It is clear that people who make statements like “[electrify] vehicles of all types” or “[create] livable communities where transit, walking, and biking are important” (“Kick the oil habit,” June 17) have no earthly idea what is going on beyond their front doorstep.
One trip down any highway in California and you will see hundreds of 18-wheel tractor trailer trucks that keep this country going on a daily basis. On every American highway, they bring us food, fresh produce, medicine, clothing, and commerce of every kind. You cannot just wave a magic wand and “electrify vehicles” overnight. The technology isn’t here yet. Nor is the enormous infrastructure required to convert the trucking industry. We also have no rail system of the size required to convert trucking to rail. It would take decades to build something like that.
These people love to spout catchphrases like “kick the oil habit” or “outlaw minivans and SUVs,” but have no rational or reasonable ideas for doing so. So where does that leave us? Oil is what we use to keep us going, for now. Drilling in the Gulf of Mexico is a huge part of our economy, and deep water drilling has been going on for decades without a mishap. The Deep Water Horizon disaster is terrible, but do we stop flying when a plane crashes?
From an environmental standpoint, drilling for our own oil in our own waters is much safer than buying it from overseas. Eighty percent of oil spill disasters are from tankers moving huge volumes great distances. If we ban offshore drilling in our waters, we will increase the chance of oil spills by purchasing more foreign oil, which will be shipped to us via tankers. Finally, if we stop drilling, the rest of the oil-producing nations will come to our shores and drill instead of us. Just outside our territorial limits, we will see Chinese, Russian, and perhaps even Saudi deep-water rigs slant drilling into our oil deposits because we won’t. There will be nothing to stop them. Slant drilling can be accomplished for more than 100 miles. The dangers will be the same to our coastline, yet we won’t have any oversight for safety or regulation. Nor will we reap the benefits of oil industry jobs for Americans, or lower gas prices for our cars.
Someday, electric vehicles will take over, but the technology and infrastructure has to be developed. The USA should be the leader in this venture, but it will take more than a magic wand or catchy soundbites to do it.
This article appears in Jul 1-8, 2010.