How Not To Solve Our Energy Crisis

July 14, 2008 – 5:31 pm

“Today, I’ve taken every step within my power to allow offshore exploration. This means the only thing standing between the American people and these vast oil resources is action from the U.S. Congress,” President Bush told reporters earlier today.

Setting aside the fact that lifting this ban (smartly instituted by his father) will procedurally accomplish nothing, drilling for more oil does nothing substantively to solve our nation’s energy problems either. Bush himself has said that we are addicted to oil; why would he want us to sustain that addiction by helping us obtain more oil?

For a short term political gain and a temporary mild dip in prices?

The U.S. Energy Department’s forecasting arm has said opening the Pacific, Atlantic and eastern Gulf of Mexico regions to drilling “would not have a significant impact on domestic crude oil and natural gas production or prices before 2030.”

The demand will only continue to increase, policies will not be put into place that will ween us off this addiction and supply will only marginally increase. The worst way to end an addiction is to provide the addict with more of what said addict is addicted to. High has prices will never go away and is something that we are going to have to get used to.

As usual, Bush’s logic is fatally flawed. It’s a good thing Bush is our first President with an MBA; that degree has sure been put to good use with ideas like this one.

President Bush - lame duck since November 2006.