Black Gold Bonanza!

The Houston Chronicle published an opinion piece on Thursday, March 8th, 2012 entitled "Recipe For a Stable Energy Future."  The upshot of this editorial is that the United States has the opportunity to regain world petroleum superiority due to newly discovered reserves and newly proven methods to exploit those reserves--if the Democrats don't muck it up.  While I in no way dispute the fact that oil and gas rule the world, I question whether drilling with reckless abandon is the best long-term energy strategy for the United States.

In the first sentence of this opinion piece, Houstonians are addressed directly.  Less than halfway into the opinion, we find out that the true audience is Republican Texans who chuckle at the energy policies of the Democrats, all the while safe in the knowledge that they truly know which way the wind blows.  Statements such as, "[t]here is a quiet revolution going on in this country, one not well understood by the Obama administration . . . " make the conservative bias of this piece readily apparent.

 I would never deign to challenge the authority of Houstonians where oil is concerned.  That city and the state of Texas as a whole are in an unassailable position to comment on the petroleum industry in America.  Houston is where the magic happens in this country.

The author of this opinion (I do not find a byline) asserts that " . . . enormous oil and gas resources have become accessible in ways that are both economic(sic) and environmentally acceptable."  In fact, it is claimed, America's untapped reserves may be vastly greater than those of the Saudis.  The issue, we learn, is that the United States lacks two things:  the political leadership to seize this opportunity and a properly informed citizenry.  If Americans knew they didn't have to be dependent on oil imports, we could commence drilling on an unprecedented scale.

I in no way dispute that new reserves have been found.  I spent over two years working for a surveyor primarily billeted to staking new natural gas wells for a major national energy player.  I helped with the staking, and I prepared permitting plats.  Horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing have forever changed the way raw petroleum liquids and gasses are acquired.  In fact, fracking works so well that, in the United States, natural gas has become so plentiful in supply that prices have fallen through the floor. 

The issue, as I see it, is that America does not need to allow itself to be yoked to the oil and gas train any tighter.  Various new types of energy production are becoming economically viable.  Among others, solar and wind energy are becoming non-negligible factors.  Both are beginning to pay for themselves in Texas by putting much needed energy into the state's antiquated, hyper-stressed power grid.  In fact, a major part of solar and wind development projects is almost always high-voltage transmission lines that may help save the power grid nationwide.

If America is to achieve responsible, sustainable energy independence, we need to diversify our portfolio.  Vast oil reserves are an undeniable asset, especially if they can be recovered and refined; however, as Texans can begrudgingly attest, there is no such thing as permanent price stability.  We have the opportunity and the knowledge to harvest other types of energy that can help us support ourselves while insulating America from shocks in the global oil markets.  In my opinion, energy diversity is what America's leadership should foster and educate its populace about.