Return to Op-eds Index

'Truly Conservative' Response to Oil Crisis Needed

by Jim DiPeso, REP Policy Director
published in the Albuquerque Tribune on September 21, 2006

With the Senate's investigating pipeline corrosion problems that have caused a partial shutdown of the Prudhoe Bay oil field, Republicans for Environmental Protection (REP) urges Congress to craft a response that is consistent with traditional conservative principles.

A truly conservative response will hold BP, the oil company that operates the line, accountable for failing to responsibly maintain its pipelines at a time when the company is earning record profits.

This means penalizing the company and responsible individuals for any violations of current law. It also means enacting strong legislation to ensure adequate future maintenance of pipelines.

A truly conservative response will recognize the added environmental risks associated with pipeline corrosion and BP's negligent operation. This means avoiding oil development in new areas of Alaska 's ecologically sensitive North Slope. These include the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and TeshekpukLake. They should remain off limits to drilling.

A truly conservative response will recognize the enormous economic and security vulnerabilities that result from our nation's overdependence on oil as an energy source. This means taking strong steps to diversify our energy sources, getting serious about conservation, and moving -- as the BP slogan says -- beyond petroleum.

Lawmakers who try to exploit the partial shutdown of Prudhoe Bay as another excuse to open the last vestiges of wild America to oil and gas development are overlooking the most important lesson of the Prudhoe problems. As long as we are overdependent on oil, our economy and security will be vulnerable to any disruption anywhere in the world, whether it be pipeline corrosion in Alaska , hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico, Middle East violence, African unrest, radicals in Venezuela , or murky intrigues in Russia.

Until we reduce oil demand through efficiency and diversify our energy menu, the dangers of oil addiction will always be with us.

Math of Oil Addiction

There is no prospect of gaining energy "independence" through increased domestic drilling. As the U.S. Energy Information Administration stated in its Annual Energy Outlook 2006:

"A large proportion of the total U.S. resource base of onshore conventional oil has been produced, and new oil reservoir discoveries are likely to be smaller, more remote, and increasingly costly to exploit."

Even if the offshore field recently discovered in deep water off the coast of Louisiana produces 1 million barrels daily, rising demand will force America to increase oil imports over the next 25 years.

America holds less than 3 percent of the world's proven oil reserves; yet, we use 25 percent of every barrel of oil produced on Earth. Those who argue for more drilling neglect to mention that the United States is already producing more than 8 percent of the world supply. In effect, we are draining domestic reserves four times faster than the rest of the world.

In contrast, a modest increase in average fuel economy standards from 25 mpg to 33 mpg would free up 2 million barrels per day by 2020 -- nearly 10 percent of current consumption and far more than could be produced from the Arctic Refuge.

With global oil demand rising and consumption outrunning oil discovery, the oil market is tight and vulnerable to disruptions anywhere in the world that add a "fear premium" to prices. Oil dependence forces our country into poor choices that negatively affect our economy, national security and natural heritage.

Add to that the impacts from the resulting greenhouse gas emissions, and the rationale for a conservative course should be clear.

True Energy Security

Additional efforts to drain our country's limited oil reserves -- often at the expense of some of America 's most spectacular landscapes -- will not make America more secure.

Instead, we must undertake a bold national effort towards a phased reduction in oil dependence, through policies that boost fuel economy and diversify energy choices.

Only then can we achieve the energy security that will ensure a clean environment and lasting economic prosperity.