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We have an energy problem; here’s a solution We have a problem. The problem is local, national and global. Here in America, as elsewhere, we are being held hostage to forces out of our control, forces committed to having us reduced to economic slavery over the control of energy that sits outside the reach of our current thinking. This is an old story, but one that is becoming more relevant as prices at the pump continue their upward spiral and trucking companies continue to go out of business. Perhaps this does not register with as much volatility in Fayette County since it is Georgia’s highest per capita income county, but for the many millions of other families across this state and this nation whose annual income averages $30,000 or $40,000, for example, the crushing reality at the pump is a nightmare that continues to wreak increasing havoc. Everybody says there’s no real solution to the energy problem. Are they right? Why? It is no secret to those that pay attention to world affairs that, regardless the reasons, some of the oil producing countries look to us only as a source of revenue, nothing more, as they continue their decades-long habit of depositing their oil revenues into Western and Eastern banks that are only too happy to take their money. It is no secret that some of those nations would just as easily prefer to see our economy and our nation wrecked. But then who would they sell to? The rest of the world, of course. Remember, for example, China’s GDP is still expected to eclipse the U.S. by about 2035 (provided they don’t poison their entire population with pollution between now and then) with India hot on their trail by then and closing in on the U.S. GDP. As has been long stated, it is not that the U.S. is falling economically, it’s that the rest of the world is rising. We will not drill in ANWR in an area about the size of Atlanta’s airport or off the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf coasts. Yet all we have to do is look south, say about 40 miles from Florida, where Cuba discovered 4.6 billion barrels of oil and 9.8 trillion cubic feet gas about 50 miles north of the island in 2006. And guess who is signing exploration agreements: our dear friends and allies Venezuela and China. Who knows, maybe the Cubans, Venezuelans and Chinese will back off on drilling if we explain the potential environmental impact. Do you think they care? Do you think our dear friends at OPEC care? Only the most reality-challenged Americans can fail to see the handwriting on the energy wall. The biggest problem with energy in America may not only be the market’s carpetbagging speculators or both of our two so-called political parties, brimming with hormones on hot-button issues but selling us out at a breakneck pace in the race toward a new America. The for-profit Federal Reserve System can continue to cut interest rates, but only to 0 percent. Then what will our masters on Wall Street do? Meanwhile the value of the dollar continues to fall and Congress seems to be as sterile as ever in not being able to come up with anything other than spending more money. Folks, we’ve been sold out by the Republicans and the Democrats. The Republicans sold out after ‘94, the Democrats decades earlier. So how much can the average American be expected to pay for a gallon of gas or a gallon of milk before the frustration mounts to the boiling point? Does anyone remember the violence and deaths at the pumps in 1973? Is there a possibility of freeing ourselves from the yoke of energy tyranny imposed on us by forces outside the control of those of us simply trying to live our lives and raise our families? Here’s a suggestion. And being a mere suggestion, it is in no way intended as some kind of magical energy fix. It is merely meant to be a point of possible conversation. And it involves a compromise of our polarized energy world-view, something that will have to be reckoned with now or later if we are ever to become energy independent like Brazil. Perhaps the compromise could require federal legislation that permits drilling in ANWR and the coastal regions and the construction of a limited number of refineries, with those permits tied to a solid requirement that a substantial percentage (not a symbolic one) of the profits go toward real research and development of alternative energy sources. Big oil might not be willing to go this route. But perhaps a new company or consortium of companies with the vision for global profits from alternative energy sources, supplemented with stockholders’ participation, would be interested. The legislation should require some form of verifiable oversight and accountability by corporate, citizen and environmental groups, with Congressional oversight only as a stopgap measure if all else fails. Who knows? Maybe there needs to be some new form of non-profit with similar accountability and oversight to funnel the “excess funds” back to the taxpayers once things are sufficiently under way. Either way, one thing is for sure. Doing what we’ve always done will get us nowhere except in worse shape than we’re in now. This little idea is probably full of holes and weaknesses, and I have no doubt that some of you will have much better suggestions than what I’m offering. I hope you do. Maybe some of the answers can come from our readers in Fayette and other counties around the country. But at least this was an attempt to suggest that something is possible, in a society and a world that sees the energy glass half empty, one where OPEC’s masters of oil will continue to have us the unwilling slaves to their reign until their wells run dry. When that time comes, our grandchildren will have no choice left. login to post comments | Ben Nelms's blog
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