Viewpoint: Look Deeper Than One Well, Oil On Surface

July 31, 2010

Our dependency on oil is not a new topic of discussion, in fact that past 8 President’s, both Republican and Democrat, have addressed the need for America to rid herself of our addiction to this dirty fossil fuel. Perhaps, in light of recent events (the deadliest coal mining accident and the largest environmental catastrophe our country has seen, just to name two) this topic has once again been brought to the forefront of America’s mind. Unfortunately, however, we seem to be focused on a particular well and how much oil we can see on the surface of the Gulf of Mexico. I propose we look bigger.

The fact is we cannot stop using fossil fuels today, even if we truly wanted to; our entire economy is based on these 19th century fuels. But what if rather than fighting progress tooth and nail we used our reserves of fossil fuels to move our country into the 21st century? What if, rather than giving billions of dollars in subsidies to the Petro Chemical companies we instead support research and development of innovative, clean renewable technology?

The argument that fossil fuels are cheap is no longer valid. Just ask the millions of residents along the Gulf Coast, the folks in Kingston Tennessee where 2.6 million cubic yards of coal ash washed into the community and filled miles of riverbeds, all the families along Kalamazoo River who had to evacuate after a leak which spilled anywhere from 800000 gallons to 1 million gallons of oil, or even worse the families of those lost in the Deepwater Horizon explosion and the West Virginia Coal mine. Then, add to that the health care costs incurred by families throughout the US from dirty air and polluted waterways and only then do you have the true cost of fossil fuels. For too long we have allowed the fossil fuel industries to export their cost to our communities indirectly and threaten rate hikes should any move be made to clean up their act. I would rather pay up front for clean energy than pay over and over and over again in the form of health care costs and ecological and economic disasters and so would everyone I speak to about this.

I recently went to Washington DC with RePower America as part of a group of nearly 300 citizens from 19 states. We went to meet with several Senators and Representatives about the need to move our country beyond its deadly addiction to fossil fuels. The group was one of the most diverse of any I have worked with: small and corporate business owners; realtors; manufacturers; local government officials; conservationists; veterans; school teachers and more coming together to fight for a common cause.

Clean, renewable energy, energy independence, jobs and lives are something we all value. Forward thinking legislation can spark job creation like nothing else in history. When anyone asks me about the jobs which will be lost if we revamp our energy portfolio, I respond with the question: “what about all the jobs which are not being created because a lack of investment in energy options beyond fossil fuels”.

Ask any economist and they will tell you diversification is the key to good investment. Sadly, we have put all our eggs into one basket America and it is a dirty fossil fuel basket. We are backing ourselves into a corner and it is not pretty. Investment dollars flow to the safest harbors, period. Right now they are flowing toward existing markets, toward dirty fossil fuels. If Congress were to pass legislation which supports clean renewable energy, any economist will tell you investment dollars will follow, period.

We are losing manufacturing jobs right and left due to the economic downturn. Those jobs could be captured by the renewable energy sector, if only that industry were given the opportunity, or at the very least a level playing field in the energy sector.

Look, I am not writing this saying we need to stop using fossil fuels, that is obviously impractical. But we have to open our eyes to the true cost of our dependence on these 19th century fuels and technologies. The most compelling argument I have heard came from all the Iraq war veterans who were part of our DC delegation and it had nothing to do with the ecological or even the economic damage done by our addiction to fossil fuels. First they mentioned the nearly 1 billion dollars a day which we send to OPEC countries to supply our much needed oil and gas. Then they said something I will never forget. By putting this much money into their economies, we are literally funding both sides of the wars we are fighting. We can do better than that America.

It is time to stop supporting the richest and most polluting companies on the globe. It is time to support American ingenuity and clean renewable energy. It is time to support the creation of millions of jobs in a sector which those who are currently being supported are laughing on the way to their banks outside of our borders. It is time to quit sending our troops to countries which hate us in the name of “cheap” yet very expensive energy. It is time to wake up and move on America.

Comments

4 Responses to “Viewpoint: Look Deeper Than One Well, Oil On Surface”

  1. Christopher Maloney on August 2nd, 2010 12:17 pm

    All those clean energy type jobs that you speak of… Those require lots of fossil fuels to create those components for the jobs, then trucks to get personnel & equipments to job sites, and in the end there is no profit.

    Almost every “Big Oil” company sets aside a lot of money for research and development of ‘clean energy’. Those multi billion dollar companies would go bankrupt if they put even 50% of their assets into ‘clean energy”.

    More people die in DUI related car accidents every year than in oil, gas, & coal exploration and recovery.

    If the Gulf of Mexico oil & gas industry shutdown completely tomorrow. The state of Florida would go bankrupt due to the lack of tourism. The panhandle is the unofficial redneck vacation capital of the world. A big chunk of those rednecks work in the oilfields. If you make those rednecks unempolyeed then boom goes the Florida economy completely down the John J. Crapper.

  2. David Huie Green on August 1st, 2010 9:49 am

    REGARDING:
    “Those jobs could be captured by the renewable energy sector, if only that industry were given the opportunity, or at the very least a level playing field in the energy sector.”

    I’m not arguing with anything here. There is no doubt fossil fuel is limited even if there is enough natural gas in shales between Pennsylvania and New York to meet the nation’s energy needs for the next 40 years. It will run out eventually, no matter what.

    I agree most fuel is nasty if not contained but that just shows it needs to be contained properly.

    My one thought which I question is the concept of a “level playing field”. Energy providers have spent decades and trillions of dollars developing the infrastructure to get the energy to the users. Thus the playing field is not level due to the work they have done. There’s two ways to level a field: you can build up the low end or scrape down the high end.

    Just consider which you want to do

  3. Carl Emmons on August 1st, 2010 8:36 am

    Nothing will ever change till we go to the polls and elect people that truly cares for the USA instead of making themselves rich. We have been sold out for too long. I am encourged by articles like this that we can be the America people have fought and died for again.

  4. xpeecee on July 31st, 2010 7:24 am

    Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamen!!!

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News