Why Is The US Dependent On Foreign Oil?

Posted Jan 6, 2008 by mlh in Politics | 8 comments | 296 views

I have heard all of the disparaging comments and have read the plethora of news releases and articles as to why the Republicans are solely responsible for everything wrong under the sun. Not once have these arguments been credible but pathetic ravings.

And the ravings have oozed from the bowels of self-hatred and emotionall contempt of themselves. Throughout the discussions in regards to America's dependence of foreign oil, there are facts totally ignored by the bashers of the "right"...the United States has not built one new refinery; have not seriously modernized current refineries; and will not drill for its own oil that would replace the current imports of foreign oil.

Another factoid omitted by the disingenuous and uninformed "left" is this; India is building a refinery to refine American bought oil. As the vocal minority in America whine about many things, this outrageous outsourcing, one would think, would be on the top of the screech list.

Sitting on the edge of the water in the Gulf of Kutch on India's western shore is one of America's dirty secrets. A mass of steel pipes and concrete boxes stretches across 13 square miles (33sq km) - a third of the area of Manhattan - which will eventually become the world's largest petrochemical refinery.

The products from the Jamnagar complex are for foreign consumption. When complete, the facility will be able to refine 1.24m barrels of crude a day. Two-fifths of this gasoline will be sent 9,000 miles (15,000km) by sea to America.

Now, why did someone think that this was a requirement to build a refinery for American (and others) fuel requirements in India? Surely the costs involved of shipping foreign bought oil to a foreign refinery to then be shipped to the United States is astronomical and adds to the rising costs of fuel. We Americans do have the technology to build our own, do we not? Why then, aren't we?

America has not built a new refinery in almost 30 years, and the increased demand for gasoline has our existing refineries operating at near-maximum capacity. The Bush administration has often proposed easing environmental rules that handcuff refiners from opening new facilities in order to meet the new and varied demands for different mixtures for regional requirements, but to no avail. Now a massive new refinery has been built for American production of gasoline, but Americans might be surprised to discover its location:

Outsourcing this industry in this way is a slap in the face of Americans and confirms the short-sightedness of American policy. It also explains and describes the boulders in the path of progress.

Saudi Arabia has also climbed aboard to take advantage of America's eco-Nazis and will be performing the same tasks...naturally, for a profit. That makes two nations refining American foreign bought oil. There have been other reports that America "home-grown" oil has found its way to foreign refineries. This makes no sense and the costs of the two-way shipping requirements doubles the costs which, is passed on to the end user...you and me.

As Big Oil and the Ethanol crowds banter back and forth, the American consumer eats the costs. This leads us into The Why all of this is taking place.

On April 25, 2006, President Bush made a speech in regards to America's energy policy. In this speech, the President made references to alternative fuels, the need to conserve energy and several other touchy-feely do-gooder topics which, I agree with. He also made this statement: (emphasis added)

Yet amongst this hopeful -- these hopeful signs, there's an area of serious concern, and that is high energy prices. And the prices that people are paying at the gas pumps reflect our addiction to oil. Addiction to oil is a matter of national security concerns. After all, today we get about 60 percent of our oil from foreign countries. That's up from 20 years ago where we got oil from -- about 25 percent of our oil came from foreign countries. Now, part of the problem is, is that some of the nations we rely on for oil have unstable governments, or agendas that are hostile to the United States. These countries know we need their oil, and that reduces our influence, our ability to keep the peace in some areas. And so energy supply is a matter of national security. It's also a matter of economic security.

60% of our oil consumption is imported when we have that much or more under our own soil whether under Oklahoma, Alaska or off-shore.

Secondly, we also need to confront the larger problem of too many localized fuel blends, which are called boutique fuels. The number of boutique fuels has expanded rapidly over the years, and America now has an uncoordinated and overly complex set of fuel rules. And when you have a uncoordinated, overly complex set of fuel rules, it tends to cause the price to go up.

