in an interview on June 25th that even doubling the output of those sources would only bring them to one percent of our energy production.
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Also on the table should be sugar-based ethanol – this is what is successful in Brazil
Each of these sources should be vigorously pursued. The power must be taken out of the hands of the foreign nations that wish us ill, such as the OPEC mafia, and the power must never be put in the hands of the federal government.
Sanford D. Horn is a writer and political consultant living in Alexandria, VA.
