What is the truth about oil?
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Editor,
We need oil, and it is critical. Prices at the pump are out of control. “Drill, baby, drill.”
The cry goes on and on, and in light of the great emotional outcry it is very easy to just fall into the mindset that we are beholden to the Middle East on oil, and anything we can do to increase oil supplies in the U.S. is something we should go for, without a doubt.
And, of course, there’s the Keystone XL tar sands 1,661 mile pipeline from Hardesty, Alberta, through Montana and on down to Nederland, Texas, which is being proposed comes to mind. President Obama is expected to make a decision on this by year’s end.
Now, I surely don't claim to know a whole lot about the whole subject, but let's look at some interesting facts:
First of all, we are not quite as dependent upon Middle East oil as one might be led to believe. Actually, 53 percent of our petroleum comes from the Western Hemisphere: Canada, Mexico and Venezuela.
Ok, what else? Well, since 2007, the U.S. exports of gasoline have doubled, and this year we are on a pace to exceed 150 million barrels, or triple 2007. This accounts for 15 to 20 percent of the total gasoline and diesel fuel refined in the U.S.
And this: Mr. Steve Kretzmann of "Oil Exchange International," an organization opposing the Keystone pipeline, says this: "The pipeline will not do anything other than increase the profits of the oil industry. It won't help energy security in the U.S. Only reducing our consumption of oil overall will do that."
It is reported that representatives of the oil industry reject Mr. Kretzmann's comments and assessments.
Wonder of wonders. The debate goes on. I just offer the above as something to think about, research on your own, believe or not believe, but it does provide more “grist for the mill.”
Bob McClellan
Polson
