OPEC, ANWR and Gas Prices

The question of whether or not we should be drilling for oil in Alaska has been a political controversy since the Carter administration. While liberals argue that we shouldn't touch the Alaskan oil reserves because we may endanger some of the wildlife in the area, conservatives argue that it is about time that the United States stop relying on its enemies for its primary energy source. According to Forbes, the US will be 75% reliant on foreign oil by about 2014. Now, some of you may not think this is a huge deal, and you may be right. However, some of you may not be familiar with OPEC, or the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. Let's take a look at the countries that OPEC consists of:


Now, this may not mean too much to the untrained eye, but let's take a moment to compare that map of OPEC to this next image:


Eerily similar, eh? This is a map of the countries that want to see America and Americans burn in the eternal fires of hell (though, Saudi Arabia claims to be a U.S. ally, which is laughable, at best). Do left-wing lunatics in the Senate and House of Representatives really think that it is wise to rely on these particular countries for 3/4 of our oil/petroleum imports?

You'll notice that one of the countries highlighted on this map is Iran. Does anyone else see the irony? The president of Iran is a man named Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is notorious for his denial of the Jewish Holocaust, among other things. We are buying oil from a man who said that Israel, one of the strongest U.S. allies, should be "wiped off the map". He also openly admitted that Iran was seeking to acquire nuclear weaponry, despite a dozen UN resolutions forbidding them to do so. Iran is the second largest oil exporter in the world. So, in effect, the United States and its allies are paying for Iran's nuclear development program through their reliance on Middle Eastern oil.

Let's take a look at some of the other members of OPEC.

Angola
- Not familiar with Angola? It's a large country located on the southern half of Africa. They recently fell into the spotlight when a UN working group found documentation showing that they were guilty of not only torture, but of making hundreds, possibly thousands, of arbitrary arrests. For those of you that are unfamiliar with this term, it means that the arrests were made with little or no evidence suggesting that a crime had been committed. Angola is also one of the most corrupt countries in the world, according to Transparency International. In 2002, the International Monetary Fund found out that the Angolan government could not account for almost $1 Billion due to "extensive corruption".

Libya
- Ah, who could forget Libya? They'd only been on the State Department's state-sponsored terrorism list for almost 30 years. They also have one of the poorest human rights records in recent history. They are a perfect example of what most Americans take for granted. Not only are they guilty of arbitrary arrest and detention, but they've held political prisoners for many years without charge or trial. Oh, and "freedom of speech, assembly, press, association and religion"? They, along with the idea of a "fair trial", are effectively meaningless in Libya.

Nigeria
- Nigeria also has a terrible human rights record. According to a 2006 State Department report, the Nigerian government was guilty of politically motivated murders, beatings, torture, extortion of civilians, violence, discrimination, human trafficking, child labor, child prostitution and female genital cutting.

Saudi Arabia
- One of the worst human rights records in the world, specifically when it applies to women. Women are not allowed to drive or ride bikes on public roads, testify in court, pilot an aircraft or make eye contact with an unrelated man. In one particular case, a woman was gang raped, and when she reported the incident, she was sentenced in federal court to 200 lashes and six months in prison... because she was in an "unrelated man's car" at the time. Homosexuals, if discovered, can receive punishments up to and including, execution. Citizens are forbidden from bad-mouthing the federal government, and "freedom of religion" does not exist, according to the U.S. State Department. Jewish, Christian or Hindu "houses of prayer" are illegal, as well as owning any non-Muslim "paraphernalia", such as a Bible.

I would continue, but it would start to get a bit redundant, and hopefully, you get the point. Relying on these countries for 75%+ of our oil is like asking John Wayne Gacy to babysit your son while you're off on a weekend excursion.

So, that brings me to my next point...

We need to start being self-reliant and start drilling for our own oil. And this, of course, leads into the question of whether or not we should take advantage of the reserves found in ANWR or in other regions of the U.S. The biggest argument against drilling in Alaska is that it would negatively impact the lives of the native Inuit population by, get this, endangering the caribou (reindeer) population. This argument makes very little sense, as caribou are heavily migratory, but let's assume for a moment that installing a few oil wells on .002% of ANWR would obliterate the entire caribou population in a violent and PETA-unfriendly way (who knows how that could possibly happen?).

Which would you rather get rid of?

Option A.


Option B.


See the point here? Our quality of lives (as well as our bank accounts) are suffering because the liberals in the Senate are assuming that, by installing some oil wells on a microscopic amount of land in ANWR, we will consequently rape and pillage the entirety of the reserve.

Of course, the picture above of the innocent caribou was not taken in the prospective drilling zone in ANWR. This is the drilling zone in ANWR (thanks to Jonah Goldberg for the first one):


As you can see in the above pictures of the ANWR prospective drilling zone, herds of caribou, sweeping majestically, could potentially be wiped out as a result of the installation of oil wells. Oh wait, does that look like a wasteland to anyone else?

Is anyone else confused?

Onto the subject of drilling in the Gulf of Mexico (which the communist Republic of China is currently doing, unopposed).

Here's what really enrages me:

Florida businessmen and politicians oppose drilling in the Gulf because... they believe that visible oil platforms will lower property value. Now, if that's not the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard, then my memory must be sub-par. Has anybody living in coastal Florida ever taken time between vacationing and multiplying their fortunes to ponder the idea of "priorities"?

Now, some of you may be saying, "But Hunter, oil prices are high because evil oil companies want to price gouge as much as possible". This is a huge misconception.

The average American oil company makes a 7-8% profit. Most American business make closer to a 18-25% profit margin (especially in retail). Oil prices are up because we are buying 70% of our crude oil from OPEC, and they can literally charge as much as they want. The same oil companies that were buying oil for $16 USD per barrel in 1999 are now paying as much as $145 for the exact same amount. The gas prices, in that case, have to go up to compensate for the increased crude oil prices. And, yes, the prices do have to go up - because there would be no incentive for oil companies to be in the business if they were losing money.

Let this be a lesson: Don't believe everything you hear on TV. Network news shows are in the business of sensationalism.

Yes, oil companies are seeing record profits, but so are Wal-Mart, Toyota and ING Group. That's the nature of inflation, people.

In closing, my biggest point here is that we don't necessarily need to be spending as much on alternative energy. At the moment, I believe we should focus more on becoming completely self-dependent when it comes to the here and now.

Bottom line: We need to stop buying crude oil from and enriching people that hate us. If we don't, they will only tighten their grip on the U.S. economy, and our children and their children will suffer for it.

And, I finish with a cartoon: