I just spent $72 to fill my car with gasoline. As a middle school science teacher, I constantly challenge my students to think critically. They are encouraged daily to do two things: don’t overlook the obvious and answer the question. It is with them in mind that I frame this letter.
I just spent $72 for 18 gallons of gas. Fortunately, my 7-year-old car gets 34 miles per gallon. While Congress basks in its 13 percent approval rating, it seems the new solution to the energy crisis is “cap and trade” (Google it, but sit down while doing so).
In the meantime, China and India are building oil-drilling platforms 50 miles off our coasts. Not us, though; we love polar bears.
Forget the fact that the polar bear population has increased five-fold in the past 30 years. Therefore, it appears that Congress thinks it’s all right for other countries to drill for oil; however, we can’t drill for our own resources.
In 2007, congressional Democrats led an effort, which became law, to prevent the Department of Interior from enacting new rules for commercial oil shale leases until at least October 2008.
Thanks to Bill Clinton, we cannot drill anything off our shores until 2012. At the time, oil was $19 a barrel. He said we really didn’t need the oil. New technology was right around the corner and it wouldn’t be until 2007 until we got the oil. So, it was going to take us way too long.
Now, oil is $125 a barrel, up from $19 a barrel. We would be pumping that oil out now.
We are also the recipients of some well-crafted legislation that has led to the outer continental shelf moratoriums for the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, and the Gulf of Mexico. There’s even a congressional ban on doing an analysis of the resource potential for oil and gas in these area as well. We can’t even look into it! Congress has said no.
Then there is Anwar. In 1995, President Clinton vetoed drilling in Anwar to protect the environment. It is 700 miles away from a tree.
I paid $72 for a tank of gasoline today. Here’s what Congress is offering (you may want to sit down for this as well). They don’t want to go into Anwar. We don’t want to drill off our own coasts. However, China and India can. We can’t take the oil shale in the mountains. No coal. We have three times the amount of coal than Saudi Arabia has oil. We won’t tap the oil sands in our country, but we will go to Canada and buy it from them.
Now, here’s the congressional solution. Are you ready? Empty out the strategic petroleum reserves!
It’s now holding 700 million barrels of oil. That would certainly help; however, here’s a point that even my eighth-graders would not miss: We’re at war in the Middle East. Are we intentionally trying to destroy ourselves?
It’s time we demand answers from the people elected to serve us. This is not American Idol. It’s time to do your homework and get some answers. I am not stumping for any candidate; mine hasn’t shown up yet.
Did I mention that I paid $72 for a tank of gas today?
David Edinger
Peachtree City, Ga.