A head-scratching debate over energy policy

June 18, 2008

In at least one sense, I’m glad we’re in the midst of a debate over energy policy. It’s a serious issue, which people really care about, and which has nothing to do with gaffes, symbols, the culture war, or pitting one group of Americans against another. As policy discussions go, this is a good one to have.

But that’s about the only good news. Frankly, today has been almost bewildering.

With gasoline topping $4 a gallon, President Bush urged Congress on Wednesday to lift its long-standing ban on offshore oil and gas drilling, saying the United States needs to increase its energy production. Democrats quickly rejected the idea.

“There is no excuse for delay,” the president said in a statement in the Rose Garden. With the presidential election just months away, Bush made a pointed attack on Democrats, accusing them of obstructing his energy proposals and blaming them for high gasoline costs. His proposal echoed a call by Republican presidential candidate John McCain to open the Continental Shelf for exploration

“Families across the country are looking to Washington for a response,” Bush said.

That’s probably true, inasmuch as Americans are looking for some kind of coherent policy. And if one’s guiding principle of governing is “quick, do something, whether it works or not,” then sure, seeing Republican officials scramble to push coastal and ANWR drilling at least suggests they’re making an effort.

But the discussion seems to have produced a dynamic in which everyone is talking past each other.

“We need to start drilling to increase supply and lower prices.”

“But even if we started drilling immediately, the oil wouldn’t reach the pump until 2017 and even then, it likely wouldn’t affect prices at all.”

“Yeah, well, people are looking for results, not talk.”

“Fine, but your policy doesn’t deliver results. So what are we talking about here?”

How foolish has this bizarro-world debate become? John McCain’s top policy advisor concedes that drilling wouldn’t lower prices, but thinks we should do it anyway.

Hearing Bush talk about ANWR was especially mind-numbing. He noted the President Clinton blocked ANWR drilling, and “in the years since, the price of oil has increased seven-fold, and the price of American gasoline has more than tripled.” To hear Bush tell it, the two are related — Clinton protected ANWR, and look at what happened.

Not only is this a post-hoc-ergo-propter-hoc fallacy of logic, but Bush’s comments about ANWR aren’t even consistent with his own administration’s estimates about what’s possible in Alaska.

The blame game was especially odd.

“I know the Democratic leaders have opposed some of these policies in the past,” Bush said. “Now that their opposition has helped drive gas prices to record levels, I ask them to reconsider their positions.”

Bush said that if congressional leaders head home for their July 4 recess without taking action, they will need to explain why “$4 a gallon gasoline is not enough incentive for them to act. And Americans will rightly ask how high gas prices have to rise before the Democratic-controlled Congress will do something about it.”

Gas prices are high because Congress opposes coastal drilling? Wait, wasn’t it Bush’s father who helped protect the coasts through executive order? Is this his fault, too?

And “doing something about it” would include allowing coastal and ANWR drilling — which wouldn’t do anything about it. How very odd.

As for John McCain’s role in all of this, he wasn’t out in front today, but his campaign is nevertheless emphasizing drilling today (off the coasts, not in ANWR). It’s worth noting, of course, that this is the same McCain who “oppposed subsidies for alternative fuels like ethanol; blocked tax incentives for renewable energy and energy efficiency; opposed legislation to protect the Everglades; and mocked funding for research on threatened species.”

Let’s all say it together: we cannot drill our way out of this mess. The sooner Bush and McCain realize that, the sooner we can start shaping a real energy policy. John Kerry’s statement today sounded right to me:

“Today President Bush dusted off the worst of the Cheney special interest giveaways that have created record profits for big oil and a 250% increase in gas prices for consumers these last seven years. Selling off our nation’s coastlines to the oil and gas companies won’t make a dent in gas prices. If you started drilling tomorrow, you wouldn’t even see a drop of oil until 2017. President Bush and his new ally John McCain should use a little straight talk and explain why we’re even having this debate when the oil industry has 68 million acres available today that they aren’t developing. This is a fraud of a policy and a false choice. Rather than doing the bidding of the oil companies, we need a serious long-term energy strategy that reduces our dependence on oil and promotes affordable clean energy sources to address the urgent threat of climate change and help consumers.”

