High Energy Prices, Our Bugaboo

A recent essay by Rick Moran in Family Security Matters---'Blame for High Gas Prices? Look in the Mirror, America!'---says a mouthfull regarding high energy prices.

Mr Moran states "Every red blooded American who has voted over the past 30 years - Republican and Democrat - for federal lawmakers who promised, in effect, that this day would come bears the primary responsibility for high gas prices.'

It's no secret now that we have fallen victim to our own rush to the Liberal causes of 'no more drilling', 'no new refineries', and 'no new nuclear plants' as the salvation for the planet.

Well, such decisions do little for the planet, but they wreck havoc with our energy prices. Because of these actions, we must import more and more oil from foreign countries---most of whose governments and citizens hate us. Global oil speculators also run up the prices with their 'intelligent' forecasts based on the continued and mistaken Liberal belief that we 'start wars to grab oil.'

Moran goes on: "We, the voters, also made conscious and deliberate choices in electing everyone from members of Congress to local selectmen who would oppose the building of new refineries. 'Not in my backyard' was the refrain of the last 30 years which has seen exactly zero refineries built in this country and 50 refineries closed down."

These elected officials are making horrible decisions that are burying us with high energy and related food and consumer goods' costs. And despite the havoc, they continue to ply their power in preventing the construction we desperately need. Oil drilling in Alaska? The new proposals include only a tiny portion of the 'pristine set-aside' up there. But, the drillers still get stymied.

Nobody now wants to live near a nuclear [or nuculer, depending on who you're listening to] power plant, and the comics and pundits continually ply us with jokes and estimations about the 'danger' of nuclear power. But where is this danger? No one has ever been killed in the US by a nuclear plant accident---even the one at Three Mile Island. Safety is a major concern of plant operators, and they---and the government overseers---keep the concern up to date with the latest technology. We always said of the Russians: if you tell a big lie often enough, people will begin to believe it. So it is with nuclear power.

Now we know that we have huge oil deposits in our north central and western states, South Dakota and Montana in particular. Moran states: "A word about the Bakken field which has been receiving some press lately (for obvious reasons): There is a huge disparity between government estimates of how much oil is under South Dakota and Montana and how much there is according to independent energy groups. The government says 21 billion bbl [only 150 million bbl in 1995!]. Other scientific studies put the number at 500 billion bbls. As contrast, Saudi Arabia has proven reserves of about 260 billion bbls." And yet we do next to nothing---except moan.

How can ignore such data? Why aren't we drilling now, or at least setting the process in motion. We need to reduce the need for foreign oil to such an extent that the global prices go way down, and our enemies can't blackmail us again. Such a goal helps most countries in the World and not just us.

This reality blame game doesn't necessarily reach the White House unless you're clamoring for better leadership. Congress is still the body that makes the laws. And local government, right down to townships and villages, also hamper the oil-to-gas process regularly. These are the people you have to replace. Replace them with new individuals who think as we do that energy costs are too high, and we have the solutions here in our own backyards.

Moran concludes: "But times change. The world is changing. And unless we can find a way to balance legitimate concerns about the environment with our need for more oil, the present situation will continue and get worse. This means that environmentalists have to acknowledge that the policies they support are leading us to ruin while the pro-drilling crowd must acknowledge that we can't go drilling everywhere there's a drop of oil to be found."

Such a two tiered solution along with nuclear power would favorably effect our energy prices and protect us from foreign intrigues and continually unbelievable associated costs in our daily lives.

I might add that wind power, solar power, and hydrogen power are all notably good for our environment and populace, but they will never supply anywhere near our daily needs. They will always remain loud, unworkable, Liberal solutions for the long haul. I still think the Liberals believe we should build power plants operated by giant batteries. Such an idea seems logical to their way of thinking. Go figure!

Let's elect people who will do the hard, but right thing regarding energy, and not people spouting 'Hope'ful generalities.