There is no such thing as freedom from “foreign oil,” no matter how much we drill at home
Proponents of drilling for oil offshore are refusing to back away from it. On Fox News yesterday, conservative Bill Kristol declared himself a “drill, baby, drill kind of guy.” He said he doubted that the environmental calamity unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico would cause Americans to back away from their support for offshore oil drilling.
(I think it’s much too early to know whether that’s true. If the worst-case scenario unfolds and we’re still dealing with ecological damage a decade from now, Americans change their minds about the costs of off-shore drilling.)
And, in a speech on Saturday, Sarah Palin called the disastrous oil spill “tragic” but continued to support drilling.
Speaking to a crowd of mostly Republicans at the Independence Events Center, the former Alaska governor called the oil spill “very tragic” but added: “I want our country to be able to trust the oil industry.”
She said the U.S. must wean itself from foreign oil in order to be truly free.
“We’ve got to tap domestically because energy security will be the key to our prosperity,” Palin said.
But Palin, like so many people, is confused about “foreign oil” and our dependence on it. Politicians, Democrats and Republicans, like to talk about reducing our dependence on foreign oil; it sounds patriotic and is a good sound-bite. But there really isn’t any such thing as “foreign oil,” in the sense that Palin meant it when she said we have to want to “be free.”
Back in the spring of 2008, as gasoline prices were approaching $4 a gallon and politicians, especially conservatives, began to pump up their own rhetoric about drilling, my AJC colleague Jay Bookman wrote an editorial explaining why domestic drilling would never free us from dependence on “foreign oil”:
Advocates of drilling in ANWR never bother to mention that any oil pumped from the refuge would be sold by companies such as Exxon Mobil and Chevron at the global price for oil, which today is approaching $120 a barrel. The widely held notion that American consumers would get some kind of price break on that oil is simply wrong — we would pay the same amount for a barrel of ANWR oil as we would for a barrel of oil from Saudi Arabia or Venezuela.
If the world continues to escalate its dependence on foreign oil, it’s probably inevitable that offshore drilling will continue in coastal waters off the US and anywhere else oil companies find reserves. But drilling in US waters doesn’t make that petroleum the property of US consumers.
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184 comments Add your comment
Jess
May 3rd, 2010
1:51 pm
Everyone knows we cannot be free of foreign oil. However we also know that the risk of shipping oil is a greater threat to the environment than drilling.
This is the first production accident in the US resulting in measurable oil loss in forty years. During that time there have been many, many tanker accidents resulting in measurable spills.
This is why the US is the only major oil producing country in the world which has imposed huge restrictions on drilling.
Drilling is still safer than shipping.
Tommy Maddox
May 3rd, 2010
1:53 pm
So much for that pledge for energy independence.
Peadawg
May 3rd, 2010
1:54 pm
What really stinks about the BP oil spill it that Obama will use it as scare tactics in order to regulate more and increase the size of the government.
Tea Party Meber
May 3rd, 2010
2:11 pm
I SEE ANOTER REESON TO RAISE ARE TAXES. I BET IF U INVISTAGATED THIS U WOOD SEE OBAMA WAS BEHIND THIS MESS SO HE COULD USE IT AS AN EXUSE TO RAISE ARE TAXES
VOT NO TO OSAMA…..I MEEN OBAMA
Auburn Fan
May 3rd, 2010
2:12 pm
Another CT article, another obvious point missed. I don’t think anyone has ever said the oil is cheaper than any other oil, there is just more in the supply side of the equation. Supply and demand never have been easy for Liberals to understand.
Auburn Fan
May 3rd, 2010
2:13 pm
Tea Party Meber, do you really think we believe your posts?
Tea Party Meber
May 3rd, 2010
2:14 pm
DUDE U BETER BELIEVE ME CUZ I SPEEK THE TRUTH AND THAT IS WE ARE DOOMED WITH OSAMA AS ARE PREZ.
Auburn Fan
May 3rd, 2010
2:17 pm
and you are looking very foolish. You are on the blog of Pulitzer Prize winner Cynthia Tucker of The AJC. Show some respect.
DeKalb Conservative
May 3rd, 2010
2:19 pm
Fair blog. What is forgetten is the price of not drilling in the U.S.
