TEXAS OILMEN WANT ENERGY POLICY WITH NEW ENERGY

A visit to the Midland Petroleum Club in President Bush’s hometown of Midland, Texas, produced some provocative statements from members expressing dissatisfaction with the current administration’s performance on energy. What do the old boys from the oil industry want? More of everything.

Ted Collins, Chairman, Patriot Resources: "I think Bush has been remiss on this…We're all friends of his, we consider him a local guy, but they should have put (fuel economy) limits on cars years ago."

Kirk Edwards, President, Permian Basin Petroleum Association/board member, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas: "We don't like anybody's energy policy right now…We ought to be looking at the technology of energy: nuclear, clean coal and what we can do to get more oil out of the ground…"

Morris Burns, oil industry consultant: "There has not been a new refinery opened up in the United States since 1973…We can't drill where we know there's oil and we can't refine it when we get it…We will get alternative fuels…"

It appears to NewEnergyNews that President Bush’s cronies are complaining because, although nobody said so in exactly these words, the administration has no comprehensive energy policy, no real plan to deal with what working oilmen see clearly: The end of the era of cheap oil.

What these guys seem to generally want is a coherent policy to boost the availability of all energy sources and keep the country prosperous enough to keep buying oil until it is all gone. It's not exactly a strategy to defeat global climate change but it does recognize there is no way around the urgency to develop New Energy.

The Bush administration does not appear to these oilmen to be steering in the direction of sustained prosperity. Not even for Midland.

Texans now realize there's room on the range for all kinds of energy. (pic from NY Times - click to enlarge)

Even Texan oilmen think energy supplies have to be diversified
Mira Oberman, June 20, 2008 (AFP via Yahoo News)

WHO
Members, Midland Petroleum Club; former Midland oilman President George W. Bush; Presidential candidates Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill) and Senator John McCain (R-Ariz); Kirk Edwards, President, Permian Basin Petroleum Association/board member, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas; Ted Collins, Chairman, Patriot Resources; Morris Burns, oil industry consultant

WHAT
Texas oil industry insiders are not happy with the lack of a coherent U.S. energy policy that includes the development of wind and solar and other New Energies, significant improvements in energy conservation efforts as well as the development of nuclear energy and natural gas plants and higher vehicle mileage requirements.

President Bush is an oilman from his boyhood in the oil patch. (click to enlarge)

WHEN
- Never: When most oilmen think the U.S. can achieve energy independence
- Years ago: When one oilman thinks there should have been higher vehicle mileage requirements
- Eventually: When oilmen expect to develop New Energy
- 1973: The last time a new oil refinery opened in the U.S.

WHERE
- Midland, Texas, the heart of the Texas oil industry, is also home to President George W. Bush.
- The Permian Basin, where the members of the Midland Petroleum Club ply their trade, is in West Texas. It pumps a million barrels of oil/day, 20% of U.S. production but less than 5% of the 20+ million barrels/day of U.S. oil consumption.

WHY
- Midland Petroleum Club members do not expect Obama or McCain to be able to “make the tough calls” necessary to increase U.S. energy supplies.
- They expect the rising price of all fuels to hit the U.S. economy hard.
- Energy supplies can be boosted not just by increased domestic drilling but by the development of wind and solar energies, significant improvements in energy conservation efforts as well as the development of nuclear energy and natural gas plants and higher vehicle mileage requirements.
- Major investments in New Energy technologies is necessary.
- The Bush administration has not done enough in the oilmen’s opinions to cut U.S. oil demand.
- Opening new refineries and new areas to drilling may temporarily postpone the looming U.S. supply crisis.

click to enlarge

QUOTES
- Kirk Edwards, President, Permian Basin Petroleum Association/board member, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas: " …Energy independence makes a nice soundbite for their people back home but it's impossible to do…The resources are there it's just you have to have the political drive…Nuclear and coal could make transportation fuel but you have to have the will of the government to be led in that direction."
- Ted Collins, Chairman, Patriot Resources: "Any politician who says we've got to become independent is kidding themselves…We've got to conserve. We've got to look for more fuel. We've got to use every source, every tool in the kit."
- Morris Burns, oil industry consultant: "…as of right now more than 95 percent of transportation runs on oil…"