Read these 3 snippets (and the full articles). Note that in the first piece, Mathis engages in a classic attack on the motives of his enemies. I am not simply a citizen with a different and equally valuable opinion, I am a radical obstructionist and a liar feigning concern for the environment. Thanks, Mark. No one would suggest the same of an oil industry guy like you.
Of course, it takes an economics professor to really screw up the discussion. In the second piece, Gisser seems to support but dislike higher prices that aren’t as high as we think they are. He supports a tariff that keeps the price per barrel high (a widely accepted idea, even among “hands-off” conservatives) but opposes current tariffs that keep the price higher.
Both Gisser and Mathis emphasize the part of the problem is bad people like me won’t allow oil refineries in our back yards. And yet, it was an oil company that shut down a successful oil refinery in California for no apparent reason (other than the all-ruling bottom line). Read the previous entry for some of the evidence that the oil industry itself crushed independent refineries to control the market. It’s not NIMBY, it’s NIMBP — Not In My Back Pocket.
Both Gisser and Mathis believe ANWR will solve everything, an astonishingly nutty idea. Leave aside that a deal was made ages ago to sacrifice part of Alaska and preserve a tinier part. Leave aside what this says about people willing to betray earlier agreements. Just consider how long it would take ANWR oil to reach market and its tiny impact. This can be boiled down to a longish bumpersticker: We Will NOT Drill Our Way Out of This Problem. mjh
ABQjournal: Looming Crisis Eclipses 575 Debate By Mark Mathis, Executive director, Citizens‘ Alliance for Responsible Energy [Citizens’ Alliance for Responsible Energy’s membership includes New Mexico oil and gas producers.]
I’m focused on educating the public about an issue that affects every aspect of our daily lives: the need to guarantee America’s energy supply. Without abundant, affordable energy, our high quality of life will quickly decline. And yet, just like the battle over the 505, many politicians are not looking out for your best interests.
Oil prices have climbed above $70 a barrel, but Congress will not allow oil companies to drill in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Congressional members voting “no” on ANWR understand that this vast oilfield could give us one million barrels of crude a day for 20 to 30 years. They know only a tiny portion of the refuge will be disturbed (the equivalent of one letter on this page), and that caribou populations at nearby Prudhoe Bay have quintupled since production began there. However, these nonleaders say “Nay” to ANWR because they are controlled by radical activist groups who spend enormous amounts of money supporting those who vote for their agenda while attacking those who don’t.
These same congressional obstructionists have voted to maintain a ban on oil and natural gas drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf that’s been off limits for 25 years. Meanwhile, Cuba is exploring for oil and gas just 45 miles from American beaches. Opponents of drilling feign concern over disrupted views and environmental danger. Of course, they know you can’t see a drilling rig three to 200 miles from the shoreline and that oil rigs in the Gulf took all Hurricane Katrina could dish out without a single spill.
Because of congressional inaction, nuclear power is still on the back burner, new refineries for gasoline can’t get built, onshore drilling is delayed or denied and Canadian companies drill for natural gas in the Great Lakes while the American region remains off limits. All the while your energy costs keep rising.
ABQjournal: Hysteria Over High Gas Prices Is Pumped Up By Micha Gisser, of the Rio Grande Foundation, professor emeritus of economics, University of New Mexico, and a senior fellow, Rio Grande Foundation. [mjh: The Rio Grande Foundation is a “think” tank located in a booth under the picture of John Wayne at the Frontier.]
Surprisingly, today our economy is robust despite the spike in oil prices. There are two reasons for this: First, at a price of $1.50 a gallon, due to personal income growth and increased automobile efficiency, the percentage of average household income spent on gasoline fell from 4.5 percent in 1971 to 3.1 percent in 2001.
Second, President Bush’s tax cut in May of 2003, supported by accommodating monetary policy, gave the economy a huge boost that easily swamped the impact of rising gasoline prices. Politicians who advocate restoring taxes to their pre-May 2003 level should think again.
The present spike in gasoline prices— surprise, surprise— occurred because supply and demand for a change have not been going hand-in-hand. Demand for oil has intensified since the economies of China and India have at long last taken off. But the growth in oil supply slowed down considerably in the wake of Katrina and Rita [mjh: in spite of those flawless oil rigs Mathis sings the praises of?], the instability in the Middle East [mjh: which our inept leadership contributes to] and in response to the new ethanol legislation fiasco. That policy forced oil companies to shoulder the distorting 54-cent a gallon tariff to protect ethanol producers.
In the short term Congress could alleviate the market pressures by rescinding the ethanol tariff, abolishing— or at least relaxing— the “boutique” regulations that hinder gasoline mobility across the United States, and doing something about the NIMBY (not in my backyard) activists who are responsible for the freeze in the number of oil refineries.
ABQjournal: More Wells a Drop in Bucket of Energy Woes By Stephen Capra, New Mexico Wilderness Alliance
For the past year many people have watched with frustration as the energy crisis has come to engulf America. We all knew it was coming; it’s just that we have a President that chose to ignore the warnings and continues to blame conservationists and any rational person who has challenged his oil-based policies.