Let’s pick on Bookman — what if the ANWR oil only went to U.S. government interests and never touched the open market? It would be like one of us having a giant farm in our backyard to reduce our dependence on Publix and Kroger.
Disgusted
May 3rd, 2010
2:21 pm
I don’t think anyone has ever said the oil is cheaper than any other oil, there is just more in the supply side of the equation.
More? The U.S. accounts for only 3% of the world’s oil reserves—hardly enough to cause a ripple, after it gets mixed in with the 97% produced by other countries. The only case I can see for increased off-shore drilling relates to national security. In the event we were to undergo another boycott—hardly likely, since Canada and Mexico produce most of the oil we consume—we would have access to wells for a bare-bones existence. And even that assumption is questionable; for instance, many of the off-shore wells off the U.S. coast are owned by foreign companies, including BP (British Petroleum), the owner of the well leaking today.
J Kase
May 3rd, 2010
2:24 pm
AF,
They gave Obama one two weeks after being elected for doing nothing. Petty soon we’ll be getting Pulitzers with our Happy Meals everywhere but Santa Clara.
Chris Broe
May 3rd, 2010
2:24 pm
There’s no such thing as freedom from foreign oil. China is rapidly devouring oil at a rate that will make the USA look like a country of tree-huggin liberal trash recyclers.
Did I mention that China is building a super navy? I don’t see how competition for limited resources could possibly lead to a war, do you?
Granny Godzilla
May 3rd, 2010
2:26 pm
J Kase
pultizer? wanna’ look that up?
Cynthia is Sexy
May 3rd, 2010
2:31 pm
Same difference…the nobel prize has been given to such stellar individuals as Al Goron, Jimmy Carter, Yasser Arafat, Obama…and soon they will be appearing specially marked boxes of Cracker Jack.
Granny Godzilla
May 3rd, 2010
2:34 pm
same difference?
very sad indeed….
Auburn Fan
May 3rd, 2010
2:39 pm
Disgusted, so we can never change the amount of US Production? Is it fixed?
PearlJam
May 3rd, 2010
2:40 pm
It’s the control of the supply not the control of where it’s sold tha that matters.
If we opened up oil supply off of ANWR and other areas in US control, how could other forign countries stop that supply to America, I don’t get Jay Bookman’s point. Just because they sales it everywhere does not give other countries say so on who they can sell it to.
On the other hand if we get it from Mid-East or South America they (OPEC, govt, etc) can shut off supply anytime they want.
Cynthia is Sexy
May 3rd, 2010
2:45 pm
Agreed…quite sad that such a once prestigious prize/award is now viewed as little more than a politically correct statement and/or a joke.
SouthGeorgiaDawg
May 3rd, 2010
2:46 pm
All I want to know is where’s the outrage over Obama’s bungling of this crisis? His response time to the oil spill in comparison makes Bush look like a rapid-responder to Katrina.
Wait until that oil hits the shores. Once that happens Obama can spin it all he wants, but the fact of the matter is that he dropped the ball on this.
Sorry dems. You can’t have it both ways. You can’t blame Bush for a lack of an adequate response to Katrina (when it was really New Orleans and Louisiana’s fault), and then not place any Blame on Obama for the feds failure to contain this spill from the start.
Granny Godzilla
May 3rd, 2010
2:47 pm
PearlJam
Are you suggesting a government take over of the oil companies?
Granny Godzilla
May 3rd, 2010
2:48 pm
CIS
by types like you….yes sad.
kayaker 71
May 3rd, 2010
2:48 pm
If we raised the minimum mileage requirement on all cars made and sold in the US to 35mpg, we could cut our dependence on foreign oil in half. We could then tell the Saudis and the rest of the Mid East to shove it and fight their own wars over dominance in the oil market. When will we get a President that has the kahunas to tackle the problem at it’s source? It certainly has not been Clinton, Bush or Bozo. The car makers can do it and with not too much changing what they are already doing. We could then take this interlude of decreased dependence on foreign oil to do a good job developing other sources of energy to propel our vehicles. Gasoline should go the way of the Smith Corona typewriter and the eight track tape. And we have the beginning technology to do this…… just not the foresight.
