Posted by
SpaceDog on Thursday, June 26, 2008 4:16:30 PM
This is just a quicky on Erin Burnett. She's one of the biz-babes over at CNBC, but she got a little prime-time action this morning with Matt Lauer. Unfortunately, it wasn't a shining and thoughtful moment for her.
Mind you, I like Erin. But she is wrong on a couple of things right now. One is the need to raise interest rates (she thinks we should), and the other (and the topic of this blog) is off-shore drilling.
This morning's story had Erin bragging about having done an "indepth" review of John McCain's proposal to drill off the coast of California and Florida. And she threw ANWR in for good measure. Her conclusion: it's a waste of time.
Unfortunately, she couldn't be more wrong!
Her point was a simple one: it'll take 10 years to get the oil flowing, and even if we pump every drop of oil out of those three areas, that will only provide enough oil to meet US needs for four years; 2 years for coastal drilling and another 2 years for ANWR. And, she concludes, since four years isn't very long, what's the point?
Well, I guess Erin is entitled to her opinion. But lets look a little deeper into the idea of an actual energy policy emerging over those 10 years. How would that change the landscape?
First, 10 years from now there will be a world-wide oil shortage. This is based upon the fact that China and India, who are causing all of our oil woes today, will have more than doubled their current demand for oil. And without new reserves, there will just not be enough oil to meet their demands AND continue to serve the West. So, we'll need more oil
Second, 10 years from now, America will have changed it's driving habits. Five dollar a gallon gas is causing conservation already. Keep pushing that price, and our world will have to change. We'll drive less, and less far. The federal and state work-week will go to 4, 10 hour days, thus saving one day of commuting per week. The rest of the country will likely follow. We'll still work 40 hours a week, only in 4 days instead of 5.
Third, 10 years from now, we will have made significant progress on retrieving oil from shale. This is mostly a technical area, and what it means is that we will be on the cusp of having the ability to pull oil from shale. But it won't quite be there. Oil shale production will give us 30 years of independence, but we have to get there without our economy collapsing. 10 years from now, we can use that "4 extra years" of oil from the protected areas to buy us some time.
Taken together, the benefit from starting now and beginning to pump oil in a few years from these areas, makes perfect sense. Frankly the only reason NOT to drill is a desire to see the American oil culture destroyed; a position held by most on the Left (including, no doubt, Ms Burnett).
So, Erin, sorry, but you are wrong on this one. We need to start drilling immediately, and pump every ounce of oil under our control, out of the ground. Then we may actually have a shot at energy independence. All within 10 years!
So says the Dog!