One thing I haven't seen touched on, in the Republican's ongoing war to wedge yet another massive corporate giveaway into the remaining months of Bush's abominable presidency, is that faster extraction of our domestic oil supply -- even if it actually happened, which isn't at all clear -- isn't just an environmental consideration, but a serious energy and national security question.
Put simply: we know oil is peaking. Unless you're a nutcase like Jerome Corsi, who believes oil comes from underground Jesus factories or the like, everyone can agree that there's never going to be more of it. Prices are going to continue to fluctuate wildly based on world events and speculation, but it's always going to be trending up. And as the years go by, more and more oilfields are going to pass their peak production, then dwindle, then run dry, and prices are going to start skyrocketing to an extent that makes our current bubble look like child's play.
It's that time, a few decades from now, that things are going to get dicey, especially if we haven't weaned ourselves substantially from oil by then. It's that time that's got experts worried, from economists to the Pentagon, as the nations of the world fight (probably quite literally) for the last large supplies of the black stuff. Other countries are planning for it: Middle Eastern nations are going to great lengths to invest their current oil profits into diversifying their economies, creating business, shipping and tourist havens. America? In general, we're not doing squat. We're doing worse than squat, because the Republicans and the current administration are actively opposed to any energy policy that does not revolve around momentary profits for the large oil companies. It's the Grasshopper and the Ant, being played out on the floor of the House of Representatives.
As a matter of policy, however, I think we should be able to agree on a few key things. First: when the oil crunch comes, we want to be one of the last countries to run out of domestic supplies. We want to still have untapped oil in Alaska, California, the Gulf, etc. after the fields of Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq run dry. If we're going to go begging because of lack of planning, better to beg at our own doorstep than in the future hotspots of the world. And has been pointed out repeatedly, those domestic supplies aren't very large to begin with.
Second, the longer that oil sits underground, the more valuable it becomes. Forget $4.00 gasoline -- what about $10.00? $20.00? If we're really ever going to be forced to drill in pristine areas, it'd be better to do it when gasoline is $500 a barrel than $200. And we'll be able to extract much more stringent environmental protections from the companies, as well as better lease rates, etc. That oil is our piggy bank -- yours and mine. It doesn't belong to Exxon, or Chevron, or anyone else until and unless we hand it over, which is what the Republicans are bound and determined to do.
Our coastlines aren't just pretty to look at. They're also a vast Strategic Petroleum Reserve. We'd do ourselves well not to worsen our future oil deficit at the same time we've so badly mismanaged the rest of the nation's finances.
