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Cut Oil Dependence

by Sandy Moser, president of REP's Pennsylvania Chapter
published in the Philadelphia Inquirer on September 14, 2006

RE: “Vast oil deposit found,” September 6, 2006

Yes, a new source of oil is good news. But it is crucial that we understand that increased domestic oil production will not break our dependence on Persian Gulf oil.

Oil is a commodity traded in a global market. We cannot wall off our energy economy from the rest of the world even if we wanted to. American companies will buy and sell energy goods and services from other nations in transactions governed by price and value, not by the locality where it was found. In short, as long as we are dependent on oil, we will be dependent on foreign oil.

The current offshore drilling proposal to turn our public lands and coastal waters over to the oil companies would be a useless diversion that would raise false hopes and perpetuate our dangerous dependence on oil. Instead, we should aggressively reduce our oil dependence, through greater efficiency and diversifying our energy mix with ethanol and other non-petroleum alternatives.

It’s time to stop using yesterday’s thinking to solve today’s problems.