The Unintended Consequence of Alternative Energy

Soon we will be wringing our hands not about the price of a barrel of crude, but about the price of corn. Think about it. How many things do we eat that contain corn. Corn meal. Corn flour. Corn starch. But think also about how many things we eat that eat corn.

Part of the 'butterfly effect' of the mad rush to alternative energy solutions is that looking to corn for fuel upsets the delicate balance of the food chain. Next time you stand at the meat counter and groan about the inflating cost of your favorite fillets, think about the cattle farmer who had to sell off some of his herd in order to offset the price of corn needed to feed the rest of his cows. The unintended consequences of the greater expense to maintain smaller herds of cattle translates to higher costs for your next barbeque. For that matter, think of it while you walk down the dairy aisle and consider all the products made from milk created by cows that eat the corn.

The outlook is made even scarier by the fact that many of the corn fields in the Midwest are submerged underwater from the recent flooding. And this is what we want to turn to for energy? Do we really want to substitute food for fuel?

Like corn, oil is an amazingly versatile product. More than just creating gasoline to power our vehicles, it creates all of our plastics, is used to make carpeting, lip balm, ointments, hand lotions, and can sooth a rash on your baby's bottom. Oil is awesome! And we have a lot of it. We're just...not allowed to use it.

We're the only nation in the world who has quite literally cut itself off from the use of its own natural resources. What is the sense in allowing other countries to drill closer to our own shores than we are? This is ridiculous. With offshore deposits, Colorado shale, the Bekken Play in the Dakotas, and ANWR, America is completely capable of being self-sustaining when it comes to oil. And it's high time something was done about it.

Now, I'm well aware that drilling alone will not solve the energy problem. But neither is exchanging oil for ethanol, which is just robbing Peter to pay Paul. We need new nuclear plants, new refineries, an end to oil speculating on the market, and new alternative technologies for the future. But watch what happens to the cost of a barrel of oil by the simple announcement to the world, and the OPEC oil cartel, that we plan to tap our own available natural resources. It will have an immediate impact on the price of a barrel of crude.

Taxing the oil companies is the stupidest solution there is, because those taxes will just go on to raise the price on you and me. It's only a slightly more sane idea than that of buying "carbon offsets". This is madness. It's high time for a real solution that benefits the American people.

Drill now.