October 27, 2003
It's about power ...
"The oil is not about to run out. In fact, there are more proven reserves today than there were three decades ago. As for drilling in the Alaskan wilderness, there's too little oil there to impact global markets or the price at our pump. Oil independence is unachievable for a country that consumes a quarter of the world's oil but which sits atop barely 3% of the world's reserves. Yet the independence notion is invoked to justify the energy bill's massive subsidies for ethanol, an environmentally unfriendly gasoline additive much favored by corn farmers and the politicians who crave their votes.
"There's far more natural gas left in the world than there is oil. Still, Congress wants to throw tax money at a pipeline to bring Alaska's considerable reserves of gas to the lower 48 states. There's no need. Recent price spikes have already spurred plans for various projects to get liquefied natural gas to America. And if prices actually stay high, the industry will build a pipeline from Alaska without subsidy.
"Similarly contorted arguments -- remember the big Northeastern blackout caused by the supply problem? -- are being used to justify handouts for research into clean coal, liability insurance for nuclear power and tax credits for wind. Never mind that the lights did not go out as the result of a deficit of electrons. Human error, computer glitches and a failure to invest in the grid -- not any lack of electricity supply -- appear to have been the culprits.