Coastline Pilot/LA TIMES

29 April 2005

 

Chasing the Muse

Catharine Cooper 

 

Let’s talk about oil.

 

Drat.  That doesn’t sound like much fun, does it? 

 

I mean, if you’re like me, a glance at the gas gauge nudging itself toward the BIG E (for EMPTY) sends a recurring shiver down your back. I admit it – I own a gas guzzling SUV.  “Slynz” was a mid-life crisis purchase.  She’s beautiful, has 347 ponies running under the hood, and rips past grief-giving jerks on the freeway.  When she was new, gas prices were what I can affectionately refer to as low, and we definitely had a love affair.

 

Okay. Love affair over, or at least tainted.  $60 a tank?  $60 a tank!  Ouch!

 

So what’s a gal to do?  Sell her beloved Slynx?  One of the numerous spam emails I receive would have me believe that my job is not to complain about the prices, but to simply make more money.  Somehow, I don’t think that’s quite the complete answer.

 

President Bush, et al, wants to open up additional offshore oil leases and, of course, drill in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge.  The science doesn’t quite match the projections, but that won’t slow down our current one-party government’s desires.  Gee.  I can’t wait to have another oil well to enhance my Pacific view! 

 

There are whispers about ‘our’ oil going to places like China and India, which are expanding their automobile population with wild abandon.  When pressed, administration officials hurriedly spill platitudes about ‘that’ never happening. If I’ve learned one thing in the last six years, it’s to not believe much of what they say.  Certainly, the idea of America as an oil exporter cracks open the ‘story’ we hear about self-sufficiency and opens the stinky box of greed. 

 

If the oil isn’t for us, then exactly why should we despoil our last untouched piece of the north coast and forever damage a refuge, necessary for the basic existence – the breeding grounds - for millions of migratory birds, porcupine caribou and polar bears.  Unlike the American Indians, they cannot simply be relocated.

 

Real science tells us, there really isn’t enough oil to make drilling in ANWR financially viable.  Oil reserve estimates of six months to one year – and that’s in today’s usage – do not logically pencil out. The first barrel won’t reach the market for ten years. But the service industries, the infrastructures – the roads, pipelines, airports – and those who will build and maintain them, stand to reap great benefits.  And Alaskans will all get an additional check each month, because ‘we’ – the other Americans – are drilling on their lands.   No wonder their governor is so adamantly in favor of the project.

 

The answer isn’t in deeper or further drilling.  The fact is, oil is a non-renewable energy source.  There is a fixed amount. Period.  We’ve hooked our lifestyles to a limited commodity, and as it grows scarcer, we whine (I include myself here), over the price we must pay for our addiction.

 

As long as I can remember, there has been ‘talk’ about alternative energy vehicles and light and/or high-speed rail systems, but growth in that industry sector has been limited.  Since we are a capitalist society, based on an entrepreneurial spirit, possibly this bump in petroleum prices will finally shove us in a direction of action.

 

The first thing that begins to happen – we make changes to our behavior.  We actually search for a carpool partner.  We expand telecommuting – travel less miles, and only when necessary for face-to-face meetings.  Ridership has recently jumped on commuter lines, proving that we are able to get out of our cars.

 

How many of us would jump at the chance to have a viable train schedule to and from Los Angeles?  Personally, I’d love to hop the train for an evening of theatre/dance/music, or even a baseball/basketball game.  And take the train home.  Currently, however, I’d have to leave an event by 8:30 to make a 9 o’clock train.  Supply and demand ought to be at work here, so it’s time to start pressing the phones of Amtrak/Coaster – or our local representatives - to expand rail schedules.

 

And what of our cherished automobiles?  We continue to wait for electric cars that have zoom and can travel long distances without a plug.  We continue to hope for hydrogen cells – or their cousin – an alternative that is efficient and non-polluting.  We continue to wait – and to make strides toward – the next great thing – that we have yet to invent or unveil.  Likely, it won’t be about oil.

 

Catharine Cooper can be reached at 949-497-5081 or ccooper@cooperdesign.net.