Andrew Nenow is a wine and viticulture sophomore and Mustang Daily conservative columnist.
How petrified are you these days to go to the gas station to fill your gas tank? If you are anything like me, you are almost stranding yourself on the side of the road, refusing to fill your tank until you absolutely have to.
A friend of mine told me it took her $93 to fill her truck’s tank this week. Gas prices like that makes it seem like we’re living in Europe where prices push $6 in most countries.
The difference, of course, is that Americans are not offered nearly as much public transportation as Europeans. This has many Americans demanding more modes of transportation in their cities and asking why we cannot manage it when our friends across the pond can. The truth is that it’s just not plausible at this point.
Occupying about as much space as the American Midwest while consisting of about 50 countries, Europe is much more condensed than the U.S. This makes public transportation much more feasible and most importantly, cheaper.
It’s not that our government is choosing pollution over green tactics, it’s that it would cost far more than it costs Germany, which is about the size of Nevada, to implement the same methods. But the point of this article is not about what our government cannot do, but what they can do about the United States’ current energy predicament.
Rising gas prices have caused President Obama to speak of a new energy plan that will supposedly crack our dependency on the Middle East. While what Obama said comforted even me, after looking into it more I do not know if it is the best and most realistic option for the country at this point.
The first problem is what Obama would have to get approved by a congressional vote. These includes a clean energy standard, more subsidies for companies and a giant check for extra research funding. My question is how does Obama plan to pass these expenditures with a Congress that is all about cutting spending?
The next problem is that Obama wants to “strategically invest” more than $150 billion over the next 10 years to catalyze private efforts in building green technology. It may be my own distrust, but the thought of a liberal “strategically” investing sounds about as likely as a conservative giving up his gun.
Even worse: say Obama was to strategically invest, what happens when he is gone? We have no way of knowing how that money will be handled in the future.
Now do not get me wrong, I am all for a greener future. Being conscious of Mother Earth and trying to advance ourselves as human beings could never be seen as a bad concept.
I even agree with the president that cutting our oil imports from the Middle East to a third of what we import now is a great idea. The ability of the Middle Eastern oil tycoons (some of the worst criminals in the world) to control our economy is a major problem.
The truth is that our country is not in an economic position to spend a gratuitous amount of money on research for green energy. It has proven to be a very expensive investment.
I spoke of Spain’s situation before and what happened to them after they jumped in the green pool when they were not ready. Spain is now the cleanest country in the world at the expense of having a ridiculous amount of debt and unemployment directly linked to the switch to green energy.
Americans don’t realize how much oil we are sitting on here in our own country. The U.S. could easily have as many oil reserves throughout the country as there are in Iran, Iraq and Syria combined. I know, it sounds so cliché for a conservative to want domestic drilling, but there are a lot of great aspects to it.
Most importantly, we could break our Middle Eastern dependency and even make money off oil exports. It would also give us more time to work on alternative energy sources instead of worrying about what the oil tycoons might do next.
Now fast forward the tape. Countries in the Middle East are gaining power. These countries are not as green thinking as the United States and Europe. Eventually their oil reserves are going to dry up and they will not have many options. Where will they get their oil?
If we have not been tapping into our oil reserves, there are a lot of oppressive and militaristic countries that are going to want that oil. Something tells me that our oil would become a good reason to go after the United States.
I know it sounds a little far-fetched, but it is just something to think about. This American feels that with the economy still spinning in the mud and a great deal of oil under our feet, it is time to “Drill, baby drill.”