For at least the last two generations, environmentalists have effectively maintained a hammerlock on legislation that would allow U.S. petroleum companies to actively pursue and develop sources of oil within the continental United States and surrounding waters. To be sure, despite advances in drilling technology, there is always an element of risk in such operations, as was so clearly demonstrated in the Gulf of Mexico recently. Publicly, the appeal of environmentalists has been fueled by promises of alternate energy sources that are always just around the corner, always just out of reach - and always require more funding to make them a reality. The more brazen among them simply argue that the only way to accomplish the goal of transitioning society to new technologies is to allow petroleum prices to escalate to the point that consumers will have no choice but to make a switch, regardless of the costs to themselves and the economy. As a result, despite years of promises, litigation, and the investment of multiplied billions of taxpayer dollars, we have yet to see such vaunted technologies produced in quantities and at a cost that would make it possible for the average citizen to finally make the switch.
Make no mistake; we have a responsibility to make use of natural resources in a manner that is beneficial not only to mankind, but to ALL the inhabitants of the earth. According to Genesis, mankind was placed on the earth to husband and cultivate its resources - to produce beneficial and sustainable results that are consistent with God's intended purpose in creation. So we have a mandate to make use of resources in the manner that is most benign - which includes the pursuit of alternate energy sources.
Having said that, it must also be acknowledged that, for the foreseeable future, our economy is fueled by, well, FUEL. Petroleum-based products are foundational to literally every field of endeavor in the United States. To pretend that we can simply flip a switch and transform our entire economy overnight based on mere promises of emerging technology may be every environmentalist's dream, but it is far from the reality with which we live.
So the question at-hand is this: Do we continue to allow environmentalists to hamstring the nation, to continue to hold it and our fragile economy hostage to the possibilities of technology and the tender mercies of oil producers that are becoming increasingly hostile to us, or do we recognize the reality before us and act accordingly -- while continuing to work for the development of alternate technologies?
The answer is clear. The effects of ever increasing fuel prices range far beyond our own borders. Because of our integration in the world economy (a subject for another time), increases in pricing here in the U.S. ultimately effect economies around the world. It not only drives up the costs of manufactured goods, foodstuffs, and services that are consumed here, but also the costs of such items that are exported to foreign markets -- making it more unlikely that foreign consumers will choose imported over domestically-produced goods and services. You can guess the effect that has on jobs here at home. And it doesn't stop there. Increasing petroleum prices have a profound effect on the charitable mission of the U.S. as well, increasing the cost to respond to foreign disasters such as the earthquake and tsunami that just struck Japan, and thereby limiting the amount of assistance that can be brought to bear.
Reports that have been emerging for years confirm that the United States is home to oil deposits that could, if the limitations imposed through environmentalist lawsuits were lifted, have significant impact on domestic oil and gas supplies. Existing oil fields in the continental U.S. contain approximately 40.5 billion barrels of oil; offshore deposits, over 100 billion. The Bakken oil fields - upwards of 4.3 billion barrels of oil, and over 1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. The Green River deposit, estimated to hold between 800 billion and 1.5 trillion barrels of oil. Oil sand deposits in the U.S. are estimated to contain about 32 billion barrels of oil. The Marcellus formation, estimated to contain over 500 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
The obvious answer to our dilemma is to allow more drilling. We have the means to do so in a far more environmentally-conscious fashion, recent events notwithstanding, and our economy demands, not just from the standpoint of producing fuel, but from a jobs standpoint as well, that the restrictions be lifted and companies be allowed to develop the resources we have at our disposal.
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