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Are US Presidential Hopefuls Selling Alternate Energy Myths? |
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Without exception, US presidential candidates are telling Americans about the urgency of addressing issues like alternate energy and greenhouse gases. |
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| Author: Chitra Ghosh |
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In actual fact, the argument is a fallacy, on both counts. Western multinationals have already taken steps to curtail the influence of the Middle East on oil supplies: exploitation deals in West Africa, Central Asia and Far-Eastern Russia are evidence of that. And, as far as the environment is concerned, there is no international consensus whatsoever about the seriousness of the challenge. “Without the active involvement of countries like China and India, green is an illusion,” said an Indian government spokesman on the sidelines of the recently concluded environmental protection gathering in Bali. “Many third-world nations have bigger problems on their immediate agendas—poverty and hunger, for instance.”
In his speeches leading up to the Michigan Republican primary, Senator John McCain warned Detroit auto workers that their jobs, “lost overseas, are not coming back”, and that the only way to generate new employment in the state was to focus on energy-efficient vehicles; Michigan has lost more than 250,000 jobs since 2000, and the layoffs continue. But the Senator did not address why the job losses occurred in the first place. “The high unemployment rate, 7.5%, in Michigan has got nothing to do with good or bad fuel,” a spokeswoman for the rival Mitt Romney campaign claimed in a television interview yesterday. “These jobs disappeared because of the ability of China, for example, to produce cheaper, quality automobile components.”
Moreover, regardless of the widespread euphoria surrounding the question of environmental friendly cars, there is no verifiable technology which can be commercially applied, in the foreseeable future, to achieve the supposed objective: substantially lower demand for gasoline. As the Detroit automotive industry has consistently maintained, there are many ideas, many experiments, many prototypes, but a cost-effective and sustainable alternative to gas-driven cars is still many years away. So why are the US presidential hopefuls not telling their constituents this simple, uncomplicated fact?
For that matter, facts are at a high premium when both Republican and Democratic contenders speak about dependence on Middle East oil. For one, it is Washington’s closest allies in OPEC who are providing, albeit indirectly, American consumers with their petrochemical requirements. Secondly, US oil majors have made significant progress in tapping oil from non-traditional sources, namely from Central Asia.
Thirdly, the same majors are now sitting on huge potential reserves in West Africa; and latest reports suggest that negotiations concerning Russian reserves off the Far Eastern coast are in an advanced stage. Also, closer to home, Washington must look to the Caribbean, Central America and South America for a bigger proportion its oil and gas needs. “For that to happen, US policy demands revision, since numerous countries in the region are controlled by left-wing governments,” a member of Hugo Chavez’s cabinet declared on Venezuelan television last weekend. “Most of these governments are not fundamentally anti-American. The harsh reality is that more than 250 million people on our continent are still living in extreme poverty, despite decades of IMF-influenced financial programs and military dictatorships. Washington should recognize this, and then create fresh strategic partnerships in the region.”
None of the presidential candidates wants to answer the close-to-home oil question just yet. Perhaps they are afraid of being labeled pro-Castro. Perhaps, the prospect of at least some portion of the fund flows to the Middle East being directed for terrorist purposes is a better sell to American voters at this point. Or, perhaps a comprehensive, realistic and fact-based interpretation of both alternate energy and oil-and-gas resources is simply inconvenient, politically. If the US sincerely seeks to reduce its dependence on current oil producers, then perhaps, they should be exploring other resources both globally and closer to home.
About Author
Authored by Chitra Ghosh, a consultant and specialist writer on junior mining companies engaged in the business of oil and gas. (The view expressed here are solely and exclusively the opinions of the author and related entity takes any responsibility for the use of Ms. Ghosh`s opinions).
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