This is insane. This also drives the costs of fuel up and it isn't the Republicans creating this problem either.

And so the fundamental question is, what are we going to do? What can the government do? One of the past responses by government, particularly from the party of which I am not a member, has been to have -- to propose price fixing, or increase the taxes. Those plans haven't worked in the past. I think we need to follow suit on what we have been emphasizing, particularly through the energy bill, and that is to encourage conservation, to expand domestic production, and to develop alternative sources of energy like ethanol.

It has been the Democratic Party leadership, the environmental agencies and proponents of the amoeba that have led the United States down the primrose of foreign oil dependence, plain and simple.

Listen, we need to expand our refining capacity. One of the problems we face is we've got tight supplies because we haven't expanded refining capacity. There hasn't been a new refinery built in 30 years. If you're worried about the price of gasoline at the pump, it makes sense to try to get more supply to the market. That will be beneficial for American consumers to get more supply to the market.

Part of the reasons why we haven't expanded or built new refineries to the extent we need to is because the permitting process in this country is extremely complicated. Companies that want to upgrade their equipment or expand their existing refineries or build new ones often have to wade through long, bureaucratic delays and/or lawsuits.

To make this gasoline supply more affordable and more secure, Congress needs to allow refiners to make modifications on their refineries without having to wait for years to get something -- to get their idea approved. I mean, if we want more supply, let's reduce the paperwork and the regulations.

Congress also needs to simplify and speed up the permitting process for refinery construction and expansion. And so I'm going to work with Congress. It's important for Congress to cut through the red tape and guarantee refinery construction permits will be processed within a single year.

We also need to be mindful of the fact that we can find additional crude oil in our own country in environmentally friendly ways. The technology is such that we're capable of environmentally-sensitive exploration. We got tight crude oil supplies, and it seems like it makes sense for us to use our new technologies to find more crude, particularly crude here at home.

Naturally, animal life and microbes take front seat to the Human Race.

In the Saint Petersburg Times back in April of 2006, there was an article entitled "Every politician has a gas plan". I am fairly sure everyone remembers this as the politicos bantered about at their local gas stations pretending they cared about the little guy. I didn't buy into it.

Pete Du Pont, in the WSJ made a statement:

Just Drill, Baby

I agree. With the technology we have and with the safeguards we have and those we have learned from, there is no viable cause to be as dependent on foreign oil as we are today. We haven't upgraded or built refineries in decades, thanks to the Democratic Party Leadership...period.

The U.S. has substantial supplies of oil and gas that could be accessed if lawmakers would allow it, but they frequently don't. A National Petroleum Council study released last week reports that 40 billion barrels of America's "recoverable oil reserves are off limits or are subject to significant lease restrictions"--half inshore and half offshore--and similar restrictions apply to more than 250 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. (We consume about 22 trillion cubic feet a year.)

Access to the 10 billion barrels of oil in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Reserve has been prohibited for decades. Some 85 billion barrels of recoverable oil and 420 trillion cubic feet of natural gas exist on the Outer Continental Shelf, but a month ago the House again, as it did last year, voted down an amendment that would have allowed the expansion of coastal drilling for oil and natural gas. All of which leaves the U.S. as the only nation in the world that has forbidden access to significant sources of domestic energy supplies.

Then the Senate voted in June to mandate a reduction in projected future oil usage of 10 million barrels a day, or 35%, which, since our domestic oil production is declining, means less imports. In other words, Congress wants to block drilling for more American oil while at the same time blocking the importation of oil--not a rational energy policy.

So, which is it? Do we do or do we not? The Democrats cannot have it both ways. They have tried for decades and here we are living on top of well over 400 years of oil supplies and we are not allowed to get it all the while whining about it. We can utilize our own resources while developing alternate fuels like the hybrids and nuclear power facilities.

They tell "us" to conserve or else, as they fly around and drive around in their big jets and big cars. It is time for them to put up or shut up. Enough is enough.

Vote it up at Digital Journal