Story originally printed in the Holmen Courier or online at www.holmencourier.com
Published - Wednesday, July 02, 2008
LETTER: Renewed oil drilling makes no sense
Last week, the White House renewed pressure on Congress to allow oil drilling offshore and in protected areas. This idea makes no sense. As a nation, unconsciously, we have chosen to follow a developmental route over the last century that makes all aspects of our civilization highly dependent on crude oil. We are paying the price for this choice and will pay far more in the future.
New exploration will not result in new oil production for over half a decade. In this time, China and India will greatly increase their need for oil, further driving prices up. So, if new oil production were to develop around 2015 or later, we would not see a price decrease. We would have mortgaged our protected lands, our beaches and our oceans for no benefit whatsoever. We’d be no better, and probably much worse, economically than we are right now. Our economy and nation needs new ideas and a new way forward.
We need new well-paying jobs. We need new energy. God has given us all of what we need in this nation, not in the limited oil supplies, but in the limitless energy contained in many flowing rivers, abundant sunshine, ceaseless wind and tides.
Don’t listen to obsolete ideas about the “domestic oil production solution.” It’s no more of a solution than another fix is to a heroin addict.
All stories copyright 2006 Holmen Courier and other attributed sources.