America is Haunted by Bad Decisions on Energy Policy

By Mac Thornberry, U.S. Representative (TX-13)

Our kids are teenagers now.  One of the lessons we are trying to teach them is that the choices they make have consequences.  If they choose to do a certain thing, they will live with the results.  If they choose not do something, they will live with the results.  Actions and inactions have consequences.  It is a hard lesson to learn. 

Our country has had a hard time learning that lesson with energy.  In 1973, the OPEC countries refused to sell us oil because of a war in the Middle East.  Americans stood in long lines to fill their tanks.  I remember my father and grandfather trying to figure out how to ensure that we had the fuel we needed to run the tractor and the pick-ups at the ranch.

In the 30 years since then, our country has made choices – by our actions and our inactions – about energy.

We decided we would not allow oil and gas drilling off the East and West Coasts or around Florida, so more of our domestic production has been concentrated in the Gulf of Mexico region.

We decided to put vast areas of the West and Alaska off limits as well, and now about 60 % of the oil we use comes from other countries.  (It was 36% at the time of the 1973 embargo.) 

We decided that we did not want to do anything that even appeared to help oil and gas companies, and now we have only a few big companies that dominate the market. 

We decided refineries were dirty, and we made it expensive and difficult to get regulatory approval to build a new one, so none were built.  We had 324 refineries in 1981. Now we have 149.

One region of the country tried to outdo another in putting special requirements on the composition of gasoline, and so we have ended up with 45 different kinds of gasoline being produced in the United States last year.

We enjoyed low prices as oil and gas wells were shut-in because it cost more to operate them than the money they generated.  Unfortunately, we eventually paid the price as those reservoirs were lost.

We insisted that new power plants have minimal emissions, which led to most of them being fueled with natural gas, but the supply did not keep pace with the rising use.

In sum, we took energy for granted, assuming when we flipped the switch, the lights would go on and assuming that there would always be plenty of cheap fuel for our vehicles.  Our choices over the last 30 years have had consequences.

Recently, the situation has been aggravated by two things we could not control – economic growth in China and Hurricane Katrina.  China’s incredible rate of economic growth and its corresponding increase in energy consumption has made the world supply tight.  The world produces 83-85 million barrels of oil a day, and the world uses 83-85 million barrels of oil a day.  There is no slack, and the amount used is growing faster than the amount produced.  Then Hurricane Katrina knocked out 25% of U.S. oil production, 19% of U.S. natural gas production, 10% of U.S. refining capacity, and much of the pipeline and transportation system to distribute fuel, at least for a time.  In a market with no slack, the effects were immediate.  We have felt the consequences in the form of higher prices and even some temporary shortages.  Prices will ease in the coming days, but will we have learned from our mistakes?

No one could have predicted these exact events, but it would have been safe to predict that something would happen to threaten our supplies.  It could have been another OPEC embargo; it could have been a terrorist attack in the Houston Ship Channel.  We are too stretched, too vulnerable, and without resiliency in a vital sector of our economy.

For some people, their first reaction is to blame somebody – the oil companies, the service stations, the Administration.  If there are those who are taking advantage of other people’s misfortunes, they should be held accountable and dealt with severely.  But at some level, we all share in the responsibility because relatively cheap and accessible energy has lulled us into a false sense of complacency, and we have not insisted on the steps needed to give us real energy security.

After four years of trying (longer for some of us), Congress finally passed an energy bill.  It is no magic answer, but it begins to take some significant steps in the right direction.  Yet recent events illustrate how much more needs to be done. 

We should start by allowing drilling in Alaska’s National Wildlife Refuge.  It can provide billions of barrels of recoverable oil and trillions of cubic feet of recoverable natural gas.  Only one hundredth of one percent (.01%) of refuge area will be affected by drilling equipment and structures.  We should complete an inventory of all oil and gas reservoirs around the country, including off our coasts, so we know what we have.

We should encourage tertiary recovery to get every drop of oil we can out of the ground.

We should restore a proper balance in environmental regulation and energy production that is based on common sense, not political agendas.

We must continue research into new forms of energy and into more efficient use of existing energy sources.  We are going to have to do more of everything.

Energy is necessary for economic growth, for a better quality of life, and for human progress.  The answer to our problems is not to have government ration energy, and the answer is not to settle for slower progress and a lower standard of living.  The answer is to produce more energy, safely and securely, here at home.   If we do, our actions today will leave our children and grandchildren with a more hopeful and secure future.

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