The case for off-shore drilling

By Alan Caruba
web posted October 20, 2003

For a small State, New Jersey continues to send a large
delegation of mental midgets to Washington, DC to represent it.

In the last election, Sen. Robert Torricelli, the man famed for
leaking the name of a CIA agent, was yanked off the ticket at the
last minute as the result of some serious ethical lapses. He was
replaced with the blessing of the NJ Supreme Court by a former
Senator, Frank Lautenberg, who had previously quit from the
exhaustion of standing in the way of any legislation that might
benefit the nation in any way. And, of course, he was elected!

So now the New Jersey delegation is up in arms over a provision
to the energy bill making its way through Congress that would
permit oil exploration off its coast. That means oil and gas
companies could determine if it was financially feasible to tap
what may represent significant reserves. The criticism leveled
here is applicable to every East and West Coast delegation, so
this is a national issue of importance.

Mind you, this nation desperately needs to achieve some level of
energy independence. The huge oil reserves in a tiny, barren area
of Alaska are still off-limits. Florida's governor fought the
development of oil reserves off that State's coast. California
imposed limits. And everyone complains every time the cost of
gasoline goes up.

What's more, this winter, people across this nation who depend
on natural gas to heat their homes and run their businesses are
going to be hit with huge increases. Why? Because we are not
encouraging the steps necessary to move gas from the tap to the
consumer.

Leading the fight against offshore exploration in New Jersey is its
largest daily newspaper, the Star-Ledger. "What was a very bad
idea 25 years ago---drilling for oil and natural gas off the New
Jersey coast---is gaining currency in Washington again. It
remains a bad idea." Why? What is wrong with tapping our own
reserves of oil and natural gas instead of being dependent on, oh
say, Saudi Arabia?

"But now industry people say that new technology makes it more
economical to recover supplies that were once considered
beyond reach." Well, that happens to be true. "If we're going to
make choices for the future energy needs of this country, we
should at least know what we have," points out a spokesperson
for the Independent Petroleum Association of America. Well,
that happens to be true.

The Star-Ledger noted that "Environmentalists, with good
reason, are not about to trust any word on the environment
coming out of the Bush White House, which has never found a
location where it would rule out oil drilling." And we all know
how trustworthy environmentalists are, right? These are the
people still trying to foist a discredited "Global Warming" theory
on us, along with the notion that the oceans are rising so fast both
coasts will be under water.

The genius who wrote the October 4 editorial ends saying, "As
we noted before, instead of draining every natural energy
resource available, the administration should first concentrate on
reducing consumption, the benefits of which are far greater than
tapping ever-smaller pools of oil." Wrong on both counts.

Worldwide, vast new reserves of oil and natural gas are being
found all the time. This argument says we should not look for any
here in the US, thus insuring we would be hostage to any other
nation that taps its reserves. Meanwhile, here in the US, huge
known reserves of coal, natural gas, and oil are effectively
inaccessible because of environmental laws and endless new
"Heritage Areas", newly designated reserves and other efforts to
put and keep them off-limits.
 
More importantly, you cannot "conserve" your way to less
energy use. It cannot be done. For an industrialized, advanced
economy to grow, it must use more energy. Energy resources
that are not tapped simply drive up the overall cost of energy.

Finally, the argument is advanced that the New Jersey shore
would be devastated if a few oil and natural gas rigs popped up
on the horizon. This is not going to happen and everyone knows
it. Someone needs to sit this delegation of dunces down and
explain the rule of supply and demand.

Alan Caruba is the author of "Warning Signs" whose weekly
commentaries are posted on www.anxietycenter.com, the
Internet site of The National Anxiety Center. © Alan Caruba
2003

Enter Stage Right -- http://www.enterstageright.com