Blame the right people for gas prices

By Henry Lamb
web posted March 24, 2004 

As gasoline prices continue to climb, finger-pointing is becoming
a national pastime. Led by Senator Ted Kennedy, of all people,
Senate Democrats say they are "outraged that the administration
is not doing everything in its power to alleviate the strain on
drivers, consumers and businesses."

This same Ted Kennedy, and Tom Daschle, have led Senate
Democrats to block the administration's energy bill. They have
done everything in their power to increase the strain on drivers,
consumers and businesses, by blocking every attempt to increase
domestic oil production.

Americans have every right to be angry, as they watch the rising
price of gasoline take a bigger bite out of their paycheck. But
their anger should be directed toward the real cause of the
unnecessary price increases: irresponsible reverence for the
environment.

Anger should be focused on the League of Conservation Voters,
and the Senator they have endorsed for President. Anger should
be focused on the Sierra club, the National Wildlife Federation,
Greenpeace, Defenders of Wildlife and the horde of
environmental organizations that go ballistic whenever anyone
proposes to drill a new oil well or build a new refinery.

Had these organizations, and their well-funded congressional
puppets, not blocked exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge when it was first proposed, oil from that abundant supply
would soon be coming on line to relieve supply pressure which
forces prices upward.

But no. In every Congress for a decade, efforts to open ANWR
have been met by massive, misleading anti-oil campaigns. The
League of Conservation voters claims that the oil there would
last only six months. But the U.S. Energy Information Agency
says that ANWR would increase domestic production by twenty
percent.

Environmental organizations raise millions of dollars from mail
campaigns that claim drilling in ANWR will destroy the last
masterpiece of God's creation. The truth is that drilling in ANWR
will affect only .01% - that's, right, one-tenth of one percent - of
the nineteen million acre refuge.

ANWR is the symbol for the greens' war on fossil fuel. Any use
of fossil fuels is bad, according to the green gospel, and
government should force society to turn to "alternative" fuels.
This idiotic belief has resulted in regulations which add to the
upward pressure on gas prices. For example, fuel producers
now have to formulate as many as 18 different blends to
accommodate EPA requirements in different markets.

These same environmental organizations, and Senate Democrats,
bashed the Bush administration unmercifully for withdrawing
from the Kyoto Protocol. John Kerry in particular, wants the
U.S. to submit to the Protocol, which would give a U.N. agency
the power to not only regulate fossil fuel consumption in
America, but to impose an arbitrary tax as well.

Anger about high gasoline prices should be directed at these
green organizations and toward the congressmen who continue
to do their bidding, by blocking expansion of domestic oil
production. Environmental organizations are quick to point a
finger at the "big oil companies" for price gouging, and Senate
Democrats take pleasure in blaming the Bush administration. The
internet is full of schemes to force "big oil" to lower prices by
boycotting selected suppliers.

The cause of escalating prices is simple: the demand for oil is
outstripping supply. Far too much of our supply comes from
foreign sources, over which the United States has little or no
control.

The solution is equally simple: increase domestic oil production.
And the best place to start is in the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge, followed by further exploration and production from
federal lands and from domestic off shore reserves.

Increasing domestic oil production will not destroy the
environment, as the green organizations contend. Modern
technology offers increased production with hardly any adverse
environmental impacts. Increased domestic production will not
only reduce the price of gasoline, it will provide hundreds of
thousands of jobs needed to further stimulate the American
economy.

Americans should by now be weary of the environmentalists'
claim that we can significantly reduce the demand for energy, if
we only "conserve." We have conserved by improving the
efficiency of fuel use. But, there is a limit on the effectiveness of
conservation efforts. Further calls for conservation measures to
solve the energy problem, are like suggesting fasting as a cure for
starvation.

The solution to the energy problem lies in ignoring the
environmental organizations, and getting a handful of senators to
do the same.

Henry Lamb is the executive vice president of the Environmental
Conservation Organization, and chairman of Sovereignty
International.

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