We've known that the "middle east" has been oil-rich for most of the last half-century. When we discovered oil in Pennsylvania, then all over hitting a cache in Texas, things were cheap. Compared to the relative cost of everything, oil was cheaper than milk, and sometimes even water if one buys bottled.
At some point we started to forgo drilling in the U.S., and focused on getting supply from the "middle east." They have become prominent world players. As more people demand their oil, they can raise prices.
But at no point did we ever say we (the U.S.) ran out of oil. People started to think so, or take our non-drilling for granted. Falsehoods like the horrors of drilling in northern Alaska to the poor, defenseless Caribou (whose numbers have increased since the pipeline was installed).
During the 60s and 70s, we made a few mistakes. Not sarcasm, literally a few. Three Mile Island. An offshore platform oil spill. The danger was so great, they said, that pursuing these options were simply off the table. But the oil is STILL THERE. And do you think other countries are gonna care about our environment if they can drill 12.01 miles from American shores? You think we're in a national security risk now?
Only this time, instead of pulling it out of the ground for less than $20 per barrel, we could get over $100 or more. Speculative oil prices would drop. Gas would drop. Or maybe it stays high, we sell the oil and migrate to non-oil related energy, like... nuclear? There hasn't been a reactor issue since Three Mile Island in the U.S., and Chernobyl was built by a failing communist state. France is overflowing with nuclear power, and they've not had a reactor meltdown.
Whether you agree with offshore drilling or not, you must concede that drilling for the oil now or in the future has two massive upsides. 1) we could just simply hoard the oil and drop our own costs long enough to figure out a way to break away from oil, 2) if we're amongst the last oil producers, our economy would receive a boost from elevated oil prices, enough to cause ideological, radical muslim countries to give us back all the money we gave them when we weren't drilling our own oil.
Having nuclear would provide ample energy to increase domestic solar cell production (and dare I say... research?). Increased photovoltaic energy then could be used to allieviate the power grid to provide water refining and mass transport.
We're amongst the most ingenuitive nations on Earth. I will be giddy when we start acting like it.
1 comment:
We're most ingenious when we're saving our own necks or making money. So, if you are for solar, then you should be against new drilling. At least, new drilling now.
It's never been a better time to work in solar energy. Demand is going up up up, research is (slowly) spitting out improvements / replacements to PV cells.. It's everything I could ever ask for!
Instead of burning it (which is where the majority of imported oil ends up, either for power generation, heat, or for transport--ocean and land), why don't we save the oil for making useful plastic things such as artificial hearts, computers, iPods, and .. solar panels!
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