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September
28, 2001
War and Oil
Renewable Energy:
A Top Priority at Last?
By Steve Breyman
In the wake of the September 11 terrorist
attacks on the US, citizens have begun to ask "how could
this happen?" Among the several complexly twisted roots
of the crisis are America and the industrial world's ongoing
and worsening energy insecurity.
We did not learn a major lesson
of the Gulf War: drastically reduce our dependence on imported
petroleum so that America's sons and daughters will never again
need to shed their blood for oil. Instead, US daily oil imports
rose by nearly 60% since 1991. World crude oil production has
increased by over ten million barrels per day over the same
period. Thirty percent of the world's global daily oil production
comes from the Persian Gulf, the home of sixty-five percent
of known reserves.
The repressive, anti-feminist
Saudi monarchy has been under US protection since FDR met with
Ibn Saud in 1945. President Carter pledged to defend the free
flow of oil from the Gulf in January 1980. Much of US military
strategy and force structure came to revolve around the preservation
of the anti-democratic oil sheikdoms.
And the US never left the Persian
Gulf following the expulsion of the Iraqi military from Kuwait.
The Fifth Fleet patrols the waters of the Gulf. US warplanes
have flown more than a quarter million missions firing thousands
of missiles against hundreds of targets as part of Operation
Southern Watch, enforcing the no-fly-zone in Iraq. Over 20,000
US military personnel are currently deployed in the Gulf at
the price of many billions of dollars per year.
The seemingly permanent US
military presence in the Gulf is a chronic irritant in American
relations with a significant sector of the peoples of the region,
and has increased our vulnerability to terrorism. Recall the
truck bomb attack against Saudi National Guard headquarters
in November 1995 (killing five American servicemen among others).
Another truck bomb killed nineteen young US servicemen in Dhahran
seven months later. Nearly a year ago a human torpedo killed
seventeen sailors aboard the USS Cole in Yemen. Osama bin Laden
claims to be driven by an animosity born of the US presence
in Saudi Arabia, home to Islam's holiest sites.
How to avoid the recurring
tragedies that inevitably accompany our oil habit? Part of the
answer is simple and straightforward: Kick the habit. Let's
make the shift to clean energy now, not later after the polar
ice caps melt, and we suffer through further extreme droughts,
hurricanes, and fossil fuel conflicts.
Contrary to popular myth, renewable
energy technologies-solar, small hydro, wind, biofuels-are proven,
reliable and affordable. Wind power is the world's fastest growing
energy source, and is currently cheaper than both coal and natural
gas. Global shipments of solar photovoltaic cells grow by over
20% per year. Hydrogen fuel cells for appliances, homes, and
cars appear to be right around the corner. ARCO/BP executive
Michael Bowlin suggests we're now in the "last days of
the Age of Oil." Frank Ingriselli, President of Texaco Technology
Ventures, claims we're moving "inexorably towards hydrogen
energy . . . those who don't pursue it . . . will rue it."
We're not yet ready-a delay
of our own making-to meet much of our energy needs through renewable
sources. Here in New York, Gov. Pataki ordered the state government
to meet 10% of its energy needs through renewable sources by
2005, and 20% by 2010. This is a good start. But New York State
does not currently produce enough renewable energy to meet that
modest goal, to say nothing of the energy needs of New York's
businesses and households.
The answer to our energy woes
is neither to commence oil exploration in the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge nor to increase offshore oil drilling. The answer
to our energy troubles is not to build more nuclear power plants-themselves
potential targets for terrorist attack. Only a rapid and far-reaching
transition to renewable energy will ensure US energy security
and prevent future oil wars.
Our shift to renewables is
a question of when, rather than whether. Making the move sooner
rather than later will pay off through cleaner air and water,
stabilized climate, and improved human and ecosystem health.
Switching to green energy is also one of the most important
steps we can take to safeguard our long-term national security.
CP
Steve Breyman is Director of the Ecological Economics,
Values & Policy Program at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
CounterPunch:
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