The Oil Crisis

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There are some facts we need to accept.

1. The price of oil is up.

2. The demand for oil is up.

3. The commodity market controls the pricing, not the oil companies.

4. Congress imposing a windfall tax on the oil companies reduces our resources to explore not only alternative energies but new sources of oil until technology catches pace.

A three tier solution to the current situation represents the opportunity of the problem.

Europe manufactures vehicles which achieve 78.4 miles per gallon using, current technology. Like the Audi A2. Yes you read that correctly. BMW, KIA and Volkswagen are a few of the manufactures using new construction diesel engines that achieve good mpg. Nothing like the terrible smog machines put out by Detroit in the eighties. Sixty percent of cars sold in the E.U. are using the new standard Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel Fuel which is now a benchmark standard. We start using it by law very soon, I think this fall. We can more than double our current mpg. By demanding a congressional inquiry into this discussion we can hopefully move forward with the development and construction of diesel engines in America.

Next question is obvious. Where do we get the diesel to ease the supply problem?

Due to Allied bombing, Germany had the same problem back in 1943. The non- availability of diesel fuel caused not only the price of fuel to sky rocket for the general population but almost brought Hitler’s war machine to a grinding halt.  

The solution was on hand in the form of coal.

The country used its massive reserves of coal to produce diesel, (America has one of the largest coal reserves on plant earth).

This old technology has been improved to the point of releasing toxic gases from    mining (a green concern) back into the fissures to improve extraction of gas or oil.  

We have a compatriot in the Governor of Montana, Brian Schweitzer. He understands the realities of the mining operations that must take place, to make our country energy dependent.

Open pit mining is the obvious choice since there is no need for caves, eliminating a main safety concern. Another plus lies in the ability to reuse the land in a positive if not almost natural way by replanting after extraction.

            The last component is controversial. There are not enough people in Montana to pull off such a project of national undertaking.

Every illegal in the country who wishes to have citizenship could do so by working at man-camps until housing is erected. A term of service to be determined by congress would be part of the pact, along with fair pay and human rights for all employees.

William Acker was wrong. God is in the details, not the devil. This solution solves three key problems, energizing our national engineering capability, restoring a fit economy with cheap energy, and the promotion of mankind. What goes around will come back to us.

Theodore Roosevelt could have done it because he could see where others could not, maybe a dreamer like Washington, Lincoln, or FDR could have. The biggest stumbling block remains the will of the nation. A man with the vision to lead us back to affordable energy. Those powers only lie in two places. One the congress, (to many disconnected voices), or a President with the people behind him.

Good Luck to us all

D.H.Weemes

bsadan@bellsouth.net