Category — Guest blog

Every few years, our nation engages in a debate about energy. This is typically fueled (pun intended) by high gas prices as a result of dwindling supplies of oil.

To their credit, both McCain and Obama are talking about energy, but before I give you my take on their positions, let’s discuss some facts to put the issue in proper context.

The United States consumes nearly 21 million barrels of petroleum per day, making us the largest consumer of oil on the face of the Earth. We make up just 4% of the world’s population, yet we consume 25% of the world’s oil reserves. Today, the U.S. imports nearly 66% of our crude oil from volatile regions of the world. Oftentimes, from nations that use these oil proceeds to fund anti-American terrorist groups.

To put this in its proper context, the U.S. spends $500 billion on petroleum imports, annually. As a consequence, we then spend billions of dollars on health care as a direct result of the pollution associated with the extraction, refinement, transportation, and combustion of oil.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, we control approximately 3% of the world’s known oil reserves. (That’s not a typo). Drilling cannot make the U.S. energy independent because we don’t control enough of it to influence world oil prices. U.S. crude oil production has declined 47 percent since its peak in 1970. You don’t have to be an economist to understand that. It’s like playing poker with only two cards.

So where does our domestic oil come from? U.S. oil production currently occurs onshore in the lower 48 states (2.9 million barrels per day (mbd)), offshore (1.4 mbd, primarily in the Gulf of Mexico), and in Alaska (0.7 mbd). Government agencies estimates that 10.4 billion barrels of oil are “technically recoverable” in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). The term “technically recoverable” is important because the deeper the oil reserves the more expensive it becomes to recover and transport back to shore. It doesn’t make economic sense to spend $8 to recover a gallon of gas that you will turn around and sell for $4.

Currently, the oil reserves in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) of the lower 48 states are off limits under the federal moratorium. Lifting the OCS moratorium would not increase production until 2017 and would only amount to 0.2 million barrels per day–less than 1 percent of current consumption.

During the Republican National Convention, the delegates broke into a chorus of “drill, baby, drill” to the delight of Saudi Arabia. However, the facts do not support this as a viable option to lead us on a path towards energy security. Once again, the Republicans are on the wrong side of the issue.

More drilling will not reduce gas prices. The U.S. Department of Energy projects that opening ANWR would lower gasoline prices at the pump by a mere 2 cents per gallon. Moreover, lifting the moratorium on drilling in the OCS would reduce the price of a gallon of gasoline by at most 6 cents. To make matters worse, it would take ten years to permit, drill, refine, and distribute these reserves. Inflation would quickly erode those 6 pennies.

Here is another fact that eludes John McCain. Oil is traded as a global commodity and its price is set on the world market. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) could simply reduce exports to artificially increase the world-wide price of oil putting us right back where we were before, with the additional pollution. Thanks John.

The U.S. has, as a nation, decided to export dirty manufacturing and refining practices to other countries because we value things like clean air and water. Whether you call yourself an “environmentalist” or not, we don’t like it when our children suffer from respiratory diseases our neurological disorders. Being “pro-life” means caring for children beyond the embryonic stage.

While McCain promises more of the same “drill, baby, drill” policies of George Bush and Dick Cheney, Obama brings a series of fresh ideas to move us away from a depleting resource that has left our nation funding both sides of this war in Iraq.

The increase in U.S. automobile fuel economy standards to 35 miles per gallon of gasoline (mandated by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007) is projected to save more than 1.1 million barrels of oil per day in 2020. That is about half of current U.S. imports from the Persian Gulf.

Obama also calls for investing in America by focusing on energy conservation and renewable sources of clean energy that we can control. This puts Americans back at work and leading the world to solve this energy crisis.

Obama has the vision and courage to take on Big Oil and bring about the jobs of the future through innovation and technology. He is the only candidate with the independence as a Washington outside to bring about real change. Obama has earned my respect, and my vote!

