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Drill Here, Drill Now!
July 2008
For the last 35 years politicians have urged us to work towards “energy independence,” a goal which seems to recede whenever we try to move toward it. Many of the efforts made in this direction have been little more than quackery, such as Jimmy Carter’s attempt to develop synthetic fuels. Unfortunately, this bit of foolishness has been revived as Congress demands that we burn ethanol in our vehicles.
Meanwhile, billions of dollars have been spent, by private companies, seeking the means to exploit our oil shale resources. While this was a daunting challenge, it seemed to be worth pursuing because we have, in the Green River Formation in our Western States, more potentially recoverable oil than all the rest of the known oil reserves in the world. In fact there is an estimated 1.8 trillion barrels of oil in our oil shale, enough to satisfy our energy needs, at current levels of usage, for the next one hundred years.
While it seemed, for the longest time, that this was an impossible dream, recently Shell oil has developed a technique to extract oil from shale at a cost of $30.00 a barrel. This means, that if domestic oil companies were able to exploit these resources, we could stop sending our money to our enemies in Venezuela, Iran, etc. Instead, we could buy fuel from companies which support our own 401K funds, and the pension funds of retirees.
Ponder the meaning of what I just said. Iran has been at war with the United States since the seizure of our embassy in 1979. They are responsible for the slaughter in the Marine Barracks in Lebanon. They are responsible for the Khobar Towers massacre in Saudi Arabia. They are now responsible for the ongoing killing of our troops in Iraq. What would it mean to them, and to our other enemies, if the production of oil were to increase by more than double?
Economists classify oil as an “inelastic good.” This means that for a one percent change in supply, there would be nearly a four percent change in price. If American oil companies were to fully exploit the shale oil resources, a prospect that is now entirely feasible, we could cut off the funding for the mischief that Iran and our other enemies are now able to create.
This sounds good, doesn’t it? We now know how to extract this oil for $30.00 a barrel at a time when other oil has reached $132.00 a barrel. We can literally pick the pockets of Hugo Chavez and Ahmadinejad, defunding terror while energizing our faltering economy. We do, after all, want to win the war against the terrorists, don’t we? We would all rather spend $1.30 per gallon for gas than $3.80, as we are paying now, or the $5.00 a gallon predicted in a few years if nothing changes. Right?
Apparently not. In the Omnibus Spending Bill, H.R. 2764, which the Democrat controlled Congress passed last year, a provision was added, without hearings, without notice, without most members of Congress knowing that it was added at the last minute, which prohibits drilling for shale oil on Federal land. Since 70% of this oil is under Federal land, this means that oil shale will not be exploited. A few days ago, they again refused to permit extraction of shale oil.
In other words, H.R. 2764, which was sponsored by Democrat Nita Lowey of New York, requires Americans to continue to send money to the people who are killing our troops and sending suicide bombers to kill innocent children. It will force Americans to continue to devote more and more of our income to fuel, rather than health care, home improvements, college tuition, or any of the other things on which we would like to spend our disposable income. Money for terrorists? Which side are the Democrats on?
Remember, the oil in the shale formations is our oil. Remember that when we spend $3.80 for a gallon of gasoline, part of that money may come back to kill Americans. Remember that pension funds for retired Americans profits from American oil companies selling oil, not from terror sponsors who sell oil. Which side are the Congressional Democrats on? A good question to ask in an election year.
James H. Warner is a retired attorney. He served as a domestic policy advisor to President Ronald Reagan from 1985 until 1989.
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