Connect the Dots on Oil

Yesterday, August 7, BP announced that a quarter-inch leak in its Alaska pipeline led to the discovery of a significant corrosion problem. The 22 mile pipeline will be closed while a 16 mile segment will be replaced. This reduces the domestic oil supply by about eight percent for several months.

The usual suspects among the media, liberal politicians, and environmental groups have once again begun to criticize the evil oil corporations—their stock answer to any energy problem. I don’t know who is really at fault in this particular leak. But, it does give us a chance to “connect the dots”.

Who is really responsible for the high price of energy in the U.S. today? Here are some of the dots:

• ANWAR, the Artic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska is a 19 million acre area north of the Artic Circle. By itself, it is larger than ten states yet only 220 people live on it. Some 17.5 million acres (92.11%) have been permanently protected against development of any kind. Experts estimate that enough oil is beneath the costal plain (a 1.5 million acre area) to supply US needs for several years. Yet, environmental forces have been successful in preventing any development of this area.
  
  
• The US government owns some 460 million acres of proven oil rich reserves that lie just offshore of the US. Yet, all oil exploration has been banned in those areas because of environmental concerns. Other countries, such as Cuba, have no such qualms and are beginning to exploit the areas adjacent to the US-owned areas. And they are doing so with much less environmentally friendly technology than American firms would use.
  
  
• No new oil refining capacity has been built in the US over the last three decades because of environmental opposition.
  
  
• No new nuclear power plant has been built in the US over the past four decades, again because of environmental opposition. Yet, countries such as France and Sweden get the majority of their electrical power from nuclear sources. Meanwhile, we burn fossil fuels and create additional air pollution in the name of environmental purity.
  
  
• There are many other self-imposed restrictions that could be cited; too numerous for this venue.

The result is a domestic energy industry that is producing beyond full capacity. It has no reserves or flexibility. The slightest problem, even a quarter inch leak, can cause a major disruption to domestic supplies—and the resulting price of oil products.

Connect the dots and the pattern that emerges is clear. America has let a legitimate concern for the environment lock itself into a cage with no escape. The competing needs of both the environment and energy are never discussed together in the public debate. Those who have devoted themselves to protecting the environment do so without concern for the implications of their policies on the nation. And they have dominated the public debate. The result is that America has doomed itself to dependency upon the highly unstable mid-eastern nations and exposed itself to price shocks when our overstressed domestic faces any problem at all.

I am not against the environment. Anyone who has ever seen the ravages of the third world knows the need for protection. But, it is not the only consideration. People live on this planet, just as the plants and animals do. Protecting the welfare of people is also important.

We will never solve America’s energy problems until we take a second look at the self-imposed restrictions that we live under in the name of environmentalism. We must strike a better balance with protecting nature and protecting people.