Amidst the demagoguery of a U.S. Presidential campaign, it’s rare to find the mainstream media willing to run Robert Bryce’s common sense on energy policy and oil prices. For example:
Myth 3: Energy independence will let America choke off the flow of money to nasty countries.
Fans of energy independence argue that if the United States stops buying foreign energy, it will deny funds to petro-states such as Iran, Saudi Arabia and Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela. But the world marketplace doesn’t work like that. Oil is a global commodity. Its price is set globally, not locally. Oil buyers are always seeking the lowest-cost supplier. So any Saudi crude being loaded at the Red Sea port of Yanbu that doesn’t get purchased by a refinery in Corpus Christi or Houston will instead wind up in Singapore or Shanghai.
Refer to this article whenever you are listening to the candidates from either party start talking about energy policy. Come to think of it, while considering political choices, you should also keep handy this Bryan Caplan/WaPo op-ed entitled 5 Myths About Our Ballot-Box Behavior.
Robert Bryce’s peice obviously pro-oil.
“Energy independence will let America choke off the flow of money to nasty countries.”
Yes, if we have alternatives, supply > demand, reducing the risk and transfer of wealth to many unfriendly regimes. It’s nice that Canada and Mexico are the largest suppliers, but that point is irrelevant in this context.
Please read about Vinod Khosla’s investments in this respect.
mano
I don’t quite understand. Would the author rather we continue on our energy gluttonous ways? That we should continue to billow out toxic clouds of poisonous hydro-carbons?
Even the statement above confuses me. Would the author prefer we continue to use huge amounts of oil that guarantee we depend on Middle Eastern oil? I don’t care that Singapore antes up money for oil; I do care that the USA stops using expensive oil from hostile countries.
How can anyone deny that if we weren’t in an area gobbling up oil resources (and supporting their enemies) we would be much less of a target to the terrorists.
I read Bryce’s 5 Myths. His arguments are not impressive.
We clearly are oil gluttons. I see no reasons to continue on a path of oil indulgence, except in the aviation industry. In all other energy applications it makes sense to look for alternative fuels.
In the decades ahead more of the world’s oil supply will come from the Middle East. As if we don’t have enough trouble there now…