Do-little ideas no cure for oil addiction

Ninety-seven U.S. senators voted on Tuesday to stop filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve for six months, a move they say they hope will help ease the gas-price burden on motorists through the summer months. The vast majority of House members later followed suit in approving the proposal.

But the reality is that this was a do-nothing vote following weeks of partisan rhetoric designed to make it look, in this election year, like Congress is doing something to allay the concerns of angry Americans who are watching gas and food prices skyrocket. Meanwhile, substantive legislation that would actually help solve America’s energy and fuel crisis is nowhere to be found.

The rhetoric began on April 29 when President Bush publicly blamed Congress for doing nothing about rising oil prices. Two days later, Senate Republicans responded first, with U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, backed by 19 Republican cosponsors, holding a news conference to announce legislation that would increase domestic oil production with more offshore drilling and by opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling.

Shortly after Domenici, R-N.M. and the ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, announced the introduction of that legislation, Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M. and chair of the committee, gave a speech on the Senate floor calling for a halt to the filling of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. He also made other proposals, including the suggestion that Americans drive slower.

Bingaman’s suggestions were soon followed by a bill from Senate Democrats that included some proposals he backed and others he did not. Democrats and Republicans then spent several days sending out news release after news release attacking the others’ proposals.

Domenici and Bingaman were no exception, engaging in the partisan rhetoric along with everyone else. A news release from Bingaman’s office “highlights flaws in Senate Republicans’ energy proposal,” while a release from Domenici says the Democrats’ plan is “running on empty.”

The Senate rejected Domenici’s proposal to increase production before voting overwhelmingly on Tuesday to stop filling the reserve, which would put another 70,000 barrels of oil per day on the market. That pales in comparison with daily consumption and would have little or no effect on gas prices. At best, prices would drop a few cents per gallon, only to start rising again from that point. That’s one reason the president has said he opposes the proposal.

A long-term solution is needed

All the talk is about short- and mid-term solutions – conserving oil, increasing production of oil, tightening oversight of oil companies and increasing taxes on oil companies. But focusing on oil won’t cure our addiction to it. Gas prices are going to continue to rise. We can increase domestic production and fuel efficiency as much as possible, but we’re not going to decrease our dependence on oil that way. We’ll just slow the rate at which it’s increasing.

The only way to decrease our dependence on oil is to replace it with other fuel sources.

We need leaders with the long-term vision to find ways to encourage or force development of alternative fuel and energy sources. America must break its addiction to oil, foreign and domestic. That’s going to take a long time. It will take leaders willing to set a goal that may not be accomplished until long after they leave office. In a political system that focuses on short-term thinking and the 24-hour news cycle, that’s going to be difficult.

But the only real solution is putting aside partisan rhetoric to work through substantive policy differences and find compromises that will increase America’s use of alternative fuel and energy sources. With gas and food prices shooting up as the economy and wages continue to stagnate, we can’t afford to waste our time with short-term political stunts that do little or nothing to solve the problem. It’s time we focus on the long-term solution we should have tackled years ago.

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