In January, President George W. Bush ended a presidential moratorium on offshore drilling for oil and natural gas. On May 1, the U.S. Department of Interior unveiled a five-year plan to expand drilling on both the Atlantic and Pacific Outer Continental Shelf, including the Gulf of Mexico, Alaska’s Bristol Bay and a 3-million-acre site 50 miles off the Virginia shoreline. To grasp how much new energy would become available, the Bristol Bay area — by far the smallest of the bunch — is estimated to have enough natural gas and oil to power 7.4 million homes and 1.6 million cars for 15 years. Now, it’s time for Congress to complete removal of the 25-year-old moratorium by approving Bush’s action and giving the green light to begin exploration and development.
Bush and others have repeatedly warned Americans about their “addiction” to imported oil, but the familiar drug analogy misses the point. Energy and the mobility it provides are basic necessities for the nation as much as food and oxygen are to individual health. There are always costs and risks involved in producing energy, and they should not be minimized. In the end, however, we must have energy to produce enough food, heat, gasoline and electricity for every American, including the most ardent environmentalist. And don’t forget, our current dependence on foreign oil also comes with major economic and environmental costs and political risks of its own.
Our fossil-fuel-based economy cannot be switched to alternative energy sources overnight without unacceptably severe disruption for everybody. Bush is right in arguing that expanded offshore drilling buys time for developing new technologies like super-efficient cars and renewable energy sources. And, as The New York Times noted recently, the energy industry is poised to do all of these jobs better than ever before: “Easily available capital and technology, once the preserve of traditional oil companies, are reordering the business. Investors are lining up to finance energy projects while leaps in computing power, imaging technology and collaborative online networks now allow the smallest entities to compete on an equal footing with the biggest players.”
All of these factors are indicative of the free market’s inherent capacity to respond to changing conditions in order to satisfy consumer needs. Government’s most important role in helping the U.S.achieve energy independence is removing barriers that keep the market from working its magic. The offshore drilling moratorium is one of the biggest of these barriers, and Congress needs to act quickly.
