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The short sightedness of the no-drilling Democrats

Written by Dr. Rich Swier

Thursday, 21 August 2008

The Sarasota Herald-Tribune in their editorial, "Polls and energy policy" just don't get it.

The basis of their argument is false. Republicans have always wanted to use our all our own natural resources and stop our "addiction" to foreign oil as President Bush pointed out in his State of the Union address in 2004. It is Democrats that are caving under the pressure of the "polls" not Republicans.

With the cost of gasoline and energy rising the editorial board, and the Democratic leadership, solution is to do nothing but wind and solar. Forget about the trillions of barrels of oil in our Midwestern shale, the billions of barrels of oil and trillions of cubic feet of natural gas in the outer continental shelf and ANWR. The editorial board just wants us to invest in sunny skies and windy days.

The Herald-Tribune argues, "Never mind the reports by the Energy Department that no significant amounts of oil from new offshore leases could be brought to market before 2030, and even then would have a minimal effect on world oil supplies and prices."

This is an interesting statement because it exactly matches statements by Nancy Pelosi. The Herald-Tribune does not provide a citation here, but we think they are referring to this Energy Information Administration (EIA) report. If so, they have their facts wrong. The report clearly states it is only looking at the Outer Continental Shelf ban being lifted in 2012. So the editorial board is just dead wrong when they say the EIA says production would not begin until 2017. If the ban were lifted today, production could begin in 2013. More importantly, though, the editorial board shows they do not understand commodities markets. It is well established that present prices are impacted by anticipated future supply change.

You and I are seeing that now. Since President Bush lifted the Presidential Executive ban on off shore drilling and Congressional Republicans and the public started demanding "drill here, drill now" prices have gone down 30 cents a gallon. This nationwide change in attitude has speculators worried and the market is reacting, to the betterment of you and me in lower gas prices. I agree with the Herald-Tribune that you and I, "have reduced their use of gas over the past month and helped" reduce the price. Conservation, however, is not enough.

The non-partisan and fair and balanced editorial board states, "And polls show that Republicans, saddled with an unpopular Republican president, an unpopular war in Iraq and a failed economy, desperately need an issue that can give McCain traction."

My question to you is: "Are you better off since the Democrats took control of Congress in 2006?" The Democratic Congress has a 9% approval rating, the lowest in history. The United States is winning the war in Iraq and Senator McCain has promised we will redeploy our forces and bring them home victorious. The economy has gone South under a Democratic Congress in just two years. Housing meltdown, credit crunch, more Congressional spending, Democrats raise the national debt ceiling, Fanny and Freddie nearly bankrupt. Democrats bailing out banks and Freddie and Fannie with our money. All this in just two years of a Democratic Congress. Just think how bad it could get if they get two more years in control, we could end up in a depression.

Had enough? Vote Republican!

The editorial board notes that, "Democrats are wilting under the heat of those same polls." Democrats like Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi are not wilting they are caving. They know they will lose the election in November, up and down the ticket, if they don't cave. So who is playing politics? Who is reacting to the polls? If Democrats were really serious they would have some backbone and fight. No, it is the Democrats who are driven by the polls, not the Republicans. The Republicans have always wanted to "drill here, drill now". Remember it was the Republican Congress that sent a bill to President Clinton to drill in ANWR in 1998. He vetoed it. We could be pumping millions of barrels of our own oil today if this bill had been signed.

Finally, the Herald-Tribune says, "Billionaire oil man T. Boone Pickens is building the world's largest wind farm in the Texas Panhandle, investing $2 billion in land and 700 wind turbines from General Electric. He's calling for federal tax incentives and infrastructure to encourage investment in renewable energy. "I have been an oil man all my life," Pickens recently told New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, "but this is one emergency we can't drill our way out of."

The problem with T. Boone Pickens initiative is that it will take 12 years to implement and billions in subsidies to make it happen. That means T. Boone wants you and me to pay for his wind farm. While I am totally against subsidies, I commend an oil man that understands he is in the energy business not just the oil business. I also agree with T. Boone that we cannot just drill our way out of this crisis. I believe we must drill, mine, build nuclear plants, develop new technologies, build solar and wind farms where they make sense, continue to conserve, and put our cars on flex fuels. Each solution alone is simply not enough. Taken together they mean we approach energy independence.

We must do it all. Nothing should be off of the table. The Sarasota Herald-Tribune wants to take our own natural resources off the table so that America is forced into buying foreign oil. Our petro dollars go to countries that use some of that money to kill our own soldiers.

To me this is a national security issue, not just an economic issue. As T. Boone points out we are sending $700 billion annually overseas. This is the largest transfer of wealth in American history. This alone requires we become energy independent.

Drill here, drill now, pay less! It works.

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