Achieving Independence From Foreign Oil
Bill Warner Wednesday, May 06, 2009
It seems like we have fallen back to sleep on the issue of independence from foreign oil producers. It now appears that we can drill on US soil, without going off shore.
We have plenty of oil
I just learned about a year old report by the US Geological Survey that points out that we have massive oil reserves in eastern Montana and western North and South Dakota. It’s called the Willston Basin, or more commonly the “Bakken.” With current drilling technology we have access to over 500 billion barrels. Because it is light, sweet crude, it would cost less than $20 per barrel; enough for the entire US for the next 40 years or more. So, US oil exploration is not dead after all.
What’s being done about it?
Did you know this? Do our elected officials know this? Does our administration know this? Sure they do, but they are not doing anything about it. When gas prices approached $5 per gallon, we all seemed very interested in “drilling now.” Now that gas prices are down to $2, our government leadership seems to have lost interest.
We need stimulus now
Well, know we are in a depression, with modest recovery being projected early next year, and unemployment continuing to rise. It seems to me that we need a “stimulus package” to go after our own oil. This would dramatically reposition the entire US economy through oil independence and trillions in taxable revenue. We should be aggressively extracting this oil as fast as we can. I can’t imagine a more important stimulus program. Far more important than bailing out the failed business model of the auto industry and irresponsible financial institutions, all of whom simply need a chapter 11 bankruptcy to clear their ills.
Continue to explore alternate energy sources
Sure, we should also be investing in promising alternate sources of energy, but none of them has the potential of giving us energy independence any time soon at a level that makes sense for our economy. These investments of our dollars should not replace those that could gain oil independence, and we should manage the transition to alternative source of energy as they become more efficient and effective.
Yell about this
Read up on this. Form your own views. Then contact your senators, legislators and the media to drive attention back on this issue. Oil independence is actually within our grasp. We need leaders that will take action. If the current crew doesn’t, we should replace them in 2010 with people who will.
Filed Under: Business Operations, International Business
Bill Warner is the Managing Partner of Paladin and Associates, a business consulting firm in the Research Triangle Park area of central North Carolina, and is the Chairman of the Triangle Accredited Capital Forum, an angel investor network with over one hundred members throughout the southeast.
Bill Warner is the Managing Partner of Paladin and Associates, a business consulting firm in the Research Triangle Park area of central North Carolina, and is the Chairman of the Triangle Accredited Capital Forum, an angel investor network with over one hundred members throughout the southeast.
