By Jim Scarantino
With the prospect of winning the presidency, the Democrats’ energy plan heads to the big stage. Excitement fills the air. Critics are atwitter. Commuters and truckers crane their necks for a glimpse of Beltway stars. Cold homeowners and worried businesspeople crowd the sidewalk. The doors open.
Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi enter from stage left. The curtain rises. They sweep their arms, directing our attention to the set behind them. But we see only a curious still life of theater props. A magic marker, a child’s report card, kneepads, a cardigan sweater, Harry Potter’s wand and an empty wallet cluster in the spotlight.
But, the audience whispers as one, what does it mean?
The magic marker: For the areas Democrats have marked off limits to energy development, including both coasts, expanses of the Gulf of Mexico, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and other parts of
The report card: For Democrats’ call to end Strategic Petroleum Reserve purchases to reduce gasoline prices. They get “Fs” in math, economics and honesty. These purchases amount to 70,000 barrels daily, against
Lastly, we are not growing the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. As the reserve takes in new oil, it exchanges old oil. Market effect is neutral.
The kneepads: For Democrats’ approach to
Democrats should remember that the Chinese, Russians and French have excellent military technology they would gladly sell to the Saudis. More importantly, the Saudis do not control global markets. Nor would extra Saudi oil be left for us by the booming Chinese and Indian economies. Global demand outpaces production and will do so for many years to come.
The cardigan sweater: For Jeff Bingaman’s plea that drivers slow down. Sen. Bingaman is a very thoughtful, intelligent and well-informed legislator. But his recent speech on energy offered no suggestions for substantially increasing domestic oil supplies. Opening ANWR could increase our oil supply by 5 percent, an amount equal to what we import from some OPEC countries. Drilling the Continental Shelf could do more. Yet reconsidering off-limits areas would enrage environmentalists whose PACs, 501(c)(4)s and 527s are spending millions of dollars to support Democratic candidates. That left Sen. Bingaman with Jimmy Carter’s cardigan and a plea for drivers to ease up on the accelerator.
Harry Potter’s wand: For the magic tricks Democrats promise. Consider Martin Heinrich, leading candidate for the Democratic First Congressional District nomination. During last week’s KNME-TV debate he announced we should have “a fleet largely based on plug-in hybrids in a few years.” Never mind no company in the world plans to manufacture millions of affordable plug-in cars and trucks in a few years. Never mind the cost to consumers of replacing 200 million automobiles and trucks in a few years. And never mind the pain to be suffered between now and the dawn of Heinrich’s plug-in world as oil prices close on $200 a barrel.
Which leads to the last act of the Democrats’ energy plan.
The empty wallet: For the increasingly high prices that will force consumers and industry to conserve and encourage competing technologies to lower the curtain on the Age of Oil. By then we will have lived through history’s greatest transfer of wealth – from us to countries that have made the most of their own natural resources.
Judging from the previews, it’s difficult to determine whether the Democrats’ performance should be classified as a comedy or tragedy.
Scarantino has been recognized as one of the country’s best political columnists by the American Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. His work has been published in more than 50 newspapers. You can contact him at jrscarantino@yahoo.com.