America burns 10,000 gallons of oil per second. We possess only 3 percent of the world’s oil reserves, and 2.9 percent of the world’s natural gas reserves, yet we are producing them at a much faster rate than many Mid-East countries, meaning we will be more vulnerable to shortages sooner, according to reports from British Petroleum.
The Gulf region in the Mid-East provides 24 percent of our oil. …
Here in the Rocky Mountain West, oil and gas development has spread like wildfire. Drill rigs are entering residential neighborhoods, bordering National Parks, sprouting up in National Monuments and threatening some of our wildest remaining public lands, yet we are now paying more than ever to heat our homes and drive our cars. It seems abundantly clear that oil is not the answer to our energy needs.
For the past six years President Bush and Congress have given the oil and gas industry everything they want on a silver platter. From the Enron debacle, to opening up vast tracts of public lands, to giving billions in tax cuts and royalty relief to an industry that is raking in record profits, while destroying our precious groundwater, wildlife habitat and our most important gift to future generations— our land. While top executives walk away with golden parachutes, those on fixed incomes struggle to stay warm in winter or cool in summer, and driving is slowly becoming a privilege of the wealthy. This president and Congress should be held accountable for failing miserably to protect the economic, environmental and national security interests of our country by allowing the big oil lobby to control domestic energy policy. …
The industry stump speech continues to be we need all types of energy, including alternative sources. But when it comes to putting your money where your mouth is, industry, with a few exceptions, continues to put its effort into drilling and its money into lobbying for more access to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Otero Mesa, Valle Vidal and any place that can put money in their coffers.
The question is how do we solve the problem? First, I think we can all agree there are no simple solutions. Oil in the short-term will clearly continue to be part of the energy matrix. Where conservationists and the oil industry differ is in approach. It is imperative that drilling of our wildest public lands be stopped. It’s simply not going to make a meaningful difference in the supply or price of oil or gas that we have in America. If we drilled in the Arctic Refuge today it would take more than 10 years for that oil to reach the market and would reduce the price at the pump by 1 cent per gallon in 20 years, when it finally reached peak production, according to the Energy Information Administration, a branch of the Department of Energy. With the price of oil being set by the world market, Refuge oil would be a drop in the bucket.
When we say no to the oil and gas industry, we force change….
More than 95 percent of our public lands are open today to drilling. The conservation community is battling to save the last 5 percent. Oil is not the answer. We must be bold and imaginative in developing alternative sources of energy. We must begin by saying no to the Bush energy policies and yes to sanity.
[updated 6/27/06 to add two other responses to Mark Mathis’ piece…]
ABQjournal: Letters to the Editor
Hurricanes Put Offshore Drilling Rigs at Risk
RE: “LOOMING CRISIS Eclipses 575 Debate” commentary by Mark Mathis, executive director, Citizens’ Alliance for Responsible Energy
Mathis claimed that opponents of drilling, referring to offshore development in the Gulf of Mexico, “feign concern over disrupted views and environmental danger.” He went on to state, “oil rigs in the Gulf took all Hurricane Katrina could dish out without a single spill.”
If the biggest hurricane in recent memory can’t cause a “single spill,” then we can rest assured places like Otero Mesa will certainly not be impacted. Not so.
According to the Minerals Management Service (MMS), a federal agency that manages the nation’s natural gas, oil and other mineral resources on the outer continental shelf— i.e., the Gulf of Mexico— at least one major spill did indeed occur offshore as a result of Katrina.
MMS reports that 115 platforms were destroyed and 457 pipelines were damaged, including 100 major pipelines over 10 inches in diameter. So far, 146 hurricane-related oil spills have been identified. Six of these were at least 1,000 barrels in size, the largest being 3,625 barrels.
At 42 gallons per barrel, that comes to at least 362,000 gallons of oil spilled in just those six largest events. The biggest spill of these six is 152,000 gallons.
These numbers don’t sound environmentally friendly and they certainly don’t validate Mathis’ claim of no spills caused by the hurricane.
NATHAN NEWCOMER
Albuquerque
Can’t Work for Industry And Consumers’ Interests
I FIND IT misleading that the Citizens’ Alliance for Responsible Energy claims to be working in the best interest of energy consumers. In actuality, they’re just a front group for the oil and gas industry.
Mark Mathis, the group’s executive director and former spokesperson for the American Petroleum Association, recently wrote a commentary proclaiming there are more important things facing New Mexicans than the issue of changing our area code.
I couldn’t agree more, but we quickly part ways when he calls for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. …
With only 3 percent of world’s oil reserves and 2.9 percent of the world’s natural gas reserves, we could drill everywhere and still not be energy independent. It makes sense then to protect these wild lands for future generations and to diligently commit ourselves to developing clean forms of energy and increasing fuel efficiency, instead of developing, sucking dry and leaving our last wild lands to rot.
Mathis is fighting for the wrong side while pretending to be regular Joe. I cannot respect that.
TRISHA LONDON
Albuquerque