From the Left is an area Democratic activist and a guest blogger at Progressive Pensacola.

I must admit, considering what a political junkie as I am, I remember asking “Sarah who?” when McCain chose his #2 last week. Don’t get me wrong, I was thrilled with the choice. It completely erodes the McCain team’s argument that Obama lacks experience. So what about Sarah Palin’s experience? She was Governor of one of the least populated states in America (Alaska) for the last 20 months. Surely she brings more to the table then that? After all, if the Republican Party wins the White House she would be one heartbeat away from the oldest President ever elected in this country’s history. As we dig through her resume, we see that she was mayor of a small town in Alaska (population 9,000). Honestly! There were nearly that many protesters outside of the Convention. Ron Paul’s “Campaign for Liberty” (his counter-convention) drew more people than that. Don’t get me wrong, being mayor is an important job. After all, those potholes don’t fix themselves.

So what kind of decision-maker would she be? We really don’t know anything about her policies and she has no real record for us to review. The campaign releases the same two pictures over and over. In the one photo she is shooting an assault rifle and the other she is holding her infant baby. Talk about mixed messages!

We know where she stands on offshore drilling, after all, she hails from Alaska. We know she subscribes to an “abstinence only” policy and opposes any kind of sex education (did I mention that her 17-year-old daughter is pregnant? Oops!). We know she is in favor of “big government” involved in family planning. But, when it comes to some of the major issues that we face in this country, the economy, foreign policy, welfare, and immigration, she has no record, no position, and absolutely no experience.

So, how did she do in her acceptance speech? Well…that depends.

For the 18,000 delegates that were at the Convention, she did a fantastic job of dishing out the “red meat” and telling the hard-core fringe of America, already solidly in the McCain camp, exactly what they wanted to hear. So what? There was no one in that room was voting any other way than Republican. But what about all those “undecided” voters that don’t fit neatly into either Party? This is the problem for the Republican Party.

Her speech offered no solutions for the family whose home is about to go into foreclosure. Her speech gave no relief to the single mom who is paying record-high gas prices as she struggles to get the kids to school and herself to work. College students getting ready set to graduate and enter the workforce with $20,000 in debt were left with nothing to vote for. Seniors, who are facing a tough choice between food and life-saving medicine, were left wondering why this once-great party of Ronald Reagan has left them behind.

What about all those Hillary supporters? Surely they will flock behind Palin, right? After all, she’s got boobs too!! Well, I give women more credit than that. I can’t see any of Senator Clinton’s 18,000,000 supporters coming out to support a woman who is against equal pay for women or supporting someone willing to sacrifice personal freedom for a few votes.

So, in short; Her speech did exactly what I expected it to do. Rally the base to motivate them to turn off “Dancing with the Stars” and get out and vote on Election Day; and to slam the Democratic Party in an attempt to scare voters with the usual “they will raise your taxes and steal your guns” crap that only seems to work in small pockets of the country.

This is a different year and we, as America, face some very tough issues. A dreadful economy, a looming energy crisis, the threat of radical militants, and wide-open boarders. Flag waving and speeches about the “liberal” media are not going to win over undecided, independent-minded voters. In fact, her speech alienated most of these critical voters that tuned in to hear some solutions, and instead, witnessed an absolute political food fight between grown men and women.

As the political signs came down and the roars of “drill, baby, drill” were silenced, Americans were still left empty handed. Thank God we have a party with real solutions for real Americans. Vote Democrat this November. Your children will thank you for it.

Starting today, Progressive Pensacola will feature guest bloggers — good content written by good writers that just so happen to not be me.

Our first guest blogger is an area Democratic activist, who for personal reasons will use the psuedonym From the Left when guest blogging.

Interested in guest blogging for Progressive Pensacola?  You don’t have to be a member of any specific party or subscribe to any particular school of political thought.  The only requirement is that you be forward-thinking (progressive).  If interested, contact me at dscosson@gmail.com.