One Step Forward, One Step Back

That's one small step for health care, one giant leap backward for U.S. energy policy.

In the wake of last week's relative victory for health care reform, President Obama decided today to shift the big fast car from fourth gear directly into reverse by ending the ban on drilling for oil along the Atlantic coast.

I see this as the same kind of mistake that the U.S. Mint has made each time it has tried to introduce a $1 coin into general circulation.  Why do you suppose we still use dollar bills far more than dollar coins?  It's because the Mint refuses to actually REPLACE the bills with the coins.  If you want to introduce a new form of currency to supplant an old one, you have to take the old one out of circulation.

Thus it is with President Obama's move with ending the ban on oil drilling.  If this nation is to reduce its dependence upon foreign oil, the most logical step is to reduce its dependence upon ALL oil, foreign or domestic.  Allowing drilling along the east coast is the most shortsighted, pandering decision this President has made.

It will take years to turn any oil exploration in the Atlantic into real oil production.  And, assuming they find any sources worth tapping, the amount of oil they produce will likely do little to alleviate our dependence upon Middle Eastern oil.  Why?  Because if more oil is available, more oil will be consumed -- basic supply and demand.

Think about it.  The only reason hybrid cars became commercially viable was because, for a short time, gasoline cost more than four dollars per gallon.  That proved that if we can't afford it, we won't use it.

Providing more oil, even if it's our own, will do nothing toward weaning our country from our careless use of the black crude.  A sensible long term strategy toward energy use in the U.S. should focus solely on non-oil sources:  solar, wind, geothermal, and others.

By throwing a bone to the Republican "Drill, Drill, Drill" camp, President Obama has done nothing more than perpetuate a 1950's attitude toward oil, and prove that he is scared of the GOP and what the mid-term elections may hold in store.

He should have stuck to the plan and kept moving us further into the 21st century, and not back into the 20th.

(Photo Credits:  Oil platform-Rob Carr/AP, Solar panels-Szencorp Sustainable Development)