“Drill Baby Drill” is “Stupid Baby Stupid”

It’s alarming to me that 80% of the population now favors increased drilling offshore and in currently restricted areas such as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. Of all proposed solutions to our crippling foreign energy dependence, increased drilling is poised to make the smallest impact on our level of oil imports, and will serve to do nothing more than delay an imminent change. By focusing on alternative energies, we can dramatically cut our oil imports – a move which will strengthen our economy, improve national security, boost national morale, and preserve some of our most important national treasures.

Lately I’ve been hearing more and more of the argument that if the mere mention of dramatically increased drilling served to drive oil prices down, then imagine what actually drilling would do. This couldn’t be further from the truth. The drop in oil prices that we experienced on the back of an American majority chanting “drill baby drill” is based on speculation. Unfortunately the reality is that it would be impossible for us to drill enough oil, or do it quickly enough to make a serious dent in our reliance on imported crude. I’m sure the opening up of ANWR and our coastlines would result in an immediate decline in prices, but once the reality sets in that the change is negligible (outside of oil companies, who WILL be thrilled to boast a new set of domestic revenue streams), prices will quickly bounce back to their pre-expansion highs.

It could also be argued that the drop in price we’ve been seeing has been at least partially driven by a drop in demand. Increased focus on petroleum alternatives would result in dramatically decreased demand, resulting in a significantly larger cut in our oil imports than would upping production by 3-4% by 2030 (that figure is an estimate by the US Energy Information Administration if we open up offshore drilling). A 10% decreases in consumption would result in a 5X greater drop in oil imports than would drilling offshore (1.08 million barrels/day vs. .2 million barrels/day). It would also funnel billions of dollars into American companies with purely domestic interests; unlike the oil companies who will benefit from increased drilling which are multinational corporations with significant investments overseas, be they financial, in infrastructure and production, or through employment. The point is that drilling offshore will NOT be the boon to our economy that investment in alternatives will be.

Ultimately, oil is a finite resource. At some point, it becomes ridiculous to focus our resources and energy on new infrastructure for a rapidly diminishing supply of oil. We must face the reality that the days of relatively easily attainable oil will not last forever, and may in fact be mostly behind us, and redouble our efforts to develop new technologies that will allow us to march forward into a way of life fueled by resources that are renewable. Furthermore, it would be absolutely insane to trade some of the jewels of our nation, our last untarnished wilderness and our wealth of biological diversity, for a solution that isn’t a solution at all. We can make more of an impact on our foreign oil dependence and reclaim more of that wasted money by focusing on alternatives than we can by drilling, and we can do it in a shorter time span. Even if the US Energy Information Administration has underestimated our production potential by 500%, we can still reduce our imports more by cutting our use by only 10% – without sacrificing some of our proudest treasures.

What the writhing mobs of “drill baby drill” proponents must realize is that drilling offshore and in ANWR is a distraction that we can’t afford to support. It will increase complacency and recklessly ease concerns about a very serious issue. It will divert our focus, energy, and resources from solutions that would be significantly more beneficial to our economy, infrastructure, national security, national pride, and environment. It will drive back our pursuit of alternative energy sources to a point in time when oil is even more scarce and expensive. We absolutely must acknowledge the impending end of the oil age, and began preparing ourselves for an era of alternative energy. If we do not, we will almost certainly risk our position as a global economic leader, and our current way of life. Now is the time to focus on our future. We must sacrifice now in order to ensure greater prosperity later. We cannot wish our problems away, and by procrastinating we are setting ourselves up for a struggle that will be exponentially more difficult than the one we are so reluctant to undertake now.