Independence Day is a good day to consider how the leadership of Agencies and Enterprises in the US of A have managed to abandon energy independence over the past 60 years. Yes, the US of A was a net exporter of energy – and almost every other critical resource – 60 years ago.
We have all heard about the experiment: Put a frog in a pan of hot water and he jumps out. Put the frog in cool water and raise the temperature slowly and he poaches.
Citizens of the US of A have been poached by OPEC and Saudi Arabians. Back in 1973 oil -producing Regions (OPEC) tried to send a message to oil-dependent Regions about messing in their “internal, religious and regional” affairs. However, it was the oil-producing Regions that learned the lesson:
Cut off the oil supply and / or significantly raise the price of petrochemicals, and consumer Regions will look for ways to be conservative and for alternatives to buying more and more oil. In my home town the number of people who lived and worked in the Beta Community went from 19 percent to 39 percent in just 12 months. Raise the pain of acquiring gasoline and they cut commuting.
Agencies and Enterprises in the US of A did not learn from the experience. When the oil was flowing again, the energy policy and consumption pattern was again driven by expediency and short-term profit.
Scattered, dysfunctional settlement patterns grew; a dysfunctional transport system continued to get worse. (See THE PROBLEM WITH CARS.) The temperature has been going up a little at a time for 35 years.
The Saudi / OPEC poaching strategy was stated publicly at the “summit” held on Sunday, 22 June, in Riyadh. Oil suppliers need to increase the flow in order to lower the cost so that those Regions dependent on oil will not look for alternatives. In other words keep supplies and prices such that those in power in the oil-exporting Regions can sell oil at the highest possible price while they are in power. Long-term sustainability? Who cares, we are all getting richer and the economy is growing.
OK, the way US of A citizens have been poached is pretty clear. But what is Poached Squared?
When James Hansen made his I-told-you-so tour on 23 June – the twentieth anniversary of his landmark testimony on the climate change – he acknowledged that humans are condemned to burn up the rest of the petroleum that can be extracted. Hansen did not say it but citizens are condemned primarily by human settlement patterns that Agencies, Enterprises and Institutions refuse to acknowledge as a key problem. More important, to date they have not committed to Transform these generators of economic, social and physical dysfunction and unsustainability.
Hansen points out that while a intelligent oil strategy may be a lost cause, coal is the bigger problem and there is still a chance to create a sustainable strategy vis a vis coal. As luck would have it, the US of A is the Saudi Arabia of coal deposits.
And what are the Agencies and Enterprises doing in Virginia and across the US of A?
Building more coal-fired plants to keep the price of electricity from going up too fast. This in spite of the fact that half of all the energy devoted to the production of electricity in remote plants is wasted in generation, transmission and distribution.
Oh, yes, there are also the pollution problems, the transmission problems and the power failures due to fragile distribution systems without even mentioning climate change. But, not to worry, “the men and women of your electric utility are working to keep your rates reasonable…” You can do your part by going out a buying new light bulbs and …
Bottom Line: Citizens are being poached again.
In a CNN Money poll on 19 June only nine percent of those responding believe the energy future is in oil / gas. The other results: Nuclear 42%, solar 38%, wind 11%. Coal was not deemed to be a “future” option worthy of being among the choices.
In a CNN Money poll on 27 June 58 percent of those responding say “lack of financial independence” is the worst aspect of dependence on oil.
We first recall hearing that in 1956 – the Suez Crisis – and every citizen should have known it in 1973 – the OPEC oil embargo. Where was the leadership 52 years ago or 35 years ago? Getting the pot ready to poach citizens.
Claude Lewenz argues that dependence on oil and Autonomobiles was a intentional strategy planned in the mid 40s to keep the industrial capacity of the war machine humming and the economy growing. I am not sure it was “planned” but I am sure it could have been “unplanned” 35 years ago when it was obvious that the strategy was unsustainable.
In the meantime, citizens have been poached and are being poached again.
Happy Fourth.
EMR