I see from my last post on the Gulf oil drilling disaster that a few commentators found me too arrogant for their taste. In beginning and ending with a reference to the acerbic H.L. Mencken, whose opinion on the smallness of American intelligence is well known to all but the ignorant, I hoped to put in context my lack of confidence that Americans are prepared to tackle complex 21st-century problems, such as the necessity to “wean” (note that ubiquitously used word “wean” when people talk of Americans and their dependence on oil, implying, of course, that we are babies) ourselves not merely from oil, but from fossil fuels in general. (Too long a sentence, but you get the point.)
As every college kid does not know, the United States consumes about 20 million barrels of oil per day—almost half of it gobbled up by our passenger cars. With only 4 percent of the world’s population, we consume 25 percent of the world’s oil. With China and India poised to guzzle oil like there’s no tomorrow, this is all about to change. On top of this, there’s the vexing problem of “peak oil”—a concept first developed in the 1950s, which is a calculation of when the maximum rate of global extraction of oil will be reached, after which comes an inexorable decline until there is no more oil. Although there are optimists and pessimists, the mere fact that we’re now engaged in offshore deep-sea drilling, with each well going deeper and deeper, and each costing about a million a day to operate, is pretty strong evidence that those in the know are betting peak is approaching if not past.
In 2005, the Department of Energy released “The Inevitable Peaking of World Oil Production,” known as the Hirsch Report. Studying the main points of the report makes for a sorry picture, particularly for the United States (since we, unlike Europeans, for example, cling to luxury-equipped, gas-guzzling automobiles like babies clinging to their pacifiers).
Two salient observations in the Hirsch Report (which, of course, did not receive nearly the attention of the American public as the BP disaster) stand out: First, peak oil is a problem of risk management (since no one knows for sure when oil extraction has peaked); second, the government will have to be involved.
The looming oil crisis will hit the United States particularly hard, whether it comes in three, five, 10, or 20 years. I repeat: H.L. Mencken was being kind when he said that no one went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public. We have been merrily fiddling while burning the world’s remaining oil, and we’re fiddling even now, watching riveting YouTube images of oil gushing out of the BP well onto the floor of the Gulf of Mexico. Whenever fuel costs rise, we stomp our feet and demand the federal government “do something” and “step in” to “fix it.”
Stomping our feet and demanding that the government “do something” (as in devote all its energies to developing and encouraging alternative fuels and public conservation) when the Hirsch Report was released five years ago would have been a very intelligent response. It would have proved Mencken wrong.
2 Responses to The Gulf Disaster Redux Redux
charliemarlow - May 27, 2010 at 2:12 pm
The Mencken proverb is fun but trite. The use of “we” is noted.The switch from stupid and uneducated to infantile does not really reduce the air of contempt. On the next draft, try to include some logical, even if mistaken, reasons that people might find the destruction of a major area of the hemisphere more attention grabbing than a government report or might prefer driving large vehicles on trips of distances that would span several European nations. You can then refute those arguments.
livefreeordie2 - May 27, 2010 at 4:29 pm
Although you stumbled into a bit of truth, I have no reason to believe you even realize it. You are absolutely correct when you say that the government cannot “fix it.” Only free enterprise can fix it. All the government can do is prevent it from ever being fixed. . . A couple of additional points.First, you may wish to go live in a cave, eat roots and berries, and wear nothing but a loin cloth and an animal skin (if so, I hope you aren’t a member of PETA), but I don’t. We are using fossil fuels because they work and if left alone, will undoubtedly fuel the discovery of new and better sources of energy. That’s not something the government is capable of doing – as I said above, it’s only capable of preventing it from ever being done.Now. Let’s talk about the oil disaster in the gulf. Obama’s people waived the impact and safety requirements. Obama has been sitting on his hands for 38 days doing nothing. Pleas from Louisiana for permission to build barriers have gone unanswered. Why? So the Feds can do an environmental impact study on the barriers. In the meantime, the oil washes ashore. Bush was an adequate president. . .just adequate. I never thought anyone could make him look competent, but Obama makes Bush look like a genius. It took 4 days for Bush to get busy with Katrina and the law said that it was the responsibility of the Governor and the Mayor – the local officials. This oil spill occurred in federal territory and it was Obama’s responsibility from the beginning – by law. But he’s still more interested in golf, political fundraisers, and Sir Paul McCartney than he is in what happens in the Gulf. . . I guess, however, I’m actually proving the points you made in your first last posting. At least 53% of the American people were stupid enough or ignorant enough to vote for someone who, despite his ability to read from a teleprompter, is, when he walks in any room, always the least knowledgeable about any topic. (Too long a sentence and you are the point.)