Love Oil And It Loves You Back

Love Oil And It Loves You Back
By Katie Kieffer
4/4/2011

Listening to morning shows is a good way to wind up in a psychiatrist’s office. I flip between 300 channels and have three basic choices: Bad economic news, high-profile violence or cotton candy interviews with reality stars. I try switching to Twitter and a trending topic is a cobra that escaped from the Bronx Zoo. I almost choke on my Pop-Tart.

I’m tired of negative news and hearing people whine without offering solutions. So, I’m defying the world by being optimistic.

What makes me happy? Oil. Oil makes me think happy thoughts.

If you turn on your TV, you’ll probably find some Debbie Downer “reporting” that BP is essentially an underground mafia and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and the DOJ may bring BP executives to justice for manslaughter, regardless of whether they were directly involved in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and despite the government’s own negligence in overseeing the Deepwater Horizon well.

Even a Hollywood environmentalist like Avatar director James Cameron admits that the U.S. needs oil. He recently told TIME Magazine, "We're going to need it regardless no matter how fast you move off oil. We're not there yet—renewables make up maybe 3% of the grid, even if it's changing fast. ... I'm speaking from a U.S. perspective, and you still need oil—you need it for trucks and airplanes. You need it for fuel."

There you have it. Straight from Hollywood Happyville. America needs oil.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. recently made similar comments with regard to green technology in cars. When Chevrolet released its electric model called the Volt this year and Consumer Reports failed to give it a stellar review, Earnhardt, Jr. said: “…the technology isn’t there yet…”

Cameron and Earnhardt, Jr.’s words make sense when you think about them this way: When Tiger Woods was three years old, what if his coach and father, Earl, had told him, “Tiger, you are going to win the Masters this year.” Or what if he had said, “Tiger, in five years, you are going to win the Masters.”

Certainly, at three years old and at eight years old, Tiger had the potential to win not one but four Masters and many other awards. But, it would have been ridiculous and counterproductive if Tiger’s dad had demanded that he win a green jacket when he was still developing as an athlete.

Likewise, it is dangerous for us to pressure alternative energy to replace oil now or in the near future. I’d like to fuel my car with algae, and, right now, it’s not practical. Maybe it will be in the future.

We have vast oil reserves here in America. Think Alaska’s ANWR, Utah’s oil sands, and countless deepwater drilling opportunities. Plus, new Gallup polls indicate Americans support drilling for oil in increasing numbers.

But, political correctness keeps the EPA and this Administration from listening to the majority of Americans while shaping energy policy:

Timeline of Inconsistency

• 2009: Newly elected President Obama lends $2 billion to Petrobras, Brazil's national oil corporation, via the Export Import Bank of the U.S. (Bush appointees on Ex-Im’s board approved the preliminary commitment).

• March, 2010: President Obama proposes "compromise" to drill offshore for oil and natural gas "along the Atlantic coastline, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the north coast of Alaska," reports The New York Times.

• April 20, 2010: Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

• May 4, 2010: The White House says it will keep the "boot on the throat" of BP.

• May 27, 2010: Department of Interior announces a six-month ban on deepwater drilling, despite lack of scientific support for a moratorium.

• December 1, 2010: President reverses decision to re-open drilling and keeps the moratorium indefinite for most areas.

• January 3, 2011: President reneges and allows 13 companies to return to 16 existing and mostly exploratory deepwater wells.

• March 19, 2011: President visits Brazil with the pledge: “… when you're ready to start selling (oil), we want to be one of your best customers.”

• March 30, 2011: President announces specific, politically correct green energy goals. He places blame on the petroleum industry while his effective ban on new deepwater drilling persists since drilling permits are being issued at a snail’s pace.

Oil is amazing. It represents opportunities for wealth, freedom, health and security that we are snubbing our noses at so we can be “green” prematurely. Indeed, thriving economies produce clean environments and longer life spans, explains Forbes.

The most positive thing that could happen to America would be economic stability. Drilling for oil would create jobs, lower gas prices, enhance national security and boost consumer spending. Let’s turn off the negative voices and embrace oil for the sake of happiness and prosperity.