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Who would have thought we’d feel good paying $3.50 a gallon for gas?
The recent dip in the price of gas has us breathing a
little easier, but we are still paying about a dollar a gallon more than we paid last year. The maddening part of the price of gas is we have no control over it.
Our only hope for fixing our oil crisis is in Washington. That’s a dismal thought all by itself. And we don’t really have a crisis; we have egregious greed fleecing us because they can.
So who’s getting rich on oil? That depends on whom you ask.
People we aren’t asking are the politicians, but they’re giving us their answers anyway. Both major presidential candidates have their spin on the issue. While the Democrats and Republicans have their solution to high gas prices, both parties are to blame for our current predicament.
We have to take some of the blame ourselves. As a group, we’ve continued to consume oil like there would be no consequences. Now the consequences have hit the fan. With the increase in the price of gas, the cost of everything has skyrocketed. I watched a power tool I was hoping to buy increase $200 in one week. The price of roofing has gone through the roof this summer.
You can’t listen to the radio or TV without hearing about the price of gas. Even Jay Leno shed his liberal skin to go after Democrats on the drilling on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
The ANWR debate is as big and as skewed as global warming. There are billions of gallons of oil less than 80 miles from the Alaskan pipeline, but an environmental law keeps us from drilling. Most folks agree the impact of drilling would be minimal.
Again, we aren’t paying these awful prices for gas because there is a shortage of oil. We have a huge appetite for oil, and we don’t make enough oil to meet our needs. We have to depend on the world market, and that’s where greed enters the picture.
If we opened up protected areas to drill for oil and lessened our dependence on foreign oil, we might impact the price we pay for gas. What we can’t regulate is greed. The oil industry has learned that we’ll stop driving around $4 a gallon.
You can expect all kinds of new solutions to our oil problem, but you can count on the price of gasoline to stick under $4. When gas costs $4 a gallon, we cut back on our oil usage. The oil industry doesn’t want us to do that.
Sheiks from North Dakota?While it’s old news, geologists estimate there are at least 3 to 4.3 billion barrels of oil in North Dakota and Montana. Some measure it in the trillions of barrels. This oil reserve grows as technology improves to wring the oil out of shale and a variety of subsoil pockets. The area is called the Bakken Formation.
A U.S. Geological Survey assessment, released this spring, shows a 25-fold increase in oil that can be recovered compared to the agency’s 1995 estimate. It may be one of the largest oil reserves in the world. While having all this oil on our continent is good news, don’t go shopping for an SUV yet. Canada is tapping into the same formation and is well ahead of the U.S. in production from the Bakken Formation. I’d like to see the Middle East have to deal with a little competition.
I’m tired of sending boatloads of money to foreigners because we have an unhealthy appetite for oil. This reserve isn’t on a protected spot. Environmentalists have yet to come up with an angle to keep the oil rigs out. Let’s hope the next person to strike it rich in oil has a U.S. citizenship.
Corps criticism missed the culpritLast week I took off on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the paperwork and red tape the corps is giving the Minnesota Maritime Museum in acquiring the old dredge, the William A. Thompson. According to Bud Baechler of the museum’s board of directors, the Fountain City and St. Paul Corps have been more than helpful. The red tape and paperwork comes from U.S. General Services Administration.
“We even have retired Corps members volunteering at the museum,” Baechler said of the Corps’ helpfulness.
The General Services end of the deal is a different matter. The museum’s lawyer is still poring over the paperwork to see how the deal can be made.
We’ve lost our sloganIt made little news when the Air Force took back our playground ornament that sat on east Lake Park for many years. I recall crawling through the old military jet that served as attraction near what is now Unity Park. With the plane gone, the Julius C. Wilkie razed and Sister Elzear’s (Lillian Krall’s) death this year, we are no longer the town with: A boat that don’t float, a plane that don’t fly and a nun out of order. It was a catchy phrase. Each piece of the line was a unique part of Winona.
Sadly, none of them apply any longer.
Galewski is the retired editor and Opinion page editor of the Winona Daily News. His views don’t necessarily reflect the views of the newspaper. If you have an idea or tip about a Winona issue, call Jim at (507) 452-3960. His e-mail is editor@luminet.net .
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