We Are An Oil-Based Economy

Yesterday the proprietor of the blog MAL Contend tried to take Wisconsin Senate candidate Ron Johnson to task by implying that he's agog with joy over a report that 1+ millions gallons of oil have spilled into a Michigan river. MAL quotes an AP article:

Federal officials now estimate that more than 1 million gallons of oil may have spilled into a major river in southern Michigan, and the governor is sharply criticizing clean-up efforts as "wholly inadequate".

So how does MAL know that Ron Johnson is beaming like a proud father over this? MAL offers this Johnson quote:

Is this what Ron Johnson had in mind when he said, "Yeah. You know, the bottom line is that we are an oil-based economy. There’s nothing we’re going to do to get off of that for many, many years, so I think we have to just be realistic and recognize that fact. And I think we have to get the oil where it is, but we need to do it responsibly."

I don't know this MAL person but I do know that he/she is being completely asinine. There's not a cat in hell's chance that I'd vote for Ron Johnson but his remarks above are spot on. And to suggest that anyone who recognizes that we have an oil-based economy that isn't going anywhere in the near future shouts with glee over an oil spill is absolutely stupid. Johnson may have said other things which make him a complete douchebag, but the quote above is simple pragmatism. How does Johnson saying that we need to extract oil responsibly equal happiness at the pollution caused by an oil spill? Only someone like MAL engaging in his/her own douchebaggery can explain that.

Johnson is right. We are an oil-based economy. Until either A) we move to renewable resources or B) Americans throw away their iDevices, get off the grid, and raise their own food, we're going to be an oil-based economy. It's not a matter of what we should do, it's what we are doing. And moving away from oil is not something we're doing. If you want to know why candidates and politicians talk about renewable energy but we never seem to move in that direction, then look in the mirror. No politician is going to try to make drastic changes until a majority of Americans are willing to make some sacrifices in their lifesytles and/or pocketbooks.

Watch this brief interview with Lisa Margonelli, author of Oil on the Brain: Adventures from the Pump to the Pipeline:



Here's the money quote which is her response to the question of whether she'd ban offshore drilling:

"No. Well, me personally, I would ban it but as a person who thinks about energy, no. I think it's silly. We've had one spill in 40 years. It appears that it was the result of fairly egregious mistakes and negligence and a lot of other things. A lot of risky decisions were made...Here's my problem with banning offshore drilling: I don't know that you have a right to drive a car and use oil if you're not willing to let someone drill it out of your front yard...Just because you're a rich country and you can afford to import the stuff that we should be imposing those costs on another people. Especially people around the world that don't have the same environmental regulations that we have..."

Emphasis mine.

The Gulf oil spill has brought out the hypocritical NIMBYism of many Americans. "We should reduce our oil consumption but as long as we're still going to be using millions of barrels a day, let's protect the Gulf and let other countries have those spills." I agree with Ms. Margonelli. If we Americans are going to use 20+ million barrels of oil per day, then we should be willing to deal with spills instead of outsourcing environmental disasters to places like Nigeria.

So, no MAL, that oil spill was not was Johnson had in mind when he said what you quoted. I think what he had in mind was the fact that we Americans are fossil fuel hogs. We are 5% of the world's population but use nearly 25% of the world's fossil fuels. Given that quote, Johnson is merely summarizing a state of affairs that no one has any reason to believe is going to change soon, not prescribing environmental holocaust. Perhaps MAL can personally take the lead by refusing to buy things made of or wrapped in plastic and buy only that made fossil fuel free within a few miles of his/her home. No more synthetic fabrics. Raise all of his/her own food organically. Use a horse and carriage for transportation. Get rid of any asphalt shingles on his/her house. &c and so on. I'm betting you don't want to start living like its 1899 again and neither do the vast majority of the other 307,006,549 Americans. Because until MAL and millions upon millions of others in this country do that, Johnson will be right. We are an oil-based economy. And simply acknowledging this fact does not make one happy to see environmental devastation wrought by the pursuit of oil which has given we Americans an incredibly high standard of living.