Posted by
John Kuethe on Friday, July 18, 2008 7:40:03 AM
Having lived through the 1970’s oil crisis, I watched misstep follow misstep as the nation endured a torturous period of gas lines, and hoarding. Just think if we would have allowed more drilling in this country and build more nuclear power plants. How much better off would we be now?
I refer to the 1970’s to put the common Democrat response to the lifting of the ban on off shore drilling; they say we won’t even see a drop for a decade. Had we drilled three decade’s ago we would be that much closer to the energy independence everyone talks about.
Why not build more nuclear power plants? Are they still afraid of the Three Mile Island accident decades ago? Technology has progressed in this field despite the typical American politician’s inability to do so. Increases in safety and efficiency would dictate that new nuclear plants would product higher output, more efficiently, and under safer conditions than ever in the history of nuclear power.
How about the 20+ blends of gasoline that is refined because of the number of states that have customized emission’s standards. When you go to your local gas station, chances are you will see 3 grades of gasoline to choose from, not 20+. Now, given that we have not built new refineries in this country in over 20 years, would it not be more efficient to standardize three blends across the nation? I have driven across the country and can tell you my car works on the blend in every state I have visited. The only thing preventing us from streamlining the refinery process is the individual state’s one–up-man-ship and their perceived need for custom gasoline for their boutiquish emissions standards.
The final group I believe to be driving the price of oil is the speculators. I have often noticed how the latest breaking news will drive a market up or down, this applies to all markets. In this case speculators perceive that the mounting tension in Iran to be huge to the flow of oil so the price goes up as they buy all the futures they can. The media reports the market jump and gas stations across the Nation raise gas prices 15 to 20 cents for gas that is already in the ground! The gas in the tanks was already bought at lower money but because the speculators think the price will be higher moving forward, they raise their prices.
We are a free market based economy and I do not believe that the government should step in and stop speculation, however I do regret the lifting of the Glass Spiegel act buy President Bush a few years ago. I believe that the only way to gain stability over the oil market is to drill for our own oil. By taping into the oil we have, we may not be having this discussion in another 10years; the Democrats saying that we won’t se a drop for another 10 years.