Drilling for self-sufficiency

Energy independence is among the issues Speaker of the House-to-be Nancy Pelosi promises to address during the first 100 legislative hours of her reign, which begins tomorrow.

I'm for energy independence too. But pardon my laughter when I hear Democrats call for energy self-sufficiency. That's about as ironic as a Republican calling for fiscal restraint.

Read their own words. In the two pages devoted to energy independence in the Democrats' 31-page legislative agenda entitled "A New Direction for America," not a word is devoted to expanding domestic oil exploration.

Some Republicans are no wiser. North Carolina's two U.S. senators put on a serious face when talking about weaning ourselves from Middle Eastern oil, yet both oppose drilling for the significant natural gas deposits that federal geologists think are off our state's coastline.

Renewable energy -- wind power, biomass, solar cells, hydro generation and the like -- is the mantra of energy independence advocates. But such energy resources are projected to grow at just 1.5 percent per year through 2030, according to the federal Energy Information Administration.

Demand for energy is expected to grow at the same rate. At best, renewable energy sources are a wash when it comes to becoming energy self-sufficient. Twenty-five years from now, the U.S. energy portfolio will look much like it does today, with fossil fuels providing 86 percent of our energy needs.

Living in an energy-dependent nation hasn't bothered us much. Nothing beats an uninhibited world energy market to deliver fuel efficiently to our homes, businesses and gas tanks at a bargain price. But the longer we're engaged in a war against Islamic militant terror, the more convinced I am that energy independence is crucial to national security.

No matter which political party is in power, exploration for new domestic sources of petroleum-based energy must be vigorously pursued. If not, energy independence will continue to be more rhetoric than reality.

Just take a look at the top five oil-exporting countries to the United States: Canada, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Nigeria supply about two thirds of our daily imports. Of these, only Canada can be counted on as a true friend, and even Canadians aren't crazy about us all the time.

The rest of the top 10 -- Algeria, Angola, Iraq, Russia and Ecuador -- are question marks at best.

If a group of these countries decides tomorrow to use our thirst for oil against us, all the ethanol and biodiesel in the world won't do much to mitigate the economic harm.

The jihadists have to know this. If one of the major oil-exporting countries becomes hostage to Islamic militants -- not exactly a stretch of the imagination in Saudi Arabia or on the African continent -- the economic chaos inflicted by withheld barrels of oil could match the terror of a car bomb.

National security should be reason enough to drill in untouched parts of Alaska and off the North Carolina coast, but sadly it isn't, at least not yet.

So consider this:

Environmentalists should step up and call for more energy exploration -- for strictly selfish reasons. Doing so will hasten the day that the United States can liberate itself from the carbon-based energy they despise.

Why? Economic historians note that current technology -- in this case fossil fuels -- tends to provide the funding for its replacements.

Some people mistakenly think an electric utility is married to nuclear, coal or natural gas generation. They think an auto manufacturer is forever tied to the internal combustion engine. They think an oil company is all about crude.

Instead, these industries are devoted to making money. The particular energy source is simply the means to that end.

The money made generating electricity from coal, natural gas or nuclear power could fund the technology that will make home hydrogen-based fuel cells profitable. The money made from today's 25-mpg SUV could lead to dependable and high-performance electric cars. The revenue generated from Alaskan oil could fund research that makes biomass a mainstream fuel.

If the United States is to achieve real energy independence and safeguard its national security, the vilification of domestic energy exploration must end.