Organizing for America | Isabel Acevedo's Blog: On Energy

On Energy

By Isabel - Oct 10th, 2008 at 11:24 am EDT

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On Aug. 23, 2008, federal officials reported the sighting of 10 polar bears swimming in open Alaskan waters. Eight of the 10 bears seen in an aerial survey were within 15 miles offshore. The others were 35 and 50 miles from shore. Although, polar bears are strong swimmers, they are adapted for swimming close to the shore. Their sea journeys leave them vulnerable to exhaustion, hypothermia or being swamped by waves.

Polar bears live in the north, where ANWR is. Palin has been quoted in interview before the VP nomination came along saying that she opposes cataloging polar bears as endangered species because doing so will affect drilling in ANWR. She argues that most polar bears are in Canada so drilling ANWR, even if it drives away all polar bears in the region won't have a great effect on the polar bear population. Just as recent as Oct. 2nd, Palin was not able to acknowledge the fact that human impact is the main cause of climate change. With the ice pack retreating, the risk of furthering endangering the polar bear's habitat by drilling is unacceptable. We need to stop human abuse of resources and find an alternative way of energy that doesn't require drilling. Luckily, McCain himself knows that we should not be drilling in ANWR and has a track record of saying no to drilling at ANWR.

The US holds less than 3% of the world's oil and it has been predicted that the largest source is in ANWR. As a result, drilling in ANWR would be essential to achieve the full potential of oil production in the US soil. Yet, the quality of oil we hold is almost 40% less than foreign oil. That means that less gasoline can be produce with this oil. So the monetary value of the oil here is much less than foreign oil. Oil companies know this. That is why they have not started to drill in the more that 68 million acres of land (over 40 million of which are offshore) they have leased form the US. Even if production reaches full potential, the investment in infrastructure will not be offset by sales revenue. Oil companies don't care about Joe Sixpack's pocket or Hockey Mom's purse. They care about increasing their own profits. And drilling here will not be profitable for them.

But, even if we start drilling here today, that oil won't get to the gas pumps until 2018. Besides, the oil drilled in American soil will be the property of whichever oil company got the rights to that contract. They can then sell it to whoever they like. They will sell it on the world market, so the Chinese will have just as much access to the oil that comes out of the coast of Florida as we will. And with less 3% increase in the world supply of oil, we will not see an effect in prices at the pump. So, drilling here will not reduce our dependency on foreign oil and will not reduce gas prices.

It is impossible to come up with a viable solution unless we understand the problem. More drilling will prolong our addiction to oil and eliminate economic incentives to find an alternative source of energy. There are no economic or national security benefits to drilling in US soil and on top of that it damages our environment. We would do much better by reallocating the money, time, man power that would be used on drilling to create more jobs that will double the efforts of finding alternative energies. The result, that alternative will come twice as fast. The research and development is already being done. The next president needs to stimulate these efforts by giving incentives to private institutions doing the research.

Barack Obama understands this and has an energy plan that focuses on reducing energy usage by increasing fuel efficiency standards. He proposes the allocation of $4 billion for domestic automakers to retool their manufacturing facilities. Obama will also commit to weatherize at least one million low-income homes each year. His plan also builds up on the work that is already being done: he prioritizes the facilitation of construction of the Alaska Natural-Gas Pipeline (which still does not have federal approval to start construction) and requires oil companies to develop the land they have already leased and are not drilling on. As a short-term relief, Obama proposes the enactment of a windfall profits tax on excessive oil company profits to give American families an immediate $1,000 emergency energy rebate to help families pay rising bills. In the mean time thousands of green jobs will be created and our economy will get stronger.

In contrast, McCain's plan focuses on drilling and provides little incentive to Americans to reduce energy usage. As a matter of fact, at a republican rally in O'Fallon, MO I heard a politician say that we need to drill because we need to fuel our large minivans and SUVs which we have because we need the space and we need the safety. These politics of fear are selfish and have historically resulted in a decrease of our liberties and rights. Fear drives away innovation and because we have been living in fear since 9/11 our country has been falling behind in education and technology compared to the rest of the world.

It is time that this country stops living in fear and becomes more proactive. Our country has been a model for the world by proving time and time again that with determination and hard work we can do whatever set our minds on. We need to take active roles and not leave it up to the government alone to solve the crises we face. Only a president that understands this will be able lead our way efficiently. Barack Obama has said that as president he would be willing to motivate people to change and he showed this conviction at the debate when he was not afraid to admit that every person in this country will have to make a sacrifice and asked us to reduce our energy consumption. Obama has proven in the mist of the economic crisis that he is not a man of words alone. Obama is a man of action. He has shown true leadership and proven that he is not afraid of taking on the challenges of presidency.

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