The Oil Drum: Australia/New Zealand

Just a short note as I pause briefly to change suitcase contents in a more than usually intense travel period, I saw that President Bush is now starting to place more emphasis on his Energy Program. Discussion under the fold.

If you have access to Times select (through a library, your own subscription, whatever), you might be interested in reading John Tierney's NYT column on what he thinks it means to be addicted to oil. In a nutshell, he dismisses any possible future energy problems, because he just assumes that the next, latest, greatest thing will inevitably come along: "The problem with Americans is not that we're addicted to oil. As soon as oil becomes more trouble than it's worth, we will sensibly stop putting it in our cars."

Toward the end he goes on to say:

The United States spent decades propping up the shah of Iran only to see the country fall into the hands of our archenemies, but Iran is still exporting oil -- and it is a lot more reliable producer than Iraq, despite all the money and lives we've spent there. The best guarantee of future oil supplies is the sellers' greed, not our diplomatic and military efforts.

When something finally comes along that's cheaper and more reliable than oil, no national energy plan will be necessary. Capitalists will be ready to sell it to eager American drivers. For now, the best strategy is to buy gasoline and stop worrying that it's sinful or dangerous.

I'm very frustrated by this, you know?