It’s Time For More Off-shore Oil Drilling or Change our Ways
An oil rig off the coast of California
Here in Portland I am seeing signs that the price of gas is making a difference in how people get around the city. Bus ridership has spiked, there are less cars on the road during the commuting hours and bicyclists seem to be everywhere. Yesterday as I walked my dog along the banks of the Willamette River, I noticed far more sailboats than the motorized variety. Maybe the price of gas is making Americans think twice before getting into the car? Maybe.
I carpool to the Nemo warehouse and it’s still a drag to see that of those cars that are on the road I’d guess that 95% of them are occupied by only the driver. And don’t get me started on the hypocritical Prius owners who fly past at speeds that exceed the legal limits. And on Sunday’s the Hillsdale Farmer’s Market is filled with people buying fresh, locally-produced organic food while the parking lot and the surrounding streets are crammed with their cars. None of this makes sense. If you’re concerned perhaps you can leave a comment on their blog.
It seemed that once gas went through $4 a gallon and the $100 fill up entered the public’s economic equation we’d see a marked change in the way we would use our energy. Unfortunately that’s really not the case.
Portland is one of the more environmentally-friendly and green cities in North America. If we can’t break the automobiles stranglehold on our city then what hope for other cities that are less friendly toward buses and bicyclists? Portland has also shown strong support for ending the war in Iraq. If we disagree with the Iraq war, and the inevitable future Middle East wars that will be fought over oil and water resources, what will we Portlanders do at home to reduce our dependence on foreign oil?
I argue that if we are unwilling to drastically reduce our gasoline use then it is hypocritical of us to oppose off-shore drilling in California and drilling and exploration in Alaska. We simply can’t have our cake and eat it.
Today, President George W. Bush plans to lift a presidential ban on offshore drilling to combat soaring energy prices, a largely symbolic move unlikely to have any short-term impact on the high cost of gasoline.
Who will stand in his way this time?
Related Post: I’m Sick of the Co-Opting of Green
Tags: Alaska, California, Hillsdale Farmers Market, Offshore Drilling, Portland, Prius
July 14th, 2008 at 11:45 am
We have to treat the American population as drug addicts, addicted to oil and all its trappings, in what they now feel is a birth-right, part of being ‘American’, the right to a personal V-8 engined gas guzzler with factory air and stereo. We gave these as prizes to high-school and college graduates, used them as incentives for executives, gave them away in contests, identified coming of sexual age with them, we forced them down the throats of our people by lacking public transportation, we idolized our cars in the movies, and there will always be pockets of Americans who will think this way long after GM and Ford bankrupt. For a full century, cars have been on a pedestal, a beacon for what was good about being American! Don’t expect any large changes soon, no matter how expensive gas gets.
July 14th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
This is very interesting to me. I think about this same stuff quite a bit. How we (Americans, consumers, humans) really do want to have our cake and eat it too. How crystal clear it is that oil has been the poisoned blood of this country (and many others) for decades. The irony is that so many people espouse this idea lately, then jump into their enormous SUVs and barrel down the highway drinking their oil-derived plastic bottle of water they buy on a daily basis.
I had a creative crime idea a few years back, would have loved to had a bunch of “I (heart-symbol) Oil” stickers made up and then gone around town putting them on the bumpers of Hummers. So many in Los Angeles, where $4.95 gas and 8 miles to the gallon isn’t an issue to many wealthy people.
Have you heard “Die For Oil, Sucker” by Jello Biafra? A great spoken word piece. What’s frighteningly fascinating is that the original from 1991 focusing on the first Gulf War is almost word-for-word relevant to our current situation. Even the president’s name needn’t be changed. It’s a great piece of work and he did an update recently that is even more frightening.
July 15th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
“Oil is a very powerful resource with an incredibly high energy density. For example,
the energy in just one barrel of oil is equivalent to eight people working full time for a
year.”
- Bartlett, Hon. Roscoe G., A Representative in Congress from the State of Maryland
From:
UNDERSTANDING THE PEAK OIL
THEORY
HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND AIR QUALITY
OF THE COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
DECEMBER 7, 2005
(http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=109_house_hearings&docid=f:25627.wais)
Assuming a 40 hour work weeks and 2 weeks of vacation per year per man, this means that ONE BARREL of oil is equivalent to 16,000 man hours of “work” (in terms of joules of energy expended). We currently use between 83-84 million barrels worldwide PER DAY. Try to get your head around this figure and how, even at 20 dollars per gallon, gas will still be an incredibly cheap source of energy. For example, one gallon of gas would get your 5,000 pound F-Series Ford Trcuk about 15- 20 miles down the road - how much time and energy would it take YOU to push that truck the same distance ? just sayin..
We will likely use oil until it become non-profitably recoverable by the oil companies (i.e. the cost of extraction exceeds the profit made from selling it). Depending on which oil industry analyst you ask, this point is anywhere from 5 to 50 years away, to “never going to happen” ( aka the dubious abiotic oil theory). Meanwhile, Portland stands to lead the way with a bike/public transit model. It’s the best city I’ve seen so far in that regard. Keep pedalling.
Best
JH