Protect our shores

Welcome to this week’s Reno News & Review.

I’m going to Nebraska for the next 10 days, so by rights I should write a light-hearted column about that, but really, I’m pissed about this idea being advanced by the Neo-cons headed by George W. Bush to pull the oil out of our offshore areas.

It’s like the entire presidency was leading up to this moment, and it’s incredibly short-sighted. GW has had a presidency for the oil companies, by the oil companies and of the oil companies (as represented by himself).

I was working in the pipe yards in Texas in the early ‘80s when they started capping oil wells. I remember that the reason then was that the Middle East was producing oil far more cheaply than we could, and the idea was to wait until their prices went up—either because of scarcity of oil or because of political machinations—and we could move right in. As far as I recall, peak oil—the day when oil production reaches its high point and starts to decline—wasn’t even considered at that time.

So here we are, within decades of peak oil and maybe even past it—and the greedy bastards want to get in on record profits. In a way, that oil belongs to the citizens of the United States. I don’t know about you, but I’d prefer we continue to sit on it, until such a time as we’ve moved past our automobile dependence on petroleum products. Hell, I should be working at home more already. I want us to have that oil in reserve for things like filters for dialysis machines, computer technology, road repair. I want us to have that oil in 10-20 years to sell back to the Saudis at $1,000 a barrel. Because that day is coming, but it won’t if we squander our reserves to create windfall profits for the oil companies.