Most analysts agree that conservation will play a greater role in meeting energy demand than drilling in the U.S.
- CNNMoney.com, 5/30/08
With gas prices at an all-time high, Americans are asking serious questions about what can be done to save money at the pump now and how we can avoid similar problems in the future. Here are answers to some of the big questions.
Does The Wilderness Society oppose all drilling on public lands?
No. The Wilderness Society recognizes that oil and natural gas development is a legitimate and important use of our public lands. However, many Americans don't realize that there are already more than 91 million acres of federal lands and waters (47.5 million acres onshore and 44 million acres offshore) under lease for oil and natural gas development and less than 23.5 million acres have been used. In total, industry has access to 68 million acres that it has not drilled.
Although we object to some of the areas under lease, we believe that the oil and gas industry should make better use of existing leases before it attempts to lock up more public lands and waters in environmentally fragile areas.
With gasoline prices so high, why would you discourage more domestic drilling?
The Wilderness Society agrees with the many experts who insist - contrary to the oil and gas industry's misleading rhetoric - that leasing more federal lands for oil and gas development will not reduce gasoline prices. High oil prices in particular are established by a host of world economic conditions, and have little to do with how much drilling is or is not taking place on federal lands, including:
- The weak dollar
- Speculation
- The war in Iraq
- Increased consumption in China & India
Since taking office, the Bush administration has issued leases on over 26 million acres of on-shore public lands. Even though the United States has more drilling rigs operating than the rest of the world combined, prices have continued to rise. The most recent Baker Hughes rig count shows 1,901 drilling rigs operating in the U.S. (offshore and onshore), and 1,305 in the entire rest of the world.
Why not support the idea of America drilling for all of its own needs? More drilling will not achieve "energy independence." At current consumption levels, U.S. resources are inadequate to achieve energy independence.
- The United States contains 2.5% of the world's oil resources and 3% of world natural gas resources, but we account for 24% of total world consumption of oil and 22% of natural gas consumption.
Opening more areas to drilling in the U.S. can never make us less dependent on foreign oil or natural gas. The only way we will ever reduce our dependency is to reduce our consumption.
Why can't we develop oil shale to lower gas prices?
Despite what the President and other advocates of oil shale development have said, a viable program to squeeze oil from rock remains at least a decade away. Shell Exploration and Production Company, an arm of one of oil shale's leading companies, recently declared that they can't decide whether their technology will produce oil anytime before the next five to ten years. 1
Right now the Bureau of Land Management has put in place a research and development program whereby oil shale developers can work to overcome the significant hurdles they face in extracting oil from oil shale. Rushing to lease public lands for development before companies can actually produce oil from rock amounts to a fire sale of public lands that only stands to benefit oil shale speculators. A few quick facts:
- Too many technological, economic and environmental questions need to be resolved before we can count on oil shale development to make any contribution to our energy needs. Elected leaders including Senator Ken Salazar (D-CO), Representatives Mark Udall (D-CO) and John Salazar (D-CO), Governors Bill Ritter (D-CO)and Dave Freudenthal (D-WY), and local officials from the areas targeted for development agree that we should take a cautious approach to federal policies on oil shale.
- Hundreds of billions of barrels of oil equivalent locked in oil shale deposits are already owned or controlled by private companies like Shell, ExxonMobil, the Oil Shale Exploration Company, Red Leaf Resources and Anadarko, according to information assembled by the Department of Energy. Yet, none of these companies have ever developed a successful commercial oil shale project on these lands. If oil shale development were a viable means of supplying petroleum products, these companies would be developing these resources by now.
- Finally, oil shale development would require enormous inputs of coal-fired electric power and large supplies of water in an arid, almost desert-like climate. The latter factor is why water users throughout Colorado have voiced strong concerns about the impact of an oil shale industry on municipal and agricultural water users in Colorado.
Knowledge must precede action, and the knowledge base simply doesn't exist to make oil shale a viable contributor to our nation's energy needs. The advent of a commercial oil shale program now could threaten local communities and 2 million acres of wild public land with economic and environmental catastrophe. Find out what New West writer Joan McCarter had to say about the potential impacts of a commercial oil shale leasing program, The Denver Post wrote on keeping the pace of development slow and the Salt Lake Tribune felt about a specific proposal to open oil shale leasing immediately.
1 Quote by Tracy Boyd, communications and sustainability manager of Shell Exploration Company, in Glenwood Springs Post Independent Article titled "Energy Expo in Rifle Talks Oil Shale." Published on May 1, 2008 by Staff Writer Phillip Yates.
Well then, what's the solution?
Conservation, renewables, and efficiency provide a better way forward - for our pocketbooks and the planet. A reasonable drilling program on appropriate public and private lands should be supplemented by an increased emphasis on forward-thinking energy technologies. The Wilderness Society is working with Congressional leaders to promote policies to increase energy efficiency and the use of renewable technologies to solve the problem of high fuel prices.
- In the past three years alone, conservation and new technologies have cut our projected need for oil through 2050 by 100 billion barrels. These sorts of forward-thinking approaches can help the United States meet its energy challenges while protecting our last wild places for our children and grandchildren.
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