I'm as ticked as anyone at $4/gallon gas. With trips planned to Topeka, Kansas and Chamberlain, South Dakota in the coming days, I'm not looking forward to filling up my Pacifica's gas tank.
And as a child of a petroleum pipeliner and a former petroleum pipeline summer employee, I have at least a small understanding of the oil and refining businesses.
I don't think petroleum or petroleum companies are inherently evil. If you like to drive, you need gas. And we all can't have backyard refineries.
And I like to drive my Pacifica.
However, just like Sen. John McCain's gas tax holiday idea for this summer vacation season, Pres. George W. Bush's idea to drill off shore and in the Alaskan Arctic are just short-term ideas that pander but don't provide long-term solutions.
From the Wall Street Journal:
President Bush called on Congress to lift a ban on offshore oil and gas drilling that has been in place since 1981, saying lagging domestic production has contributed to sharply higher gasoline prices. He also urged Democratic lawmakers to drop their opposition to drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and proposed streamlining the permit process for building new refining capacity in the U.S.
Separately, the White House said Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman will be attending a one-day meeting of oil producers in Saudi Arabia.
For more information, see:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121379512215184123.html?mod=djemalertNEWS
Oil will continue to be part of the energy equation for the foreseeable future. But the sooner the United States embarks on meaningful government funded research and development on biofuels, hydrogen, solar, wind, and other "green" energy solutions, we will continue to be held hostage by exorbitant fuel prices, multi-national corporations, unfriendly foreign governments--and our own laziness and lack of will.
Had we actually taken Pres. Jimmy Carter's warnings to heart about energy independence in the late 1970s (Yes, I know it's not cool to mention anything positive about Pres. Carter), frankly, we wouldn't be in the current fix.
But while 30 years ago would have been the best time to plant the energy independence "tree," the next best time is now. But Pres. Bush--ironically, considering his name--is not interested in planting "trees."
That will have to wait for a Pres. Barack Obama.
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