The Stalking Horse - Should We Drill in Anwar?

A "Stalking Horse" is a horse that has been trained to
stand in front and draw attention away from, obscure, and
conceal the hunter. This phrase has entered our language
to describe an issue that is intended to draw attention
away from, obscure, and conceal real issues. Proponents of
the "Stalking Horse" issue will be delighted to discuss and
debate their Stalking Horse issue indefinitely, if it will
serve to avoid having to address the real issues.
Such an "issue" is: "Should we drill in Anwar?" and the
similar "issue" of: "Should we be drilling off the coast of
our cities?"
There are some 60 MILLION square miles of the Earth's
surface that are available for oil exploration and
development. There are a few areas representing a tiny
portion of that, that were put "off limits" for what seemed
at the time to be for some very good and valid reasons.
And no one really even knows if there actually are
commercially attractive quantities of oil in those "off
limit" areas. If Congress does authorize drilling in Anwar
and off the coast of American cities, it will take years to
bid out the rights to various parcels. More years to do
detailed geological studies to determine where, and
whether, there are in fact promising sites for oil
development, and to drill test wells to verify that those
sites are commercially attractive. Then it will take many
additional years to drill production wells and build the
pipelines and other infrastructure required to bring that
oil to refineries. The rosiest projections are that the
first drops of oil from these areas might begin to be
available in about 10 years, and full production in 15 to
20 years. And no, there was no movement to open up
drilling in Anwar and off the coast of American cities 15
to 20 years ago - there were millions of square miles of
other more accessible and more commercially attractive
sites to be explored and developed.
But according to conspiracy theorists, it is because those
areas are "off limits" that is the sole reason why we have
a problem with oil! "The Government doesn't want us to be
energy independent!" "If it weren't for preventing the
development of those areas we would have plenty of oil!"
The real issue is that the world is burning up oil as fast
as we can pump it out of the ground. The Anwar issue is,
simply, a way to find some one to blame other than to blame
the gluttony of the American people. The insatiable
appetite of the American people that their every desire
must be fulfilled, their every whim satisfied. The
American people who burn up 6 times as much oil per person
as people in the rest of the world. We are coming to the
end of the "Oil Age", and will need to move on to other
energy sources. The real issue is that we need to tell
people what they can not do whatever they want, that there
are consequences to their actions.
We don't know by what means we will propel vehicles after
the "Oil Age". Will it be plug-in electrics? And how will
we generate the additional electricity? Or will the
electricity be generated on board from hydrogen fuel cells?
Or will it be ethanol, perhaps from sugar cane as the
Brazilians have so ably demonstrated, which might be a boon
to some Caribbean nations and some nations south of us that
could surely use an economic boost? Or will it be from
fats or oils from crops, or oils from algae? Or will it be
with compressed natural gas? Or will it be some other
technology, or some combination of all of the above.
And what we clearly need to do while we are developing
these alternatives, is to conserve the remaining supply of
oil. To drive the most fuel efficient vehicle we can find,
and to drive it at moderate speeds and with gradual
acceleration to get the best fuel economy we can. When
practical, we need to car pool, ride public transportation,
move closer to the work place, and otherwise avoid wasting
this precious resource. As we have seen from the reaction
when gasoline got to $5 a gallon, the best way to achieve
this is to make gasoline expensive - add on taxes to drive
the price up to where it will influence behavior. And high
prices will create the public demand that will spur the
development of more efficient vehicles, vehicles that use
alternative fuels, and spur the development of those fuels.
It is clear that the "issues" of drilling in Anwar and off
the coast of American cities have little to do with the
real issue of confronting our dependency on oil as a fuel.
At most, any additional oil we will eventually get from
these sources can only perpetuate our dependence a little
longer. And yet, a major political party has made this
"Stalking Horse" a cornerstone of their energy policy!
They have nominated a vice presidential candidate whose
chief qualification seems to be that she is an ardent
supporter of drilling in Anwar.

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Read more about this topic and 25 chapters on other thought
provoking topics in the highly acclaimed poignant and witty
new book "Running Amok - Our Grandchildren will Curse Us"
by Dave Rosenak. Check out the web site
http://www.runningamokthebook.com/ Whether you think
the book will start a revolution, or whether you think the
author should stick all of his stinking opinions back where
the sun don't shine, you won't be bored!

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