Drilling Utah

Robert Ellis

December 05, 2009

Drilling Utah

Drilling for oil in and near National Parks has become a hot topic recently. But before you draw the line and say where you stand, take a moment to understand the necessity of these lands in the balance of future generations. This land can be preserved for the recreational and aesthetic enjoyment of future generations or it can be drilled to preserve the enjoyment of the American Dream, which is sustained by oil.

The responsibility of the National Park Service is to "[manage] areas to provide for public enjoyment in such a way that will leave resources 'unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations'" (Smith, 2009). Managing "areas to provide public enjoyment" is no different than an amusement park's mission; however, the words "resources," "unimpaired," and "future" give direction to managing these "areas." Unimpaired can be defined by its antonym, "impaired." A person who is "impaired" has a loss of ability. For example, the man has impaired eyesight; his eyes see less. The National Park Service's responsibility can be restated as: managing areas for public enjoyment, now and into the future, without damaging resources.

The sight of an oil pad next to my favorite hiking trail is something I would not enjoy. This is the picture that many environmentalists have painted. And it has become more than a "Utah" issue as we find Franklin Seal, a spokesman for the environmental group Wildland CPR being quoted in a Virginia newspaper as saying, "If you're standing at Delicate Arch ... and you're looking through the arch, you could see drill pads on the hillside behind it" (Foy, 2008 , p. A.9). Many agree that once a national park is destroyed by drilling it's impossible to reverse the effects. Others believe that the U.S. can afford to import oil and should save its resources until a global emergency arises.

Figure 1. Delicate Arch at Arches National Park, Utah

Note: From the National Biological Informational Infrastructure. nbii.gov

The American lifestyle, and as many world citizens would say, the "American Dream," is sustained by oil. In his State of the Union Address, President George Bush (2006) agreed by saying, "we have a serious problem: America is addicted to oil." America does have a serious problem based in an inability to sustain energy demand without foreign support. The American Petroleum Institute (API) reports in a recent article that U.S. oil production is at an average of 5 million barrels per day and that U.S. oil consumption dropped from almost 21 million to almost 19 million barrels a day, due to a "sluggish economy" (Landry, 2009). The U.S. produces only a quarter of the oil it consumes.

 And with oil being a "non-renewable energy source" petroleum will be depleted (Katel, 2008). LiveScience reports that petroleum forms too slowly for it to be the "solution to our petroleum supplies" (Than, 2005). Some experts like Peter Davies, chief economist at BP believe that we have less than 40 years before all the major oil reserves are depleted (Conway, 2004). Houston energy consultant Matthew R. Simmons, a leading proponent of the peak oil theory says that we have used half of earth's oil, "run out of mega-fields, and demand is not going to slow down" (Katel, 2008).  In the CQ Researcher article Oil Jitters (2008), the Government Accountability Office (GAO), which examines the use of public funds; evaluates federal programs and policies; and provides analyses, recommendations, and other assistance to help Congress make informed oversight, policy, and funding decisions, reports that "the amount of oil remaining in the ground is highly uncertain, because the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) controls most of the estimated world oil reserves and its estimates…are not verified by independent auditors"(Katel, 2008). GAO (2005) also states in their Energy Markets report that oil prices are "directly" linked to the price of gasoline and that when OPEC members, who "produce 40 percent of the world's crude oil and control almost 70 percent of the world's proven oil reserves, collectively agree to restrict production of crude oil" world prices increase and that price is "passed to consumers" at the gasoline pump. With the probability that the world's major energy source, oil, will not be able to meet the demand in upcoming decades, an entire lifestyle is at stake and though we may not see the effects now, the next two generations will feel the full consequences of our decisions.

In a lecture from Heritage Foundation: Leadership for America, Ariel Cohen, Ph.D. (2007) states that this growing dependence on oil will have "dire consequences for the economic well-being of the United States, our national security, and the American way of life." Nations like Russia have recently used oil as a political weapon on countries like Georgia who depend on foreign oil. Our large unsatisfied demands in the U.S. for oil make us easy victims to an economic attack. The price of oil became a weapon when Arab OPEC nations started "the embargo on Oct. 17, 1973, and almost overnight 4 million barrels of oil a day were removed from world supplies. Demand rose 7 percent above supply, and international prices quadrupled from $3 a barrel to $12… and on Nov. 4, 1979, Iranian revolutionaries seized the U.S. Embassy and took 52 employees hostage — holding them for 444 days. Panic took hold of energy markets again, and prices shot up to the $45-per-barrel range, as high as they'd ever been" (Katel, 2008). Business and families will be destroyed if foreign powers decide to strangle the U.S. by its oily throat. We are addicted and we will pay high prices for our addiction.