A head-scratching debate over energy policy

McCain’s response: Don’t touch my bald spot you c*nt!

I saw that car manufacturers have started making more smaller cars and fewer big ones and I thought, NOW??? How about 5 years ago.10 years ago?

It’s the war, stupid. This is all the more crummy since after 9/11 Bush had a chance to make us energy self-reliant. And Gore would have.

Arghhhh!

  • the “blame Clinton” meme was really a nice touch. of course, for a good decade or so oil had consistently run between $15-35/bbl. Under Clinton it was below $20 for a while, and ended up around $35. (Note that if the “futures market” theory of the relationship between drilling-related announcements and price had any merit, Clinton’s reassertion of Bush I’s executive order should have caused prices to shoot up. didn’t happen.)

    After Bush II took office and (a) made clear he wanted no part of environmental protocols that would encourage alternative energy; (b) had a vice prez who, after 9/11, said that it was important we kept driving SUVs because otherwise the terrorists win; and (c) showed unguided belligerance toward half of the oil producing countries in the world, oil (not surprising) shot up in various fits and starts to its present level — and the worst of those increases is very recent, following the weakening of the dollar due to massive debts run up under Bush, who had inherited an improving budgetary situation from Clinton, and increased threat of needless war with Iran.

    This is Clinton’s fault how, exactly?

    “But. . .but. . . he lied about consentual sex acts!”

  • The oil industry has 68 million acres available today that they aren’t developing.

    Looks like Cheney’s out of a job—Bush and The McFool are “shooting themselves in the face.” All we have to do is just keep repeating that sentence—and following it with the word WHY?

  • There has been a lot of talk in the last couple of days about lifting the ban on drilling oil along the coast. Dana Rohrabacher, John McCain and today President Bush have joined in a chorus of “drill, drill, drill,” as if that will solve our energy problems.

    Time is not on our side, and continuing to divert our attention away from the real problem is a disservice to our citizens and a failure of leadership.

    World oil production has been flat for three years. America’s oil refineries are configured to refine light sweet crude and are currently operating at 88% capacity and paying a premium for this short supply. There is no point for the Middle East, the only region that may have spare capacity, to increase production of heavy sour crudes until new refineries are built or existing refineries have been modified.

    Three fourths of the world’s oil and gas wells have already been drilled in North America. Our continent is so heavily explored that it looks like swiss cheese. Eighty percent of the oil available on the Outer Continental Shelf is already open to leasing and drilling. Will opening the remaining 20 percent make any difference when it takes 5-10 years to bring any new oil discoveries to market?

    Perhaps we should just call the President’s bluff, sell off the leases and then get on with the real work ahead of us, leaving fossil fuels before they leave us.

    The world economy depends upon the flow of oil, not the oil that remains in the ground. The fact is, more than 50 nations are now past their peak in oil production: Mexico, Norway, UK, USA, Russia, perhaps even Saudi Arabia to name a few. If you use ExxonMobil’s estimate for the decline rate from these existing wells (-6%), then from now until 2017, we need to find and develop 37 million barrels per day of additional crude production just to stay even with what we consume today. That assumes no growth in demand for oil. That is the equivalent of finding FOUR Saudi Arabias. Does anyone think we have overlooked resources of that size and quality?

    George Bush and Dana Rohrabacher’s failure to understand the fundamental economics and geology of oil and gas production is matched only by their failures as leaders.

    The true solution to our energy problems start with educating America about energy, conservation efforts, and investment in alternative and sustainable energy sources, which will create new American industries, jobs and jumpstart the sluggish economy.

  • So McCain wants subsidies for offshore drilling, but did not vote for subsidies for alternative energy.

    Maverick Mack rules!

  • Republican responses to disasters are wearing thin: “It’s a disaster!!! Quick, blame the democrats. Next, throw money at the wealthiest people and corporations. After that, put someone truly incompetent in charge so that everyone can see that government doesn’t work. Then, blame the democrats some more.”

