The Chieftain – Oil propaganda

So The Chieftain has served up yet another installment of oil industry propaganda (Sunday Ideas, Sept. 6). If only we could overcome those eco-obstructionists and drill for more oil, we’d free ourselves from the grip of Middle Eastern tyrants and prices would drop!

This is a mathematically ridiculous fantasy that does not remotely reflect how the world oil market operates. I strongly encourage citizens who truly care about their nation’s security to do their own research. Visit the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s Web site (www.eia.doe.gov)  and compare U.S. daily petroleum consumption with our proved reserves. It is shocking. Learn what “economically recoverable oil” means. Listen to what T. Boone Pickens, longtime oilman, has to say.

The worst part of the drill-till-you-drop argument is that it absolves us of any personal responsibility to change our nation’s perilous course. Those blasted environmentalists are to blame – not our gas guzzlers, lead-foot antics, elective long-distance commutes or engines left idling in the supermarket parking lot.