Press "Enter" to skip to content

Thanks, OPEC, but we have options

Thank you, OPEC, for lowering oil prices. This statement is counter to what I have said and felt for years. Usually lower oil prices cause more SUVs and increased destruction to the environment. Lately with oil prices high, CO2 intensive fracking oil has become profitable with oil companies. Fracked oil requires one gallon to extract 4 gallons. Spindle Top oil from the original Texas oil boom, took one gallon to produce 50 gallons. Tar sands oil being very energy intensive and oil prices now going down, is becoming a financial loosing proposition. Fracking is also a quick ticket to global climate doom and dare I say, a major national security threat.

Running mile long trains loaded with a million gallons of volatile oil through the hearts of our cities and towns is too tempting to anyone bent on doing heinous terrorist acts. If Sept. 11th, 2001 was possible with just a few box cutters, what destruction and harm might a million gallon oil train exploding into a mile wide blast zone cause at rush hour in downtown Seattle or Portland? Fracking is a lose-lose situation for everyone but greedy, short sighted oil investors.

OPEC, while I applaud you for making fracking unprofitable I must also voice my disagreement in continued dependence on fossil fuels. The switch to renewables has proven possible, profitable and has already begun.

We have options—solar, wind, tidal, hydro, biodiesel, cellulosic ethanol, better batteries, and my favorite and likely one of the most promising, algae. Algenol.com of Ft. Myers Florida announced they will be starting commercial production of algae based biofuels at quantities of over 9,000 gallons per acre in 2015. The time for clean renewable fuels has arrived, lets start demanding them. The oil companies will never be the first to initiate this switch but they will surely follow or go out of business. Either way a good thing. We are witnessing a similar change happening today in electric cars being built by the completely new Tesla automobile company, forcing the legacy auto companies to offer viable electric options also.

 

Be First to Comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Next:
IWW Picket Line—Fairhaven Haggen Food & Pharmacy in Bellingham Saturday,…