Louisiana Oil Spill

Global warming, air pollution, extraction damage, funding extremist groups... and now this. As if there were not enough reasons to stop using oil, here is yet another example of the devastation wrought by our addiction to liquid gold. In some ways, accidents like this are no worse than the day to day damage caused by humanity's massive use of oil, only this garners media attention and the effects are obvious to the lay person. In the long term, our continued use of fossil fuels will lead to just as devastating--if not more so--results.

For your viewing pleasure:

NPD 3.19.09

*The Treasury Department is giving $5 billion to auto parts dealers who are struggling due to the problems of the Big Three automakers. This is a piece of the argument in favor of auto bailout coming to fruition.

*This is whacky: A school in Dallas was settling disputes in "the cage" by pitting feuding students against each other in a bare-knuckle fight inside of an equipment cage. As Jon Stewart said, "This can't be right."

*As the dollar weakens the price of oil goes up, today rising 7%. Is this a harbinger of what is to come this summer?

*The NCAA basketball tournament started today and my bracket didn't fare so well. With only one big upset--Western Kentucky over Illinois--those of us that predicted a wild ride were on the outside looking in.

OPEC Cuts Production

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC, announced today that they are cutting production by 2.2 million barrels per day. To put that number into perspective, world oil consumption is 80-85 million barrels per day, so they are cutting production by about %3. Additionally, Russia and Azerbaijan, two non-OPEC oil producers, also announced production cuts.

This is not a trivial amount, however oil prices did not immediately go up today in response to the news. Basic economic theory predicts that a cut in supply will increase the price, which is exactly what these countries are trying to do. Rather than sell their product at $45/barrel, it makes a whole lot more sense to sell it for $60, $70, or $80+. Keep in mind that their oil reserves are finite--eventually it's going to run out--so they want to make as much money as possible while they still have it.

As an aside, simply because it is incredible, let's work out daily worldwide oil consumption. One barrel of oil is 42 gallons. Humans use 80-85 million barrels a day, which is about 3.5 billion (billion!) gallons of gas per day. In a world where billions of people do not even have a car, humans consume about half a gallon per person, per day. This average is misleading because people in countries like the United States use a much higher percentage. Pretty astounding numbers.

Non-Paper Daily, 12.12.2008

*The Minnesota State Canvassing Board (they deal with elections) directed county election officials to count approximately 1,600 wrongly disqualified absentee ballots. Franken, who is currently losing by a couple hundred votes, outperformed Norm Coleman in absentee ballots, so this is a huge boost to his chances at winning.

*The precipitous drop in oil prices is severely hurting the economies of countries that rely on its export as their primary source of income (Iran, Russia, et al., I'm looking your way.)

*Looks like the auto company bailout is a no-go due to Republican senators protests. The Bush administration, however, is poised to act, so it looks like the Big Three car manufacturers won't be going bankrupt... yet.

*Miley Cyrus received a Porsche for her birthday, but was disappointed it wasn't the car she wanted. Can't she just buy the car she wants?

Sarah Palin Knows God's Will

John over at Vita Brevis brought up an interesting point about Sarah Palin's religious views. Apparently she told graduating ministry students from her hometown church in Wasilla, Alaska that the Iraq War and a completed oil pipeline were God's will. My favorite excerpt from John:

Methinks the first sign that someone doesn't know God's will is when they begin a sentence with "God's will is," and end it with something about "war" or "oil pipeline."

Touche.

McCain Drops a Bomb (No, not on Iran... yet)

For the five years since the invasion and occupation of Iraq there have been millions of people arguing the war was for oil. Each and every time these people were dismissed by Republicans as being Quacks, Communists, Socialists, Stupid, Disingenuous, Pussies, Etc. Republicans said it was about terrorism and 'Merican freedom.

Then, a couple days ago, John McCain said this.

Let's break it down:

A: McCain's soon-to-be-released energy policy will eliminate our dependence on oil from the Middle East.
Leads to B: This will prevent us from having to send our troops into war in the Middle East.

So we did go to war for oil afterall. Wow.

The people making this argument must feel soooooo vindicated.

$4 per Gallon

I saw it, finally, yesterday. $4.15 for a gallon of diesel fuel. Granted it wasn't unleaded, but it's still put me a bit cross-eyed seeing the big 4. Actually, to be honest, I was expecting $4-plus to hit us months ago, but it didn't come until now when the markets finally closed at $100+ per barrel.

I have a few thoughts about rising gas prices, some of which may surprise folks. Let's start off with a bang: For the most part I'm a fan. No, even better: A big fan. You read right, for the most part I cheer as gas prices go up. Here's why:

We, as a nation, use too much oil. The United State's uses over 20 million barrels of gas PER DAY. That's 840 million gallons... per day... every day... just in the United States. This accounts for approximately one fourth of the entire global consumption. About half of that is for vehicles, the other half goes to a multitude of petroleum products. It's truly a phenomenal number.

So why is it bad to use that much gas? The big three:

1) Economic security: We import 65% of the oil we use. That's almost $1.5 billion dollars a day we send to other countries for a product we burn. Gone. Billions of dollars go out our collective tailpipe and into the coffers of other nations.

2) National security: We buy our oil from all over world, but some regions are more friendly to us than others. Of the Top 15 Importers many have extremist ties and funnel that money to terrorist organizations. Saudi Arabia, for example, is our second largest supplier of oil... and the largest supplier of 9/11 hijackers and nearly half the foreign fighters in Iraq. Yes, Osama does love your SUV, it pays his bills. So, we get to drive our cars in exchange for funding those that shoot at and blow up our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. Great trade.

3) Environmental concerns: If you don't care about economic troubles or national security concerns, perhaps you're worried about smog and greenhouse gas emissions. Transportation in the United States accounts for nearly 1/3 of all CO2 emissions. In addition, oil extraction and transportation spills have massive environmental costs. Whether from under land, under water, or from oil shale, each method causes significant environmental degradation.

I cheer higher gas prices because it means people are more likely to walk, ride a bike, take public transportation, or share a ride. I cheer higher gas prices because it leads people to think of fuel efficiency when purchasing a new car. I cheer higher gas prices because it forces car manufacturers to develop (or re-develop as the case may be) plug-in electric cars. I cheer higher gas prices because it is the only way to get people to evaluate how they live and reduce their oil consumption. It's good for everyone... except the oil executives... and I'm okay with that.