Published: August 06, 2008 05:28 pm            

COLUMN: Concentrate on the on the ultimate goal

Most of us who have celebrated at least 50 birthdays will remember that period in the 1970s when OPEC played with the spigot, and we had to wait in line at the service stations. That spike in gas prices caused talk of mandating fuel-efficiency and conservation and spawned thoughts of other fuel choices. Then the spigot was returned to greater flow, gas prices dropped, and we resumed our old ways. In effect, we ignored the unintended warning by OPEC. We foolishly failed to consider the strong possibility of a recurrence and to take action to be less vulnerable. As the result of our inaction, we lost 30 years during which we could have worked to avoid the predicament in which we find ourselves in 2008. Regardless of the many factors now at play, the blame is entirely ours.

Considering current circumstances, I strongly believe that our goal should not be to reduce our dependency on foreign oil but to eliminate our dependency on oil. (An addict does not escape addiction by increasing the availability of the addictive substance.) Furthermore, we American hogs (or pigs, if you prefer), consume between 20 and 25 percent of the world’s total petroleum production even though we comprise only about 5 percent of the global population. We should be ashamed of those numbers, but we are not, any more than we are ashamed of the label of being the world’s biggest polluter. (Yes, China is rapidly gaining.)

Exxon Mobil just reported the all-time biggest quarterly profit ($11.7 billion) of any American corporation, which is merely a continuation of a trend, and our bought-and-paid-for federal lawmakers cannot even bring themselves to at least cease the tax breaks and subsidies lavished on the oil industry. Instead, those irresponsible “leaders” talk about silliness like a “gas tax holiday” or a “windfall profits’ tax” on the oil giants. It’s much too late for tweaking. The high price of gasoline, although painful, is really a blessing in disguise, as it is our only effective motivation to act seriously and significantly (although belatedly) to reduce our addiction to oil and coal, the latter being at least twice as dirty as any other fuel. And, as I’m writing this, the oil and coal industries continue to contribute hundreds of millions to politicos and spend tens of millions more on propaganda splashed on television to brainwash ignorant Americans with falsehoods and distortions. To hand out these sums in return for billions in the form of legislative favors is, what’s known in financial terms, as a great return on investment.

Our complete focus needs to be the acceleration of further development of technologies that already exist. We are not dreaming when we talk of electric cars, or vehicles powered by hydrogen (fuel cells) or magnetic levitation high-speed trains, or wind farms or solar applications. Yes, there are refinements to be made in these areas, but this is where all the tax breaks and subsidies should be applied.

We Americans are understandably crying about high gas prices, and we want an immediate fix, but there is none. Polls show that 70 percent of us are in favor of immediate “offshore drilling.” And half of those so inclined responded that they expect that such action would bring lower gas prices as soon as next year. (Ah, yes, the many ignorant among us.)

From what I have said, it should be obvious that the United States of America is in desperate need of extraordinary, incorruptible, intelligent leadership, not only in the White House, but in the two houses of Congress. In fact, the entire world could use a dose of that. Will greed and irresponsibility continue to prevail, or will there be an emergence of common sense? Is there any cause for optimism? It’s only a crisis, and only the planet is at stake.

Ron Allera is a resident of Niagara Falls.

        

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