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By T. BOONE PICKENS
July 9, 2008; Page A15
One of the benefits of being around a long time is that you get to know a lot about certain things. I'm 80 years old and I've been an oilman for almost 60 years. I've drilled more dry holes and also found more oil than just about anyone in the industry. With all my experience, I've never been as worried about our energy security as I am now. Like many of us, I ignored what was happening. Now our country faces what I believe is the most serious situation since World War II.
The problem, of course, is our growing dependence on foreign oil – it's extreme, it's dangerous, and it threatens the future of our nation.
Let me share a few facts: Each year we import more and more oil. In 1973, the year of the infamous oil embargo, the United States imported about 24% of our oil. In 1990, at the start of the first Gulf War, this had climbed to 42%. Today, we import almost 70% of our oil.
This is a staggering number, particularly for a country that consumes oil the way we do. The U.S. uses nearly a quarter of the world's oil, with just 4% of the population and 3% of the world's reserves. This year, we will spend almost $700 billion on imported oil, which is more than four times the annual cost of our current war in Iraq.
In fact, if we don't do anything about this problem, over the next 10 years we will spend around $10 trillion importing foreign oil. That is $10 trillion leaving the U.S. and going to foreign nations, making it what I certainly believe will be the single largest transfer of wealth in human history.
Why do I believe that our dependence on foreign oil is such a danger to our country? Put simply, our economic engine is now 70% dependent on the energy resources of other countries, their good judgment, and most importantly, their good will toward us. Foreign oil is at the intersection of America's three most important issues: the economy, the environment and our national security. We need an energy plan that maps out how we're going to work our way out of this mess. I think I have such a plan.
Consider this: The world produces about 85 million barrels of oil a day, but global demand now tops 86 million barrels a day. And despite three years of record price increases, world oil production has declined every year since 2005. Meanwhile, the demand for oil will only increase as growing economies in countries like India and China gear up for enhanced oil consumption.
Add to this the fact that in many countries, including China, the government has a great deal of influence over its energy industry, allowing these countries to set strategic direction easily and pay whatever price is needed to secure oil. The U.S. has no similar policy, because we thankfully don't have state-controlled energy companies. But that doesn't mean we can't set goals and develop an energy policy that will overcome our addiction to foreign oil. I have a clear goal in mind with my plan. I want to reduce America's foreign oil imports by more than one-third in the next five to 10 years.
How will we do it? We'll start with wind power. Wind is 100% domestic, it is 100% renewable and it is 100% clean. Did you know that the midsection of this country, that stretch of land that starts in West Texas and reaches all the way up to the border with Canada, is called the "Saudi Arabia of the Wind"? It gets that name because we have the greatest wind reserves in the world. In 2008, the Department of Energy issued a study that stated that the U.S. has the capacity to generate 20% of its electricity supply from wind by 2030. I think we can do this or even more, but we must do it quicker.
My plan calls for taking the energy generated by wind and using it to replace a significant percentage of the natural gas that is now being used to fuel our power plants. Today, natural gas accounts for about 22% of our electricity generation in the U.S. We can use new wind capacity to free up the natural gas for use as a transportation fuel. That would displace more than one-third of our foreign oil imports. Natural gas is the only domestic energy of size that can be used to replace oil used for transportation, and it is abundant in the U.S. It is cheap and it is clean. With eight million natural-gas-powered vehicles on the road world-wide, the technology already exists to rapidly build out fleets of trucks, buses and even cars using natural gas as a fuel. Of these eight million vehicles, the U.S. has a paltry 150,000 right now. We can and should do so much more to build our fleet of natural-gas-powered vehicles.
I believe this plan will be the perfect bridge to the future, affording us the time to develop new technologies and a new perspective on our energy use. In addition to the plan I have proposed, I also want to see us explore all avenues and every energy alternative, from more R&D into batteries and fuel cells to development of solar, ethanol and biomass to more conservation. Drilling in the outer continental shelf should be considered as well, as we need to look at all options, recognizing that there is no silver bullet.
I believe my plan can be accomplished within 10 years if this country takes decisive and bold steps immediately. This plan dramatically reduces our dependence on foreign oil and lowers the cost of transportation. It invests in the heartland, creating thousands of new jobs. It substantially reduces America's carbon footprint and uses existing, proven technology. It will be accomplished solely through private investment with no new consumer or corporate taxes or government regulation. It will build a bridge to the future, giving us the time to develop new technologies.
The future begins as soon as Congress and the president act. The government must mandate the formation of wind and solar transmission corridors, and renew the subsidies for economic and alternative energy development in areas where the wind and sun are abundant. I am also calling for a monthly progress report on the reduction in foreign oil imports, as well as a monthly progress report on the state of development of natural gas vehicles in this country.
