The sun sets behind the Gulf of Mexico off Florida's shore. (ddyates / flickr) http://www.flickr.com/photos/ddyates/ / CC BY 2.0
We missed something this week.
The national discussion in the wake of Tuesday’s State of the Union address by President Barack Obama centered on this overhyped disagreement with Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, whether the economy can recover and the life expectancy of health care reform.
With the exception of the stupid Alito quarrel, all of these issues matter. But, other initiatives which received less attention matter too. Such as:
But to create more of these clean energy jobs … means making tough decisions about opening new offshore areas for oil and gas development.
Oh man, here we go, again with off-shore drilling. When I worked for as a news reporter, I wrote about how you can drain every last drop of oil from California to the Gulf of Mexico, and it won’t make much of a dent at all in our dependence on foreign oil, our insatiable appetite for petroleum products or the price of gasoline.
From a 2007 report by the U.S. Department of Energy report on the impact of off-shore oil drilling:
(It) would not have a significant impact on domestic crude oil and natural gas production or prices before 2030 … .
Because oil prices are determined on the international market, however, any impact on average wellhead prices is expected to be insignificant.
You know what that means? America doesn’t have enough oil under its oceans to make a significant impact on prices. Nada. Zip. The price of oil is determined internationally, and there just isn’t enough in America to bring the price down.
And wait? How can we “create” clean energy jobs by drilling for more oil?
But, Obama did deliver a message on climate change I wholeheartedly agree with. He called for measures to make the production of green energy possible:
I know there have been questions about whether we can afford such changes in a tough economy. I know that there are those who disagree with the overwhelming scientific evidence on climate change. But here’s the thing — even if you doubt the evidence, providing incentives for energy-efficiency and clean energy are the right thing to do for our future — because the nation that leads the clean energy economy will be the nation that leads the global economy. And America must be that nation.
Smart. Very very smart. Obama is making climate change a pocketbook issue. As I’ve said before at Compass Points, if you want to win the climate change debate you have to make it a microeconomic issue. Most Americans will never see a polar bear in the wild or care much if glaciers in Montana disappear. I care, but I acknowledge that many if not most Americans have other priorities.
If, however, you bugle a message about how fuel efficient cars and energy efficient light bulbs save the average American money, you’re going to win them onto your side. This is a capitalist society. Saving money counts, especially in the current political environment. You make energy efficiency about the American household’s bottomline, then you might just save landscapes and species endangered by climate change, too.
That’s it for this week, Pointers. Thanks for hanging out with us. We’ll be back next week, and don’t forget to check out the newest teaser for the 2010 season of Compass Points TV.
As always, the outdoor party goes on at Facebook and Twitter.
Hike On!
