The sudden loss of a portion of the nation’s daily oil production should prompt support of a national energy policy that includes oil exploration.
But don’t hold your breath. If history is a guide, the only thing that will come of this latest energy surprise will be the release of hot air.
In 1971, President Nixon promised the American people that he would make the United States energy-independent. In 1979, President Carter promised much the same.
Dependence on foreign oil is at an all-time high. Gasoline prices are approaching unprecedented levels. Electricity bills are sending household budgets into a tailspin.
It’s not that our elected politicians aren’t sensitive to our energy problems.
Every time there’s the slightest spike in gasoline prices, congressmembers are outraged and order an investigation. Thousands of investigations later, nothing has changed.
Once again, members of Congress are outraged. This time it’s because oil giant British Petroleum PLC is shutting down its Prudhoe Bay oil field in Alaska to fix corroded pipelines. The temporary shutdown means 8 percent of U.S. daily oil production will be lost, which likely will cause U.S. motorists to pay higher gasoline prices. That’s the real rub.
Americans, both liberals and conservatives, don’t like high gasoline prices. Naturally, congressmembers are lining up to support another congressional investigation.
It turns out that BP officials did an inadequate job inspecting and maintaining their pipelines that handle up to 400,000 barrels of oil a day, which amounts to 2.6 percent of the U.S. daily oil consumption.
The disruption caused by the loss of this tiny sliver of America’s domestic oil production ought to prompt lawmakers to open up oil exploration on federal lands and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and to begin drilling for oil and gas offshore on the Outer Continental Shelf in all four leasing regions.
Regrettably, many Americans go ballistic whenever people talk about the need to increase domestic production of oil and gas. They claim the amount that can be produced will not be enough to make the United States energy-independent.
No doubt that’s true. But no one knows how much oil and gas can be discovered and produced until we try. What’s more, whatever is produced will help on the supply side of the equation.
Another argument given in opposition to additional domestic oil production is the pollution these operations might cause. There are ways to handle the pollution problem.
For starters, oil wells now can be drilled and produced within the middle of residential neighborhoods without disrupting the residents.
Students at the swanky Beverly Hills High School go about their daily business in the shadow of a 150-foot oil well towering over their upscale campus.
The caribou herds that were supposed to be wiped out by oil production in Prudhoe Bay and the construction of the Alaska oil pipeline have grown and thrived alongside the pipeline and the oil rigs.
Pollution controls can always be better. Congress should demand much tighter regulatory and pollution controls for the entire oil and gas industry. For instance, BP wasn’t even required to inspect its pipelines.
Congress should provide the funds to hire enough inspectors to keep the oil companies on their best behavior.
There should be heavy penalties for companies that violate regulations or pollute the environment. The cash-rich oil companies can’t claim economic hardship.
At the same time, Congress should require strict energy conservation standards, demand clean-coal technology, increase mileage standards for cars, support alternative fuels and promote the construction of nuclear power plants and new oil refineries.
Any of this would be better than another fruitless congressional investigation.
Rowland Nethaway is senior editor of the Waco Tribune-Herald. This column was distributed by Cox Newspapers.