We have a golden opportunity in this election year to form bipartisan support for this plan. We have the grit and fortitude to shoulder the responsibility of change when our country's future is at stake, as Americans have proven repeatedly throughout this nation's history.
We need action. Now.
Mr. Pickens is CEO of BP Capital.
5 comments:
The United States finds itself in a precarious situation right now. Almost 70 percent of our oil supply depends upon the good will and temperament of a group of nations who we are also currently fighting in our global war on terror. So we are giving money to the very same people who we are trying to defeat. This would be akin to buying goods from the Nazis during WWII.
We are not the only nation who has faced this type of a problem. In 1974, during the first oil price spike, we relied on foreign sources for 30% of our oil. At this time Brazil, a country with roughly the same land area and about two-thirds of the US' population, relied on foreign imports for 80% of their oil.
Since this time the US' oil dependency has spiked to the point that we now import 70% of our oil. Brazil has gone in the complete other direction. They are expected to become entirely energy independent within the next year.
So how has Brazil achieved this while the US, supposedly the world's leader, has deepened its troubles? The Brazilians have accomplished this through two main actions: they have searched for and found massive off-shore oil deposits and they have turned large amounts of their sugar cane into ethanol.
Why can the US not do the same? Well we do not allow our oil companies to even look for off-shore deposits. They are expressly forbidden to do so by federal law. Also we have not committed ourselves to producing large amounts of natural gas in the same manner the Brazilians have.
The United States has available to it all the means necessary to free itself from the dictatorship of oil. However, for some reason our politicians have refused to step up and lead this nation to energy victory. We must do this before we become even more dependent and subservient to the Islamofascicsts who control oil supplies.
I agree with you What If. But people are saying that it will take about 10 years to see the benefits of offshore drilling. But in his first term, Bush proposed to offshore drill. Today, we would be seeing the beginning of the benefits if we followed through...
But that is completely besides the point because we did not do it. We need to offshore drill and stop funding the terrorists by buying their oil. It seems the Republican Party is ready to free American from the grips of Islamic fundamentalists with offshore drilling. Why does the Democratic Party insist on helping the terrorists by buying their oil?
Off-shore drilling alone is not the solution though. Ethanol and methanol must be an integral part as well. In order to accomplish this we need to switch our nation's cars over to a flex fuel system.
Cars can be made flex fueled through the addition of one part which costs at the most $100. With this additional part a car can run on virtually any mixture of oil or alcohol based fuel.
I would also say that this should not be made into a partisan issue. Corruption from oil money is widespread throughout Washington and those taking the money sit on both sides of the aisle. To exert the kind of change needed bipartisan support will be vitally important.
What if is correct about the $100 conversion kit. I guess I am wary to try to be the first to convert and possibly destroy my engine on my vehicle. There are always kinks to be worked out. I would like to do more research on this and plan to call a Chevy dealer to find out more about the ramifications of converting my SUV over to E85. Has anybody done this?
Okay I found the following on Popular Mechanics Website about the kits and dealers providing E85 kits for Non Flex Fuel cars:
Q:We read numerous stories about the benefits of E85 fuel for cars, and I for one would like to use it, since it is becoming more available. But the service manuals for my ’03 Acura and ’07 Hyundai both state to use no more than 10 percent alcohol content in fuel.
Are there any fixes being produced by auto manufacturers or others to utilize this fuel that won’t violate the manufacturer’s warranty? If not, it’s all hot air and useless effort, as there are hardly any cars on the road today that can employ its pollution-reducing benefits.
A:No car manufacturer provides a kit to change a vehicle over to FFV (flex-fuel-vehicle) status. E85 cars have corrosion-resistant fuel systems with upgraded plastic and rubber parts and a fuel sensor that can determine the proportion of ethanol to gasoline. The fuel injection computer—different from the one non-FFVs use—can then inject the correct amount of fuel. This is necessary because it takes a larger volume of ethanol than straight gasoline to run your engine.
There are aftermarket kits, but they do not use this sensor and can only trim fuel mixture ratios by using the oxygen sensor, which I think isn’t adequate—and neither do the car manufacturers or they would have done it this way and saved the cost of the sensor. My suggestion is to go to epa.gov to look up what vehicles on the market are already available as FFVs, and buy one. According to the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition, there are already 6 million cars on the road that are E85 capable.
...So I guess they are out there in an aftermarket sense, but if the dealers aren't providing them at all, it seems a bit risky...
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