The oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico is an unfortunate disaster. Deliberate action is necessary, but the government acted in normal fashion: surveyed damage, blamed others, and then offered knee-jerk responses. Those responses would further hogtie the American economy, and some would put us at grave risk. Congressional leadership wants to further restrict offshore oil drilling or ban it altogether, while advocating alternative energies that are not viable replacements for oil at this time. And government cap and trade schemes are sold as workable energy solutions, but only if the government subsidizes and controls them. Congressman Mike Thompson commented in his recent editorial that we need to “get as far away from oil as we can.” It is a good sound bite. But the reality is, we will need oil during our decades-long transition to any alternative, and that oil is still underground. Meanwhile, Russia, Cuba and other countries are operating in the Gulf of Mexico. America needs to decide if we should be extracting more oil ourselves, or if we prefer to wait in line to buy from foreign producers. The current world oil market is very tight, and the line to purchase it is getting longer. If the United States bans new offshore oil exploration and extraction, it will put our economy even more at the mercy of foreign production and foreign demand. Furthermore, war, terrorism and turmoil, all well known commodities in this age, could stop foreign oil production or transport and ruin our way of life. As a military intelligence officer trained to assess risks and likely courses of action, I submit we virtually guarantee terrorist attacks on the world oil network if the United States is dependent upon it. Dependence on foreign oil is a grave wager to make, and I do not believe the American people expect their government to chart a course in such an irresponsible direction. Congressman Thompson also noted that tourism is the lifeblood of many regions of the 1st District. True, but tourism in this region consists largely of day trips and extensive driving to distant points of interest. When gas is $4 a gallon, there is a noticeable drop in tourism and discretionary driving, as we can recall from the summer and fall of 2008. If we rely on foreign oil, a single event could push gas prices to $5 or $6 a gallon, and we can expect tourism to come to a crawl or dead stop. In fact, high gas prices would disrupt all sectors of the economy, and are hardest on lower income Americans. I believe in American exceptionalism, and that we are good stewards of the environment. That said, we could have done much better in the Gulf of Mexico. The government should have been an active partner in the response. Instead, it stood on the sidelines. We must have a better contingency plan, including using military equipment to provide heavy lift and transport. I”ve offered some more specific proposals on my Website, HanksforCongress.com. We should anticipate problems and correct them as they occur, not shrink from the effort. Banning or restricting oil production in the United States sets us up for failure. Failure is not an American option, and we should not allow national energy policies to be controlled by shortsighted government responses.
Loren Hanks is a Republican running for Congress in the California 1st District.