    From the mid 80’s to early this decade, my cars were Geo Metros. I had two of them, in succession. For all the modern noise about hybrids, my Metros typically got right around 50 miles per gallon (only three cylinders, so a full tank of eight gallons could take me nearly 400 miles). These days I miss their economy. A nation in those, for local trips anyway, could significantly cut national gasoline requirements. (And they were fine for longer trips too – I drove each one out west a couple of times for month-long working/camping trips.)

    Back on topic, Bush sounded like he was salivating about the prospect of getting oil companies into ANWR. Sometimes it seems like despoiling unspoiled areas must be a right-wing religious obligation. Drilling it won’t contribute much, and we’ve got to come up with alternate energy resources instead, but keeping it and fragile coasts safe is going to be really difficult given the degree of suffering by the average consumer.

  • Speaking of increased production, how is the administration doing with bringing those Iraqi fields online? You know, the ones that are supposed to be paying for this war???

  • This logic reminds me of the “Underpants Gnome” episode of South Park. There’s a missing step that explains how this turns into profit, but nobody can apparently say what it is.

  • I tell you what, the Dems better come out swinging on this one before Shrub & McPain have a chance to make this crap stick. As we’ve seen time and time again, it doesn’t matter that it isn’t true. This is a subject we are all concerned about and if those idiots get a chance to weasel this kind of sleaze into voters minds, the Dems are going to be in a heap of trouble.

  • Yeah, let’s have an energy policy discussion, starting with those maps of Iraq that Cheney was drooling over way before 9/11. Let’s have the discussion right away, with everyone under oath.

  • If we’re going to drill in sensitive and scenic coastal areas, I think it only fair that we put platforms off the coast of (staunchly Republican) Santa Barbara CA before we tap the ANWR.

    After all, no caribou has ever voted Republican nor commuted alone in a Lincoln Navigator.

  • Look at this from Mr Bush’s standpoint: the people of the United States were stupid enough to elect (well “elect” really, but I’m sure he doesn’t see it that way) him President. Ergo, they are stupid enough to swallow whatever whoppers dripping with twisted logic that he throws their way.

    (The other thing worth mentioning is that it must be Clinton’s fault, or the fault of a Democratic congress hamstrung with Republican obstructionists, because it CANNOT be Bush’s fault. Bush, other than using the occasional inflammatory phrase or making a bum hire, can do no wrong. Just ask him.)

  • Bush is beating his head against the wall by trying to maintain our current gas guzzling, happy motoring life style. We can’t go on like this and yet Bush is not looking for alternative ways of dealing with our energy problems preferring instead to do what makes his corporate partners richer. If only we would have followed Jimmy Carter’s energy programs we wouldn’t be having our current problem now.

    Besides all the other economic reasons why more drilling won’t help our high priced gas problems there is the fear of what just one major oil spill on our beautiful California beaches would do to the environment.

    Also, drilling off the coasts is messing with geological plates that would likely bring the California beaches to Phoenix as one example. Everything Bush and the republicans have done so far as turned into a disaster and all Bush can do is try to blame it all on the Democrats.

    It is such a ridiculous state of affairs that it would be best if congress just shut down until after the election. We want our government replaced…with people who are working for the common good and not special interests. We want our rights reinstated not see more of them disappeared in the short time left before the election (the FISA giveaway). Short of providing funding for the continuation of our present problems Congress is non functional and should just shut down till after the elections. There will be many who won’t be coming back.

  • Cookie Jill points out that Santa Barbara doesn’t vote Republican; I retract my calumny @ 13.

    Instead, I suggest we should drill on a certain “ranch” just outside Crawford Texas.

  • The reason Bush is hammering Congress on this, and not passing an executive order to lift the drilling moratorium, is because this is a trick devised by Karl Rove to get McCain elected. If Congress has to deal with the issue, McCain will vote for it, Obama will vote against it, and fence-sitters will blame the Democrats for $4 gas.

    For the rest of us it’s just another example of how very badly off track the US has been driven. The only people in power who are thinking about the future are the oil speculators.

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