This article appeared in the Daily Herald June 12, 2008
We are glad to see that Rep. Chris Cannon has introduced a bill to allow the president to cut red tape that currently blocks the development of oil shale deposits in Utah and other states.
Those resources are vast. According to Cannon's office and other sources, Utah alone has more fuel locked in oil shale than there is in all of Saudi Arabia's oil reserves. Just from oil shale, the U.S. could pump more barrels of fuel than all the OPEC nations combined. Total value: $100 trillion.Throw in vast oil and natural gas deposits offshore and in Alaska, plus reasonable development of nuclear energy, and it's easy to see that the United States has energy resources that are second to none.
Why then has the U.S. sat on this treasure for so many years while doing nothing? It's as if a family, knowing that gold and jewels were buried in the back yard, declined to dig them up because they didn't want to damage a small patch of perfect lawn.
Put it down to complacency, environmental hysteria, politics, media manipulation and a lack of urgency decades ago when development should have been started. It doesn't really matter anymore. Today, gasoline has reached $4 a gallon, and as syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer pointed out, that seems to be a "price point" that has suddenly roused politicians and the public and shown them the insanity of declaring vast swathes of energy resources off limits.
Consider the recent rout in the U.S. Senate of the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act, a noxious "cap and trade" plan to deal with the bogeyman of global warming. Liberals salivated over this opportunity to create a huge federal bureaucracy that would rake in money and amass power, even as it burdened businesses and ordinary people with crushing costs. Their media accomplices were bursting with glee at the prospect of its passage.
Then, in a reversal of form from previous years, Republicans actually showed some backbone. With a firm command of the facts, Utah Sens. Bob Bennett and Orrin Hatch were among those who raked the bill over the coals.
When senators had to vote on whether to continue debate, the measure got only 48 of the 60 votes needed, effectively killing it for this year. The pundits were full of explanations, but here's the most likely reason: the American people and a growing number of their representatives are finally getting the picture about subservience to oil-producing nations.
As a young man, John F. Kennedy wrote "Why England Slept," a book about Great Britain's failure to confront the rise of fascism until it was almost too late. Perhaps a sequel might someday be "Why America Slept," about how a great nation ignored the growing danger of energy dependence and failed to act.
There's reason for hope, however. We can look back on our history and see many stretches where the United States slumbered while a problem festered. When the nation finally woke up, it tackled problems with a vigor no other country can match. If America has truly awakened to the urgency of the energy crisis, fasten your seat belt.
Of course, the issue is not finally settled. Who knows if Cannon's bill (H.R. 6211) or others that aim to boost domestic energy production will survive the grueling trek through Congress. The most important thing is whether this Congress and the next, as well as the new president, the courts, state officials and the voters will stay on track with regard to the development of domestic energy resources.
Other important bills are pending. For example, in the House, H.R. 3089 -- the No More Excuses Energy Act of 2007 -- would fast-track refinery building, clear roadblocks to oil and gas drilling on the Continental Shelf and open ANWR's oil fields to development. These measures need to be approved, and quickly.
Cannon staffers say he will co-sponsor that bill and will sign a petition to discharge it from committee, where it has languished for nearly a year. That's one step among many that will need to be taken until the United States becomes the greatest producer of energy in the world.
