NEWS
Don’t sacrifice coasts, push for clean energy
09/22/2008
By Carl Samuelson : Guest columnist
The Herald-Sun
Drill, baby, drill has echoed from the Excel Center in St. Paul all the way to the chambers of Congress, and big oil is dancing a gleeful jig to this new hit tune. Thanks to a flood of sparkling, clean-looking advertisements promoting off-shore drilling as a crystal clean savior to $4 dollar-a-gallon gas, big oil stands poised to jump on a new opportunity to buy up coastal waters and pocket a pretty profit.
But big oil’s bottom line is the only thing that stands to gain from increased off-shore drilling. Our tourist economy sure does not. In North Carolina, the Outer Banks alone draws over 5 million tourists a year, fueling a rapidly growing sector worth $390 billion nationwide. The potential of a catastrophic oil spill devastating tourism ought to be reason alone to steer clear of new oil exploration.
But even small, regular leaks can insidiously damage coast line, biological diversity, and water quality—releasing toxins such as benzene, arsenic, mercury and lead. Even the sound waves from specialized air guns that are used in oil exploration can kill whales and rupture the swim bladders of fish.
Worse yet, these renewed demands for drilling don’t address the problem. We need solutions to high gas prices that will actually save consumers money in the short- and long-term (drilling won’t have any effect on gas prices until 2030, and even that impact will be "insignificant" according to Bush’s Energy Information Administration).
Drilling is an Industrial Revolution-era solution to a 21st century problem. Rather, we need to a shift to clean, homegrown, renewable energy and sound public policy. In fact, the relatively moderate increase in fuel efficiency, to 35 mpg fleet-wide, that Congress passed last year will on average save consumers the equivalent of a dollar per gallon at the pump.
And don’t be deceived into thinking that someday the perfect technology will descend from the sky and we can wait until then to kick our oil addiction. The technology is here, but it isn’t very flashy. It’s insulation in our homes and office spaces. It’s energy-efficient lighting and thermostats with timers. It’s high-efficiency water heaters, refrigerators, and washing machines. All of these exist today, and combined with other building efficiency measures, we could reduce demand for energy by 11 percent nationwide and create millions of jobs, giving people the money the need to make ends meet.
We don’t have to sacrifice costal heath for energy independence. Clean energy solutions are waiting to be grabbed up. Efficiency measures have been around for decades. Implementing those ideas will spur our economy forward, creating good local jobs and kicking our bad oil habit. Investment in wind and solar have an equally high potential for creating economic growth. The bottom line is that Americans need to be able to afford daily life, and despite Big Oil’s clever propaganda, drilling just doesn’t do the trick.
The solution to our energy crisis is not more padding in the pockets of Big Oil. America’s energy solution lies in efficiency and clean energy jobs for out of work Americans, an open market that accounts for the real cost of carbon, and leadership in Congress that doesn’t kowtow to the demands of a "well-oiled" marketing machine.
Carl Samuelson is an organizer with Environment North Carolina, a group that works to protect clean air, clean water and open space.