Optimism About Gas Prices Trumps Pessimism Every Time

By Kevin Roeten

The cost of gas is exorbitant. If we want lower gas prices, there’s an easy way to do it.

How many of us wallow in our fear-mongering and still believe that any oil drilling will decimate the pristine coasts. If they’re not worried about beaches, there worried about OPEC. Or about how using more oil will produce more CO2 and produce more anthropogenic global warming? Or that we’re rapidly approaching “peak-oil”? “Use” or “lose” 68 million acres of dormant leases?

How utterly gloomy.

We know that drilling is prohibited on 85% of America’s offshore waters. From sources of James Inhofe (Senate Committee on Environment) the Pacific and Atlantic regions of the Outer Continental Shelf hold an estimated 14 billion barrels of oil which are equivalent to over 25 years of imports from Saudi Arabia. ANWR is estimated to contain at least 10 billion barrels of oil, or 15 years of imports from Saudi Arabia. If Clinton hadn’t vetoed legislation on ANWR oil 10 years ago, today we would have 1 million barrels/day coming in from ANWR. Even conservative estimates (MMS) show that between 1.57-2.78 billion barrels of oil exist off Florida’s coast.

The Canadian Oil Sands contain 179.2 billion barrels of proven oil reserves. The Energy Independence and Security Act prohibits federal agencies from procuring an alternative fuel produced from non-conventional petroleum sources. Today, eight countries (India, Vietnam, Spain, Malaysia, Norway, Cuba, China and Canada) are exploring, leasing or drilling for oil in the Cuban waters just 45 miles off the coast of Florida. In the Green River Formation (Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah), the Rand Corporation estimates that 1.1 trillion barrels are recoverable at prices as low as $35-$48/barrel within the first 12 years of commercial scale production.

The reason Democrats use for not drilling is hypothetical environmental problems. Major spills from drilling platforms actually are non-existent. Two massive category-5 hurricanes (Katrina and Rita) recently plowed through the heart of 3000 Gulf of Mexico oil and gas platforms just 4 weeks apart (Investors’ Business Daily). There were no problems, mainly due to the new ‘breakaway’ technology used by rigs. New automatic cutoff valves eliminate any spill.

Norway and Britain have been in the North Sea for decades without incident. The National Academy of Sciences found that 63% of petroleum found in North American waters comes from natural seepage from the ocean floor. The Department of the Interior said, “Since 1985 more than 7 billion barrels of oil have been produced from federal waters with less than 0.001 % spilled.” It’s likely that more oil has leaked from transportation vehicles than was spilled in the oceans. Almost all offshore oil rigs have become havens for fish and marine wildlife.

How many forget that when Prudhoe Bay was first opened up, OPEC’s price of oil plummeted. When ANWR begins drilling and producing, expect a major drop in oil prices. With another supplier to America, the law of Supply and Demand really kicks in. OPEC controls most oil pricing, but is not controlled by any one government. And, caribou in Alaska are increasing because of warmer temperatures near the pipeline.

Per Inhofe, Democrats seem to want to shift the blame when they claim there are 68 million acres in America where oil companies have bought the rights to drill, but are just sitting on those leases. Recent oil finding techniques reveal where there is no oil to be had. “Between 2002-2007, 52% of all exploration wells...were dry. By opening the nation’s access to the reserves of the Outer Continental Shelf, ANWR, and Oil Shale, we could cut our nations trade deficit nearly in half.” The Energy Information Association says the US spent $327 billion in 2007 to import oil. These oil imports were 46% of the nation’s $711 billion trade deficit in 2007.

It’s interesting that a very close study of the last 500,000 years has revealed that all anthropogenic global warming has been almost non-existent and warming and cooling is directly due to the sun. It’s even more mystifying how overlays of CO2 concentrations with temperature have usually shown CO2 levels increasing after the temperature spikes.

But the Democrats in Congress refuse to increase our supply of energy, and our gas prices keep rising. Recent polls from Rasmussen reveal that 67% of Americans want to drill offshore, while only 18% do not. But because of regulations in America, OPEC realizes that gas prices can be skewed. In the US gas averages $4.02/ gal, while in China it’s $2.84/gal, in Indonesia it’s $2.44, in Mexico it’s $2.65, and in Venezuela it’s only $0.20 (Inhofe). And, you don’t get natural seepage from the ocean floor by reaching “peak-oil”. Anybody ever heard of “abiotic”?

It seems that even rogue corporations like OPEC still have to bow to the law of Supply and Demand if Congress allows America to drill for available oil.