Friday, April 22, 2011

COP: Going Green by Starving America of Oil


Tait Trussell

A gallon of regular gas in Caracus,Venezuella, costs 12 cents. In Saudi Arabia, gas is at 91 cents a gallon. So, why, when we have more fossil fuel deposits in America on shore and off shore than either of those countries, are we paying $4.00 a gallon or higher? Could it be unbounded politics?

As an op-ed piece in the Wall Street journal put it: “For decades—going back to Jimmy Carter—politicians have been peddling an America free of fossil fuels…” President Obama has raised the anti-petroleum ghost to a new level of fear linked to the misguided theory of global warming. To satisfy his left-wing base of narrow-minded environmentalists, along with his own twisted ideals, Obama’s administration has blocked drilling for oil and gas, proposed new taxes on oil companies, and called for costly restraints on carbon emissions while persistently touting the ethereal promise of green energy.

Although the bloated Federal budget, deficit, and debt are drawing the focus of political Washington, our stifling energy policy is contributing to the economic conditions which, in turn, influence our spending and debt as well as our high unemployment.

Increased access to domestic oil and natural gas—rather than increased taxes on the U.S. oil and gas industry—is the best strategy for increasing government revenue, jobs and energy production, according to a new study by Wood MacKenzie, the global research and consulting firm.

What the political know-it-alls won’t tell the public is that America has more recoverable fossil fuel resources than any other country on earth. More than any Middle Eastern country, more than Russia, more than China, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) reported recently. It compared various countries in terms of estimated amounts of oil and gas discovered or existing in unexplored areas but considered recoverable using present technology.

The CRS estimate of oil and gas doesn’t even include coal, with U.S. reserves of 262 billion tons. That’s 28 percent of the world’s coal. It doesn’t attempt to quantify the new frontier of methane hydrate (methane locked in ice). This gas source has “immense” energy potential, possibly exceeding the combined energy content of all known fossil fuels, according to the Congressional Research Service. It could eventually be available if the environmentalists of the Left will permit it.

Nor are shale oil deposits included in the CRS estimate. Shale oil and gas are being uncovered rapidly with the new technology of fracking—pumping water and chemicals at high pressure far below the surface to break up the shale and release gas.

The environmental extremists are already whining about fracking, claiming the drilling fluids applied to get the oil and gas from deep shale formations contain carcinogens hazardous to clean water.
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