Published: July 04, 2008 10:03 am      

The Gas Man: The search for oil

I'm reading "The Bear and the Dragon" by Tom Clancy where a character remembers a story about Napoleon, who wished to plant trees by the side of the French roads to shade his marching troops. A staff officer said, "But Marshall, it will take twenty years for the trees to grow enough to accomplish that." And Napoleon replied, "Yes indeed, so we must start at once."

Why is that such a hard concept to grasp for our Congressmen? Since the 1970s, people in Congress have said, "It will take 10 years to capture any oil from ANWR, so why bother?" It's been nearly 40 years that Congress has been using that same excuse. It's time to act.

President Carter tried taxing the oil companies and the results were higher prices and longer lines at the pumps. Is Congress suffering from extreme memory loss? Someone needs to remind our representatives that history is the best predictor of the future, and doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is insanity.

It's time to face the facts, live with our past mistakes and move on. Nearly a century ago, the government signed over our energy reserves to a few companies with the idea that they would perform the research, drill, produce, process our fuels and market them. This has worked well for many years, but now the system is broken. I am so tired of being told it is supply and demand, when we all know they have the supply and they are demanding the right to drill in ANWR and other known reserves off the shores of Florida.

Actually, I don't blame the oil companies for pushing back. Why should they tolerate Congress subsidizing and supporting them on one hand while they restrict access to the prime reserves?

This is not an isolated case. Between the years of 1995-2006, Congress subsidized tobacco companies to the tune of $530 million, while at the same time politicians went on TV and cursed their very existence and raised taxes to penalize them. Last year Congress voted for border fences then refused to fund them, while subsidizing corn for gasohol when they know and understand that gasohol provides less mileage and costs more. Just what is wrong with Congress? Worse, what is wrong with the country putting these same people back in office year after year?

Petroleum products will be required in the U.S. for many generations to come. The country needs to be self-sufficient and self-reliant. At this moment we are in conflict with Iran, but we dare not push too hard since they exhibit some control over the Straits of Hormuz because of its location. We entered the Iraq war partially because of Saddam Hussein's violations of United Nations' resolutions, but also partially due to its location in the Middle East where 30 to 40 percent of our oil comes from. Conservative or liberal, I think we all must admit that the Middle East has a strategic interest to the world. We need to be free to live like Americans, and not walking around tiptoeing trying not to offend others.

Look deep inside, forget about whether you're a conservative or liberal, Republican or Democrat, and think both about our national security and the cost at the pumps. At this point it doesn't really matter whether it is the speculators or the oil companies that are driving up the prices, and it doesn't matter whether an idea is Bush's or Obama's. What really matters today is that we become self sufficient and we stop relying on -- and even expecting -- other countries to cater to our needs.

The gas chart

The price of crude oil is still climbing, reaching new records exceeding $140 per barrel. As crude climbs, the pump price climbs also, and once again Traverse City exceeds the national price average.

Keep in mind that the above cost does not include the 3 percent shrinkage or 1 percent prompt payment discounts, nor do they reflect the savings from buying downstate. Combined, that can increase the margins by more than 20 cents per gallon. Also, remember to use a good fuel additive for up to 15 percent in savings.

Keep the questions and comments coming to thegasman@thegasman.info.