Is there anyone who doesn’t agree that America has energy problems? Our addiction to foreign oil, our inability to use domestic resources or ingenuity and, most regrettably, our lack of the ability to foster a productive conversation at both the water cooler and in Washington have left us with a situation that seemingly requires a painful solution regardless of which side of the cooler you stand. Our shadow of a republic, a partially corporatist, somewhat socialist, hardly capitalist and amazingly useless government , has created the problem and so now, in their infinite wisdom, must come to save the day, from themselves, yet again.
I’m always amazed that the American public has fallen so far so fast in regards to the value we place on freedom. There was a time where even the most average of citizen could give an intelligent oration on the form of government in their country. There was a time when the majority of Americans thought more about the limitations of governmental power than they did about what the government could for them. Unfortunately those days are over. The powerful influence of government drives the conversation about energy with both funding and legislating and thereby effectively shuts the door to opposition in the discussion. This should be nothing new to Americans, we continually vote for this transfer of power to our government’s officials and bureaucrats. Perhaps the conversation is more free than that; but tell me how much it has accomplished and we can at least agree on the effectiveness of the fringe components of the energy conversation. Alternative fuels and energy systems always lose due to one common weakness, funding. Even those with the resources like T Boonse Pickens and Ted Turner are having to seek out legislation to promote and support their point of view and interests. Certainly our government contributes to this problem with the oil subsidies doled out every year. Only the government can empower, favor and fund whatever companies and industries it wants to. An awesome power when citizens place their votes up for auction as we do.
While researching oil subsidies in America, I ran across an article where an obvious effort was made to separate the issue of the oil companies from the issue of subsidies in general. (http://cleantech.com/news/node/554 ) Once again the real issue is missed. Why should we subsidize any industry? If the GOP sold out to big oil, it was only because citizens allowed the sale of a party in the first place. If the Democrats are owned by unions, it is only because we allowed it to grow too big and do too much. While the removal of all subsidies would be ideal, this is of course another time where compromise is the only way to get anything accomplished. Unfortunately we can’t develop our own oil quickly. This leaves us in a position of weakness when doing business abroad. However, our energy crisis can be solved if we accept a few principles. Firstly, it is going to hurt a little bit. I don’t think anyone is going to develop a painless (cheap) implementation of a new energy system. When we start to back off of oil subsidies we will risk an acute rise in oil prices. Most likely oil prices would fall quickly however. Once the path to an alternative fuel system is cleared and embarked upon, OPEC and the like are going to see the beginning of the end and will have to lower prices in an attempt to de-fund the new system through under-cutting the new competition. Perhaps a goal for our politicians could be to cut spending and apply those dollars to a tax holiday on gas in order to temporarily offset a rise in gasoline prices when the time is right. Secondly, government subsidies have to be a part of the solution. One possibility would be to announce the ending of certain subsidies ahead of time. They would have to be phased out of course, but the movement away from supporting the oil industry could make investment in alternative fuels logical and without spending any money. Thirdly, holding an industry accountable for pollution instead of allowing lawyers to legislate it will serve people and nature better. Bringing some common sense to the conversation about pollution could also swing the momentum in favor of alternative fuels. Allowing our government to legislate pollution was a big mistake. Polluting the air we breathe is not a complicated issue. If an industry pollutes then they must be responsible for both cleaning up any pollution and repairing any damages to both people and property. Obviously we can’t expect to drop the bill for all lung cancer patients on the doorstep of BP. However, what we can do is set up a phased-in penalty for their pollution. Fourthly, obviously the big problem here is the resulting price hike in response to the new expenses and cuts in revenue. The tax holiday is potentially one part of a solution. The price hike is why we must take concrete steps forward without backing ourselves into a corner. We can not allow our energy system such power over us again. We must move away from funding one industry without replacing it with another. If our politicians would realize they can provide a road map towards a new era in energy sources and delivery systems without choosing the system or source; they could move our economy and energy consumption in new ways with hardly any expense. Perhaps it serves them better to assume the responsibility to make all the decisions for us, that way they can bicker about arguments best solved by the consumers and providers in order to avoid actually doing anything. I often hear of the trillions of dollars that the private companies are holding on to since 2008. Doesn’t it make sense that if we made the political commitment to get out of the business of subsidizing big oil and pollution without choosing the next “winner” that the public’s desire to invest in the next-big-thing would take over? While our country can’t afford any new spending currently, that doesn’t mean we can’t find ways to support the transfer into a new energy era. A portion of spending cuts could be retained for energy programs. Any funding big oil loses could go to new energy projects temporarily too. Of course, one could also believe that competition and free market principles will provide more than estimated as well. How and if we support the new industries is a very important question, perhaps the most important. There can always be something better, cheaper, faster, or more efficient. The reward for continually improving our energy consumption and source of fuel must not be locked away by legislation and an uneven playing field. We have waited a long time to take any serious step away from oil dependency due to the corporatist alliance of government and international oil companies. Let’s hope we don’t make the same mistake again.
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