Rick Monteverde wrote:
>> environmentalists have no influence over oil companies.
You're making a joke here, right?
I meant during the Bush administration.
Then who was it behind implementing all
our laws reflecting environmental concerns re pipelines & transport,
available drilling locations offshore and otherwise, refinery locations,
construction and modification permits, refined fuel formulas, "Global
Warming" etc. etc.?
Richard Nixon, at first. He did an excellent job on the environment.
These laws were written because the public at large demanded them.
Environmentalists alone do not have clout. The laws were written with
the advice and consent of the fossil fuels industry. They have had
much more input than environmentalists.
No responsible fossil fuel industry experts or decision-makers
disagree with these laws. The laws have no impact whatever on the
supply of oil, any more than pure food and drug acts have limited our
supply of food. The US does not need additional refinery capacity
because US oil consumption has hardly increased since the 1970s. The
only reason oil is becoming more expensive is because US wells are
tapped out, our production has plummeted from 9.64 bbl/day 5.82,
worldwide production has peaked, and worldwide demand has increased.
Not only is this not the fault of environmentalists, but on the
contrary, if policymakers and the auto industry had listened to
environmentalists, the US would be using fuel-efficient cars and we
would be exporting oil.
Maybe it was the oil companies themselves so they could run the price up due
to artificially constrained supply because of "environmental concerns"
There are no artificial constraints. Of course gasoline costs more
because environmental protection laws are enforced, but that does not
limit supplies of gasoline. Actually, it cost less overall because
environmental laws reduce illness and other costs borne by the general public.
Your assertion that environmentalists caused shortages and problems
in the oil industry reminds me of the assertion made by the dairy
industry in 1915 that doctors who insist on pasteurization drive up
the cost of milk and cause artificial shortages and high prices for
milk. The dairy industry did not realize that an industry which kills
its customers and frightens the public does not have a future.
Killing people and poisoning the environment in ways that can easily
be prevented at a modest cost is bad for public relations, to say the
least. Any industry with a milligram of enlightened self-interest
will stop doing things like that!
- Jed
