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By Thomas D. Segel April 29, 2008 Page 2 of 2 We have allowed the far left environmental movement to cripple the economy by its marriage to the Democratic Party and a few brain-dead Republicans. We have allowed the left to keep screaming in our ears that everything is the fault of Big Oil. As the politicos chant this mantra, we buy into the false claim because most of us get our facts from bubbleheads in the media who also are without a clue to reality. According to Walter Youngquist writing in "Myths and Realities of Mineral Resources", the six largest Big Oil companies really belong to America. He says, "Nearly 200 mutual insurance companies hold close to 16 million shares. Ninety-one colleges own these stocks and about 1,000 charities and educational foundations in the United States are holders of these oil company securities. In direct ownership more than 2.3 million Americans hold stock in these six companies." Our own citizens, investing in these combined resources have allowed the "big" companies to drill some very expensive wells. A single hole can cost a million dollars and more, without any assurance of success. And this is the Big Oil that should be punished with higher taxes that politicos yell about in the national ear. Another governmental con job is the political falsehood that oil deposits in such places as the wildlife refuge or off the Florida coast don't contain enough resources to make drilling worthwhile. Well, think about this. In the United States we use just under 20 million barrels of oil a day. A field that produces 100 million barrels of oil is considered huge. However, it takes years to use up the supply. If that 100 million barrel field were used to supply America's daily needs, it would be gone in less than a week. But, that never happens. The oil is pumped over years and years. So, when you hear the political chatter about there "is only about 90 days worth of oil in that Alaskan refuge...and it won't pay us to drill there", remember not a single field is ever used to supply needed oil, and a field that could supply 90 days worth of Black Gold is huge. That would be a field containing multiple hundreds of millions of barrels. It would be assisting in our nation's energy needs for decades. The other chant from the left is we can wean ourselves off our oil addiction by conservation. There is nothing that can be saved through conservation efforts other than short-term relief. If you conserved until your economy fell apart, it would still not increase the supply. People fail to understand we can no longer rely upon our own resources for oil independence. We passed the point of self-sufficiency in 1970. Each year, as our population expands, our dependence upon foreign oil and other energy sources increases. We now consume far more than we can create from our own resources. The government has added to this burden by its massively restrictive regulations and mind-numbing pandering to the environmental left. Removing governmental restrictions and adding to our refinery capacity would go a long way toward easing the heavy toll this major price hike has taken on both the national economy and the personal pocketbooks of Americans. Increased drilling, combined with the small amount of relief that can be brought about by alternative energy would go a long way toward easing the bidding war of oil speculators. That's is not going to happen with the democratic majority in Congress. They will continue to point their collective fingers at the oil companies and never admit to their own actions or non-actions that have caused this crisis. -------------------- Note -- The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, views, and/or philosophy of GOPUSA. >> Back -- Page 1 2
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