Black Oil Blog: Supply Side PAC For Pumping!
This article was originally printed in Politics in Minnesota 6/12/2008.
We've added the Black Oil Blog to our Minnesota Political Blog Directory. The blog is a project of the brand-new U.S. Energy PAC in Rogers, which advocates increasing oil production by promoting more drilling around the United States. Their goal is complete independence from foreign energy sources, and their blog says "The obstacles to true energy independence for our nation are largely political and ideological in nature;" there is little shortage of oil, and ethanol production has added to the spike in food prices.
Dave Hoium, a former reporter and a long-time and highly respected veteran in GOP circles, talked with PIM about the U.S. Energy PAC's goals: "We want to be able to drill." It got pulled together about a month ago, and is chaired by Traverse County Attorney Matthew Franzese. (Hoium co-wrote "There is No November," the definitive insider account of Jon Grunseth's failed gubernatorial campaign.)
Their objective is to counter the influence of groups like the Sierra Club and the League of Conservation Voters (LCV), mainly by promoting oil drilling in locales like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), offshore and within the relatively unpublicized Bakken Formation in North Dakota and Montana. Bakken, in particular, might have more recoverable oil than that remaining under Saudi Arabia.
There are many directions the energy debate can go, but the U.S. Energy PAC is squarely focused on the supply side, Hoium says. The debate over demand "is going on without us," but no one has really thought about drilling and supply, he says. With rising trouble like food riots around the world, Hoium says, "let's drill for oil," in ANWR and elsewhere, though he agrees that the actual amount of oil within ANWR is heavily disputed.
Hoium objects to how the anti-drilling lobby is OK with damaging the environment in places like Saudi Arabia, while claiming to preserve it within the United States. There's a "lot of hypocrisy" in the opposition, he says.
He says that excessive refinery construction regulations have made those investments prohibitively expensive, so they want the refinery regulations reduced.
Meanwhile, they don't oppose alternative fuel development, but sources like wind, hydrogen and ethanol have their limits and are "not going to replace oil in our lifetime" nor lead to national energy independence. The technology for purely electric cars just isn't there (mainly because batteries are problematic). In politics, there's the "old implacable foe of unintended consequences," says Hoium. Ethanol has never really been driven by the market price, and now, in turn, the price of Wheaties has been driven up by ethanol.
Hoium adds that lowering regulations for people who convert their own cars to run on electricity should be supported. "Go out, do it yourself" type people "should not be hampered" by regulations, Hoium says. Home-brew electric conversions are increasingly popular this season, but often blocked by aggressive roadway regulators. [Check out the drag-racing electrified 1978 Ford Pinto, pumping out 1500 amps!]
Today, more expensive sources like shale oil can be tapped because the markets are above $40/barrel. There was a alternative-style drilling boom around 20 years ago, but many people got "left hanging" and lost a lot of money. It "scared a lot of people back then," stalling investment for a long time.
The new PAC, made up of "political activists" and "campaign types" rather than "policy wonks," will focus on federal lobbying at the legislative level. Against the enemies of drilling, they'll engage in direct political action, and independent expenditures. It'll be a crowded field this season, and the television ad people must be happy to have another player in their mix of clients.
Link for Article: http://www.politicsinminnesota.com/the-weekly-report/politics-minnesota-weekly-report-vol-3-issue-48
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