America Needs a National Energy Policy
Balancing Our Need for Energy with Our Concern for the Environment
America's energy crisis makes it more dependent on foreign oil than during the energy crisis caused by the Arab oil embargo in the 1970's. After decades without national energy policy, America is becoming more vulnerable to foreign events that could threaten our oil supply. Heavy reliance on foreign oil, especially from the Persian Gulf, leaves the U.S. increasingly open to trouble. Any mischief by Iraq, for example, could wreak havoc with our economy. The National Energy Security Act of 2001 aims to fix this problem. Oil exploration and production in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge's (ANWR) coastal plain is an important component of this policy.
Demand for oil in the United States and in the world is increasing every year. Now OPEC is cutting its supply to raise international oil prices. Many experts worry that rising oil prices coupled with a slowing economy and falling stock prices could draw the U.S. economy into a recession.
Our nation's energy needs are complicated. They are diverse and are not the same in each region of the country. We must utilize the technology that has brought us into the computer age to take us into the next energy age.
America faces energy challenges nationwide: blackouts in California; record-setting heating oil prices in New England (half the homes in this region rely on heating oil); fuel prices have skyrocketed last summer in the Midwest, Across America, most of your next tank of gas is coming from a foreign country. Oil imports cost more that $100 billion a year.
Today, America imports 65% of its oil twice as much as it did at the time of Operation Desert Storm. Domestic oil production is one key component in securing our nation's future. The Energy Security Act of 2001 allows for careful exploration of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) contains what experts believe might be the largest supply of oil in America's history. The U.S. Geological Survey reports that beneath the one and a half million-acre tract in Alaska's Coastal Plain is upwards of sixteen billion barrels of recoverable oil. Given current rates of import, sixteen billion barrels of oil is enough to replace oil from Iraq for 71 years. Sixteen billion barrels of Coastal Plain oil is the energy equivalent of 17.7 billion barrels of gasoline (742 billion gallons of gasoline), which at the 2000 rate of domestic gasoline consumption of 8.4 million barrels a day, is the equivalent of total U.S. gasoline consumption for nearly six years. The tract in the Coastal Plain was designated by Congress in 1981 to study its oil and gas potential. In 1987, the Department of Interior recommended to proceed with development.
Thanks to technological advances, oil can now be extracted while dramatically reducing the "footprint" on the land. Using horizontal drilling, one production pad on the surface can drain more than 64 square miles of subsurface oil. 3-D seismic detection can locate oil with more accuracy than ever before. Oil companies have learned to develop fields with more compact facilities and without permanent roads. Elevated pipelines allow wildlife to roam freely.
A national energy policy is fundamental to America meeting-and beating-the energy crisis. More domestic energy and a concern for the environment needn't be at odds. Armed with advancing technology and greater knowledge, America can satisfy its need for energy while protecting the environment.
