The pipe dream of energy independence
The Wall Street Journal‘s John Fialka does an excellent job of bulls**t detection by probing the feasibility of “energy independence”: The U.S. may be addicted to oil, but many of its politicians are addicted to “energy independence” — which may be among the least realistic political slogans in American history…. “Energy independence is an emotionally ...
The Wall Street Journal's John Fialka does an excellent job of bulls**t detection by probing the feasibility of "energy independence": The U.S. may be addicted to oil, but many of its politicians are addicted to "energy independence" -- which may be among the least realistic political slogans in American history.... "Energy independence is an emotionally compelling concept," says Jason Grumet, executive director of the National Commission on Energy Policy, a bipartisan, nonprofit group financed by private foundations, "but it's a vestige of a world that no longer exists." Indeed, the U.S. is moving rapidly away from energy independence: Oil imports made up 35% of the nation's petroleum supplies in 1973 and 59% in the first four months of 2006, according to the Department of Energy. Moreover, 66% of the oil consumed in the U.S. is used in the transportation sector, where Americans, with their penchant for hefty cars with big engines, are by far the planet's biggest consumers of oil. The allure of energy independence is easy to see. It reinforces the belief that Americans can control their own economic destiny and appeals to a "deep-seated cultural feeling that we are Fortress America and we will not be vulnerable to unstable regimes," says David Jhirad, a former Clinton administration energy official who is vice president at World Resources Institute, an environmental-research group. In fact, experts say, America's energy fortunes are inextricably linked to those of other countries. Global oil markets are interconnected, with oil prices set internationally. That means supply disruptions anywhere in the world will continue to have an almost instantaneous effect on the pump price of gasoline in the U.S. "The real metric on this is not imported oil, but how much oil we use, period," says Jerry Taylor, senior fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute who dismisses calls for energy independence as "rhetorical nonsense that transcends party affiliation." Mr. Grumet's energy commission is trying to get experts to agree that the term "energy independence" should be dropped. He wants policy makers to focus on curbing oil consumption -- specifically the amount to produce each $1,000 of gross domestic product. The nation already is making some headway on that goal, he says, and the idea, while it may not fit on a bumper sticker, is beginning to resonate. Read the whole thing.
The Wall Street Journal‘s John Fialka does an excellent job of bulls**t detection by probing the feasibility of “energy independence”:
The U.S. may be addicted to oil, but many of its politicians are addicted to “energy independence” — which may be among the least realistic political slogans in American history…. “Energy independence is an emotionally compelling concept,” says Jason Grumet, executive director of the National Commission on Energy Policy, a bipartisan, nonprofit group financed by private foundations, “but it’s a vestige of a world that no longer exists.” Indeed, the U.S. is moving rapidly away from energy independence: Oil imports made up 35% of the nation’s petroleum supplies in 1973 and 59% in the first four months of 2006, according to the Department of Energy. Moreover, 66% of the oil consumed in the U.S. is used in the transportation sector, where Americans, with their penchant for hefty cars with big engines, are by far the planet’s biggest consumers of oil. The allure of energy independence is easy to see. It reinforces the belief that Americans can control their own economic destiny and appeals to a “deep-seated cultural feeling that we are Fortress America and we will not be vulnerable to unstable regimes,” says David Jhirad, a former Clinton administration energy official who is vice president at World Resources Institute, an environmental-research group. In fact, experts say, America’s energy fortunes are inextricably linked to those of other countries. Global oil markets are interconnected, with oil prices set internationally. That means supply disruptions anywhere in the world will continue to have an almost instantaneous effect on the pump price of gasoline in the U.S. “The real metric on this is not imported oil, but how much oil we use, period,” says Jerry Taylor, senior fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute who dismisses calls for energy independence as “rhetorical nonsense that transcends party affiliation.” Mr. Grumet’s energy commission is trying to get experts to agree that the term “energy independence” should be dropped. He wants policy makers to focus on curbing oil consumption — specifically the amount to produce each $1,000 of gross domestic product. The nation already is making some headway on that goal, he says, and the idea, while it may not fit on a bumper sticker, is beginning to resonate.
Read the whole thing.
Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner
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