| Subject: Americans must learn they can no longer depend on oil |
Author:
Betty
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Date Posted: 04:52:27 09/05/05 Mon
Anyone who thinks that releasing oil from the federal Strategic Petroleum Reserve is going to have anymore than a momentary impact on gas prices is only fooling themselves.
In the long run, the president's move to open the reserves in the wake of Hurricane Katrina will do little if anything.
In the short term, it will make us feel good and, perhaps — just perhaps — temper prices by a few cents.
Prior to Katrina's devastating blow to the New Orleans-Biloxi area of the Gulf, gas prices nationally were headed to well beyond $3 a gallon. Katrina's arrival simply brought prices to that level sooner.
If use of the reserve in Katrina's wake is going to have any impact it must be to help awaken Americans to the reality that we can no longer depend on an infinite flow of cheap oil — and that $3 a gallon means it's time to take seriously calls to develop and use alternative fuels.
Up until and including the recently signed energy bill, the United States has depended on artificial means of stretching a finite supply of oil — foreign and domestic. California-fashioned mileage standards, invoked by the federal government, forced manufacturers to increase fuel efficiency. They have not, however, forced the motoring public to stop driving 10-mile-per-gallon SUVs and Hummers.
And while the energy bill calls for the development of alternative fuels like hydrogen and ethanol, it will make little difference unless consumers embrace the technology and make it cost effective.
While we may see the price of gas temporarily recede to below $3 a gallon, we must not see the need to wean ourselves away from oil and its byproducts recede.
With developments in technology over the last three decades there is no reason not to reduce our dependence on oil.
Wind — Commercial wind turbines are now harnessing energy in over 65 countries, making wind power the world's fastest growing source of energy after solar. Yet, efforts to develop wind power in the United States are being fought off the shores of Cape Cod and in the mountains of northern New England.
Hydro — Water power is one of the largest producers of electricity in the United States, not just in the west. In New Hampshire and Maine there are dozens of generating facilities. But there could be more, if it were not for efforts to stop the construction of dams on waterways considered more beautiful than useful for power generation.
Solar — After the oil embargo of the 1970s, great strides were made in harnessing the sun's power. But as oil again began to flow and prices at the pump dropped, we lost interest. Fewer and fewer took advantage of federal tax credits and the industry at the retail level nearly faded into oblivion.
Biomass — From wood to methane to cars that run on recycled vegetable oil, biomass development has quietly gone on despite cheap oil. However, its only cheerleaders up until recently have been the diehards like those who annually race their vegetable oil-powered cars through New Hampshire to get our attention.
Nuclear — The fight to bring nuclear power on line at Seabrook brought development of this alternative power source to a screeching halt. Since Public Service Company was forced into bankruptcy by years of protests, there have been no new nuclear reactors to come on line anywhere in the United States.
Meanwhile, in Europe, significant strides have been made in using nuclear power. Currently, 75 percent of France's electricity comes from nuclear power plants. Even the issue of spent fuel storage has been successfully dealt with.
Clearly, the United States has at its disposal the resources and technology to free up dwindling oil supplies. What we, as Americans, lack is the will and resolve to overcome our petty differences and move forward with the use and greater development of alternative fuels.
Wind, hydro, solar, biomass and nuclear can all take a bite out of our need for oil. Only then will prices come down and the supply stabilize.
We must recognize that the solution to repeated oil crises is diversification.
No longer can we look to the one deity — to one master — called oil.
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