Wednesday, 19 March 2008
It's up to us to cut gas prices Print E-mail
Dave Op't Hof
http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/259261/58/
The price of gasoline has hit a new high, as I'm sure you are well aware. We all lament the high cost of fuel and the repercussions it has in our economy. High fuel prices drive up the cost of everything from groceries to cars, because everything we buy is shipped in vehicles that burn some form of oil, be it gasoline or diesel. As our economy slides towards recession, the last thing we need is for prices to go up. This will result in what economists call "stagflation", a situation in which prices are going up while jobs and wages are being lost.
The rising cost of fuel is primarily a matter of supply and demand. With the economies of Asia growing rapidly, notably China and India--between them containing one third of the world's people-- demand for oil is outstripping the supply, driving up the price of oil. This will get worse, not better, as the countries of Asia add more cars.
Let's not forget the impact of the OPEC nations, who together exert considerable control over oil prices. Venezuela, Iran, and Libya are members of OPEC and they prosper as oil prices rise, as do other non-OPEC nations who produce lots of oil. Plus they enjoy the side benefit of watching our economy falter. Do you remember the vow made by Osama Bin Laden the day before the last presidential election, November 1, 2004. He promised to continue a "policy in bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy". Increasing oil prices play right into the hands of terrorists like Bin Laden who want to destroy us any way they can, and who also benefit from the oil revenues of terrorist-sponsoring nations like Iran.
Consider, too, the oil companies who are complicit with the terrorists in squeezing our economy. The oil companies have all posted RECORD profits as oil prices have reached $3+ per gallon. I have no problem with them making a profit--every business needs to make a profit. But RECORD profits, while the country is slipping into recession? It's immoral and downright unpatriotic for the oil companies to be raking in the dough while the rest of us are tightening our belts to brace for a downturn.
We are not powerless in this situation, however. Just as OPEC has control over supply, we have control over demand. The growth of China and India notwithstanding, the United States is still the largest consumer of fossil fuels, using 20.7 million barrels of oil per day. This exceeds the amount, 19.8 million bbl/day, used by the next 5 highest nations combined (in order, China, Japan, Germany, Russia, and India). ( http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/ene_oil_con-energy-oil-consumption ) To the degree we cut our consumption of fuel, we can fight back. Indeed, we MUST fight back.
Some would lay sole responsibility for doing something about high energy prices at the feet of our government. Government can and certainly should do something about it, but we cannot afford to wait for federal action in this matter. It takes an act of Congress to change national energy policy and we all know how slow that is. It is up to us, individually and collectively to take action; Congress might then follow our lead.
I'm not talking about a one-day boycott--that's like trying to lose a hundred pounds by not eating for one day, and the oil companies sneer at such efforts. I'm talking about things that will cut consumption permanently. If each of us drives less by carpooling, using mass transit, riding bikes, walking, consolidating trips to the store--anything we can think of, can we cut our individual consumption by 10%, maybe 20%? In our homes, can we set our thermostats a few degrees lower in the winter and a few higher in the summer? As we replace light bulbs, can we switch to the compact fluorescents? Can we seal up those leaks around windows and doors? Energy conservation is no longer a matter of saving the earth, which is important, or even saving money on fuel. It is a matter of national security, because right now we are at the mercy of OPEC; they have our heads in a vise and are tightening it every time the price of oil goes up.
As a nation, we need leadership that will encourage radically new energy policy, not policy dictated by the fat wallets of the oil companies. Ethanol is a fabulous alternative because, not only does it get us off foreign oil, but it gives American farmers a cash crop that will make them absolutely prosper. No longer will we have to prop up American agriculture with the ridiculous policy of paying farmers NOT to grow. Plus, ethanol is renewable; we can grow a new crop when the old one has been harvested.
And consider this, when the world's oil reserves are gone, as they will be someday, what will the Arabs have to manipulate us with then? If we have engaged our agricultural powerhouse into growing crops for ethanol, we could become a major exporter of ethanol fuels, and we could find ourselves in control of the world's economy, instead of at its mercy. We could have the Arabs begging for our fuel and paying top dollar for it.
Efforts need to be stepped up to make hybrid and hydrogen cars more affordable. If American auto-makers were more pro-active in developing alternative automobiles, they wouldn't be floundering against the Japanese. We need government policies that encourage the Yankee ingenuity that gave us the automobile, the airplane, the computer and the Internet so that entrepreneurs of vision will take the risks needed to make these new automotive technologies economically viable.
Alternative energies like solar, wind, nuclear, geothermal and hydroelectric also need to be promoted vigorously and we must raise our voices to demand leadership from our elected officials to make it happen. The project to put a wind farm in Spanish Fork canyon is visionary and highly commendable. We need more of such projects because, once again, they are renewable.
Consider this a call to arms: we CAN fight back against high oil prices. Indeed, each one of us MUST, starting today. Not only is it good for each of us as consumers, it is strategically vital for us as a country, and of course, for our mother earth. If we put our backs and our minds to it, we could impact demand for oil within a month and be energy independent within five years. Then we'll have OPEC begging us to buy their stinking oil, for 25 cents a gallon or less.
Dave Op't Hof is a Provo resident.
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