Figure 1. Common petroleum-based tents

Note: From Northland Camping. northlandcamping.com

    I would like to depict an image of reality for the average person who enjoys the outdoors. Most outdoor enthusiasts -whether they be hikers, fisherman, backpacker, climbers, or hunters- all drive to their location-whether that be a lake, a trail head or a camp ground- and use gasoline to fuel their vehicles. With over 50 percent, according to a CNN (2006) article, of the U.S. population living in suburbs, there is large quantity of people who drive to get to their scenic location. And with bio-plastics just emerging the majority of outdoor equipment used is petroleum based plastic. We all use oil to enjoy the outdoors.

    I recognize that between the different sides of this argument, they all recognize the importance of maintaining and preserving an enjoyable future. George Washington (1796) warned in his farewell address against "ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burden which we ourselves ought to bear." And Thomas Friedman (2008) author of the book Hot, Flat and Crowded agrees and states, "While our parents left us an America much wealthier and healthier than the one that was passed to them, our generation seems determined to pass on to our children a downwardly mobile America" (p.21). What we leave undone today will be left for tomorrow's generation to solve. The future is indeed at hand and our decisions may cause future generations of the world to lose their possibility of living an American life style. Our National Parks cannot be repaired once they have been impaired. There is a definite need for oil, but to drill at any cost to sustain our addiction to oil is a cost future generations should not have to pay. National Parks are of major importance to world tourists and the American family.

References

Bush, G.W. (2006, January 31). President Bush's state of the union address. Washinton D.C.: CQ Transcripts Wire . Retrieved on Novemeber 15, 2009 from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp- dyn/content/article/2006/01/31/AR2006013101468.html
CNN. (October 17, 2006). U.S. population now 300 million and growing. Retrieved on November 30, 2009 from http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/10/17/300.million.over/index.html
Cohen, A. (2007, March 22). The national security consequences of oil dependency, heritage lecture #1021. Retrieved October 19, 2009, from The Heritage Foundation: Leadership for America: http://www.heritage.org/Research/NationalSecurity/hl1021.cfm
Conway, E. (2004, June 15). There's enough oil to last 40 years, says BP. The Telegraph . Retrieved on November 13 2009 from http://www.energybulletin.net/node/659
GAO. (May 10, 2005). Energy markets: understanding current gasoline prices and potential future trends. Retrieved on November 26, 2009 from http://www.gao.gov/htext/d05675t.html.
Foy, P. (2008, November 17). Bush plan would put drill rigs across parks' treasured vistas . Virginian - Pilot. Norfolk, Va. , p. A.9. Retrieved on September 18, 2009 from ProQuest Standard.
Friedman, T. (2008). Hot, flat, and crowded. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.p 21
Katel, P. (2008, January 4). Oil jitters. CQ Researcher, 18, 1-24. Retrieved November 13, 2009, from CQ Researcher Online, http://library.cqpress.com.ezproxy.ldsbc.edu/cqresearcher/cqresrre2008010400.
Landry, C. (July 16, 2009). Sluggish economy pushes U.S. oil demand to lowest level in decade: API. Retrieved on November 30, 2009 from API: http://www.api.org/Newsroom/us_oil_demand_june09.cfm
Smith, B. (January 2003). National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior: criteria for parklands. Retrieved on November 24 2009 from National Park Service: http://www.nps.gov/legacy/criteria.html
Than, K. (2005). The mysterious origin and supply of oil. LiveScience . Retrieved on November 16, 2008 from http://www.livescience.com/environment/051011_oil_origins.html
Washington, G. (1796). President George Washington's Farewell Address . Retrieved on November 2, 2009 from http://www.allamericanpatriots.com/american_historical_documents_1796_president_ge orge_washingtons_farewell_address