The Department of Energy issued a memo recently in which it acknowledged reality, namely that reducing the use of petroleum is no longer the national priority that it used to be. The left is going crazy about this.
Think about it. For the first half of the twentieth century, the USA produced huge amounts of oil and was the worlds largest producer. Then huge deposits were found elsewhere in the world and American supplies began to run down. The price of oil was quite low, and it became the major source of energy used in the USA. Then came OPEC, the 1973 oil embargo and the rising prices of petroleum products. Oil that had sold for $10 a barrel went up to $100 per barrel. America imported about half of all oil that we used domestically and spend over half a trillion dollars per year to get that oil. Starting in 1973, it became a national imperative to reduce the amount of oil we imported. The cost was draining our economy and it put our national security in the hands of other countries that were supplying the oil.
The result of the imperative to reduce oil consumption began to push the economy and the nation to compensate to reduce oil use. Gas mileage in cars was improved, some pushed by the market and some by government regulation. In 1972, the car that won the Mobil Economy Run, (an annual coast to coast race to determine which care had the best mileage) was won by a car that got 22 mpg. So the very best highway mileage was 22 mpg. Many cars got half that amount; some got even less. Today, most cars sold easily beat that 22 mpg and 30 is not uncommon. Hybrid vehicles do even better.
Another area in which petroleum usage has fallen is in power generation. In the early 1970s, between 15 and 20 percent of all electric power in the USA came from burning petroleum. Today, that figure is less than one half of one percent of all electricity generated. The big increase is that natural gas has replace not only petroleum but also coal in many plants. This change reduced emissions by more than 70% alone.
On the supply side of the equation, there was also a dramatic change. The use of fracking has released America's shale oil reserves for production. As a result, the USA is once again moving to be the world's largest oil producer. American imports of oil are falling consistently, and the USA is now exporting oil (and gas) around the world.
Put all this together and the daily cost of net oil imports (imports less exports) is very low and going lower. Countries like Iran, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela no longer hold the national security of the USA in their hands (or their oil pumps). The economy and security are both removed from the danger list regarding oil.
So what will it mean if the higher mileage standards mandated by the government are relaxed? First, it will result in automobiles being less expensive and easier for the average American to afford. For the high mileage already achieved to be increased as previously ordered, the car manufacturers would have been required to spend billions and billions to redesign their products in ways that would not benefit consumers except through better mileage. The higher priced vehicles would have meant lower sales and a slower economy. That means fewer jobs here in the USA.
But the left says that no longer mandating super high mileage by vehicles would speed up global warming. After all, cars are a principal source of emissions. This may sound good, but it ignores the fact that there is only one country in the world that has significantly reduced carbon emissions in this century: the USA. And it also ignores the truth that as of yet, the link between carbon emissions and higher temperatures has yet to be demonstrated in any method other than computer models that have all been proven to be inaccurate. Shouldn't there be some valid evidence of global warming before we turn our country and our economy upside down to prevent something that may not be happening?
Think about it. For the first half of the twentieth century, the USA produced huge amounts of oil and was the worlds largest producer. Then huge deposits were found elsewhere in the world and American supplies began to run down. The price of oil was quite low, and it became the major source of energy used in the USA. Then came OPEC, the 1973 oil embargo and the rising prices of petroleum products. Oil that had sold for $10 a barrel went up to $100 per barrel. America imported about half of all oil that we used domestically and spend over half a trillion dollars per year to get that oil. Starting in 1973, it became a national imperative to reduce the amount of oil we imported. The cost was draining our economy and it put our national security in the hands of other countries that were supplying the oil.
The result of the imperative to reduce oil consumption began to push the economy and the nation to compensate to reduce oil use. Gas mileage in cars was improved, some pushed by the market and some by government regulation. In 1972, the car that won the Mobil Economy Run, (an annual coast to coast race to determine which care had the best mileage) was won by a car that got 22 mpg. So the very best highway mileage was 22 mpg. Many cars got half that amount; some got even less. Today, most cars sold easily beat that 22 mpg and 30 is not uncommon. Hybrid vehicles do even better.
Another area in which petroleum usage has fallen is in power generation. In the early 1970s, between 15 and 20 percent of all electric power in the USA came from burning petroleum. Today, that figure is less than one half of one percent of all electricity generated. The big increase is that natural gas has replace not only petroleum but also coal in many plants. This change reduced emissions by more than 70% alone.
On the supply side of the equation, there was also a dramatic change. The use of fracking has released America's shale oil reserves for production. As a result, the USA is once again moving to be the world's largest oil producer. American imports of oil are falling consistently, and the USA is now exporting oil (and gas) around the world.
Put all this together and the daily cost of net oil imports (imports less exports) is very low and going lower. Countries like Iran, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela no longer hold the national security of the USA in their hands (or their oil pumps). The economy and security are both removed from the danger list regarding oil.
So what will it mean if the higher mileage standards mandated by the government are relaxed? First, it will result in automobiles being less expensive and easier for the average American to afford. For the high mileage already achieved to be increased as previously ordered, the car manufacturers would have been required to spend billions and billions to redesign their products in ways that would not benefit consumers except through better mileage. The higher priced vehicles would have meant lower sales and a slower economy. That means fewer jobs here in the USA.
But the left says that no longer mandating super high mileage by vehicles would speed up global warming. After all, cars are a principal source of emissions. This may sound good, but it ignores the fact that there is only one country in the world that has significantly reduced carbon emissions in this century: the USA. And it also ignores the truth that as of yet, the link between carbon emissions and higher temperatures has yet to be demonstrated in any method other than computer models that have all been proven to be inaccurate. Shouldn't there be some valid evidence of global warming before we turn our country and our economy upside down to prevent something that may not be happening?
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