Granny Godzilla
May 3rd, 2010
2:49 pm
South GA Dawg
Sorry, that meme won’t fly. At least not with thinkers.
Granny Godzilla
May 3rd, 2010
2:52 pm
Kayaker
He already did.
35.5
Cynthia is Sexy
May 3rd, 2010
2:54 pm
LOL Kayk…those ole 8 tracks changing tracks in the middle of a song. What a wreck.
Halftrack
May 3rd, 2010
2:54 pm
Obummer has not spoken as a President of all America yet. If he would promote government as being a partner to private enterprise and offer government incentives for new developments, patents, and discoveries of our current resources, the American entrepreneur will deliver many things to relieve the amount of oil we need from foreign countries. Look at our past and realize how much was said that it couldn’t be done but it was.
Disgusted
May 3rd, 2010
2:57 pm
Disgusted, so we can never change the amount of US Production? Is it fixed?
We can change it—at the price of exhausting our pathetically small reserves. And all for what? It won’t make a penny’s difference in the world price of oil.
kayaker 71
May 3rd, 2010
2:59 pm
Interesting piece on the EPA Secretary, Lisa Jackson, today on Rush’s show. She made no public statement on the crisis for a full seven days after the initial explosion. He read her schedule over the air and it was full of appointments to do lots of fluff public appearances and things like Correspondents Dinners and funerals for civil rights leaders but no trip to the Gulf, no public statements on how the EPA was addressing the problem. Not even pale statements like “We are keeping an eye on this”…. no wait, that was Bozo. That forward, committed, dedicated sort of involvement in environmental disasters is just what this country needs. She is not even in the mix!! Next, Bozo will say, ” You’re doin’ a great job, Lisa”
ctucker
May 3rd, 2010
3:15 pm
SouthGeorgiaDawg, You and many other conservatives are desperately to blame Obama for this. But it’s very difficult to make a rational case that this mess is the president’s fault. He dropped the ball on this? If he had been running BP, you would have had a fit — calling him a socalist!
ctucker
May 3rd, 2010
3:16 pm
PealJam, The rights to sell the oil belong to the oil company that got it out of the ground. That’s the way private enterprise works.
ctucker
May 3rd, 2010
3:17 pm
DeKalb Conservative, It’s not a “giant farm.”
ctucker
May 3rd, 2010
3:18 pm
Auburn Fan, The supply here isn’t large enough to effect the price very much.
Granny Godzilla
May 3rd, 2010
3:19 pm
Kayaker 71
Where was EPA Deputy Administrator Bob Perciasepe on the 21st?
Ragnar Danneskjöld
May 3rd, 2010
3:20 pm
To the extent that our gracious hostess argues the obvious truth, that oil is a fungible good, we are in full agreement, and we would never wish to interpose any constraints on trade that would suggest otherwise. On the other hand, to the extent that our gracious hostess affirms that increased freedom, to allow private domestic drilling, would not diminish the political and economic leverage held by countries with more aggressive drilling policies, we would respectfully disagree. Freedom always benefits the average joe; government controls always benefit the power-players.
Ragnar Danneskjöld
May 3rd, 2010
3:22 pm
Dear Ms. Tucker @ 3:18, you err: “Auburn Fan, The supply here isn’t large enough to effect the price very much.” The oil market is highly inelastic – minor disruptions in supply have seismic effects on price, and minor over-production has an opposite effect of the same magnitude.
Ragnar Danneskjöld
May 3rd, 2010
3:25 pm
Dear SouthGeorgiaDawg, Louisiana dodged a bullet, and now 17 days into the disaster I think we can all say, “Great Job, Barry.” Obviously the US government has done enough that Chauncey is comfortable going to a correspondent’s dinner to rip Republican jokes.
Joey
May 3rd, 2010
3:29 pm
Your headline is true, however last week when the Obama Administration was committed to open new areas to drilling the price of Oil and gasolene decreased.
And on the day that Obama announced he was putting that on hold local gas prices increased 12 to 15 cents per gallon.
The ability to access new locations, the fear that we might drill, for oil causes oil prices to decrease.
Granny Godzilla
May 3rd, 2010
3:32 pm
Hey Rags
Remember this?
