Energy Independence
A popular topic today revolves around energy policy and fuel prices. As the price of a gallon of gasoline exceeded $4.00, the focus of the Presidential candidates as well as the media shifted almost exclusively to energy plans. We have heard plans that include non-existent technologies to plans that are outright ridiculous in nature. We have seen the oil company executives called before congress and the oil speculators are next in line for scrutiny. The circus atmosphere surrounding this debate is taking away from the real issues.
The real issue is that we must do what we can today to minimize and ideally eliminate our need to import foreign oil. To increase our self reliance we must drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), drill off shore, drill in the Gulf of Mexico, sign claim rights and drill in the Arctic. Processing the oil shale in Colorado and the oil sands in Canada are viable options that were not economically feasible just a few years ago. Refineries to convert coal to gasoline and diesel fuel and additional nuclear power plants are current technologies that will reduce our dependence on foreign oil. As we shift to domestic oil production, simultaneously we need to continue to develop more advanced technologies for sustainable energy in an effort to become energy self sufficient. Currently we are spending billions of dollars each year to import oil. This is not a “transfer of wealth” as some would lead us to believe; rather it is an exchange of wealth, using our dollars to purchase the energy that fuels our economy and way of life. In the past it has been less costly to purchase foreign oil than to produce our own oil, this is no longer the case. Many of the countries that we have conducted business with for years are now or are becoming anti-American.
As we sit idly by arguing the virtues of non-existent technologies, Russia and China are quietly purchasing and claiming oil and mineral rights all around the world. If we continue to be blinded by reality we could easily find ourselves at the mercy of these countries, depending on them to provide us with the very life blood of our economy and way of life. While the price of gasoline and the resulting rampant inflation has awakened America to our weak energy policy, the real issue is not necessarily that of mere economics, but on a larger scale of national security. Our total economy, and thus the strength of our nation are fueled by energy, primarily oil. If we do not take steps now to start to become more energy independent, we will in the not too distant future become totally dependent upon anti-American countries to provide us with oil.
The United States defeated communism and caused the fall of the Soviet Union not through her military power alone, but rather by causing the former Soviet Union to collapse it’s economy through excessive spending. We are currently on the other end of that same tactic. Russia, Venezuela, and Iran are earning billions of dollars in oil revenues as we sit on our own untapped resources, increasing our trade deficit and further devaluing our currency. Yes, it may take years to build the infrastructure, nuclear plants, and refineries; but every day we delay is another day further from completion.
The first step toward achieving energy independence is for government to remove the barriers to our energy companies. Congress must repeal the ban on domestic oil exploration and drilling. The approval process for new refineries and nuclear power plants must be streamlined. American businesses and people must be allowed to do what we do best; create superior products and processes through risk, innovation, and hard work. Given the opportunity, Americans can and will overcome this latest attack on our very way of life, but government must get out of the way to create that opportunity.