Ragnar Danneskjöld
May 3rd, 2010
3:35 pm
Dear Granny @ 3:32, that is surely the most interesting collection of hieroglyphics ever published. Do they, by chance, have an html page?
Peabrain
May 3rd, 2010
3:37 pm
They should plug the hole with Boortz butt….
Chris Broe
May 3rd, 2010
3:44 pm
Market has formed a short term triple top.
It’s so discouraging that Cynthia has to waste all her replies correcting total ignorance and stupidity. Duh, Cynthia? Can’t the president just veto the spill?
But what is really disgusting is that Cynthia coddles these drilldo-heads
PearlJam
May 3rd, 2010
3:45 pm
Granny
Are you suggesting a government take over of the oil companies?
No way, I’m just saying that if America produces enough oil here for our own supply, Governmnets like that do control oil (like Iran) will have no power to stop those companies from selling their supply to US.
So if Iran and OPEC decides to cut oil supply we still have option to but from other US supplies. Iran and like countries would have no say so on who BP could sell their oil to if they got it from ANWR, they do when we buy it from their reserves.
Granny Godzilla
May 3rd, 2010
3:47 pm
Pearljam
Except America does not produce the oil….the oil companies produce the oil.
It is theirs to do with as they please…..unless the government takes them over.
Jess
May 3rd, 2010
3:48 pm
Oil from Alaska, including ANWR if it ever becomes open to drilling, is shipped out of Alaska simply because there is no efficient way to get it to the lower 48 of the US for refining. Most of the oil produced in the gulf becomes part of the oil companies inventory, and is assigned the going rate as a price, but is actually refined in the US. This oil typically reaches the shore via pipelines, not tankers. The general theme in this post seems to be that oil produced in the US does not stay in the US, but most of it actually does.
Ragnar Danneskjöld
May 3rd, 2010
3:49 pm
Dear Chris Broe @ 2:24, your second paragraph is supposed to be a secret. That is one of the few issues in this world that can keep me awake at night.
PearlJam
May 3rd, 2010
3:54 pm
Granny – correct
American oil companies can do as they wish, OPEC could not stop them from selling to US
If we don’t let then drill here, oil will have to come from countries that can stop supply.
But I agree – America can’t force them to sell it here, but at same time other counties cannot force them not to sell it here.
but the Gov’t can impose sanctions of no imports into specific country, then the oil company can sell to US or go broke. At less that option would be on table, with the resources here we have no control.
Road Scholar
May 3rd, 2010
3:59 pm
Peabrain: No , put Rush’s mouth over the leak!
Folks, China’s economy is rising and they are designed on the US model of industry, and oil. They use 0.05% of the oil amount per person than we do now. When/if their economy grows like they intend they will meet our use rate. Just think about the number of Chinese, the usage, the pollution, etc. Can you multiply?
Also, while we get more oil…7 years from exploration to “harvesting” oil…. who will refine it for us? NO new refineries are planned! ( Even the Iranians export their oil to have it refined and then import gasoline!) Yes in 7 years we may have more efficient cars, some of which are electric. How do you get the electricity? Remember the price of gas jumps up when they “switch” to /from the Clean fuels we use in the summer.
Finally, this is BP’s fault. They said they had it under control. Now the leakage is somewhere between 3 and 10 times what they first reported, depending on which BP rep was talking! If its Obama’s fault then get ready for the regulation that is needed to avert these types of calmities and lies!
PearlJam
May 3rd, 2010
4:04 pm
Cynthia – “SouthGeorgiaDawg, You and many other conservatives”
I’m conservative and not blaming Obama, I think most are just saying that to show how stupid the left was for blaming Bush for Katrina. Dumb if you ask me, I’ll take higher ground and support him even though I disagree with those who bashed Bush over Katrina, I’m sure Obama admin are doing everything they can.
jconservative
May 3rd, 2010
4:41 pm
“…the feds failure to contain this spill from the start.”
What pointy headed Liberal dreamed up the idea it is the Federal governments job to clean up British Petroleum’s oil spill? It must be the same crowd that dreamed up the idea that government should take care of people from conception to burial.
J Kase
May 3rd, 2010
4:52 pm
Granny,
M’ Back. You were making mention of my spelling: Pulitzers. Sometimes I do that on purpose just fer the spelling police.