Crying Over Spilt Oil

INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
Posted 8/7/2006

Energy Policy: Is the Alaskan pipeline spill an environmentalist "gotcha" or yet another wake-up call about America's energy vulnerability? Will it cause us to once again press the energy independence snooze alarm?
Three decades after Prudhoe Bay delivered the first of more than 15 billion barrels of domestic oil to the U.S. economy, compiling a remarkable environmental record in the process, oil production on Alaska's North Slope is being curtailed after BP Exploration Alaska discovered severe corrosion and a rupture in a Prudhoe Bay oil transit line.

British Petroleum spokesmen said production will be cut about 400,000 barrels a day. That's about 8% of current U.S. production, or about 2.6% of U.S. supply including imports, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Once again, this demonstrates our energy supply's vulnerability to unexpected disruption.

We fear the situation will also be exploited to continue to deny the American economy and consumer the abundant oil and natural gas supplies in the waters of the Outer Continental Shelf and under the frozen tundra of a minuscule portion of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

This pipeline leak and shutdown come just as the Senate and House are trying to reconcile two bills lifting restrictions on oil and gas drilling in the OCS. The House bill would lift a 25-year ban on new drilling in the entire OCS. The Senate bill would allow expanded drilling in a small lease area off Florida, not far from where China and Cuba plan to drill their own wells.

Opponents of expanded OCS drilling cite the dangers of such leaks and spills and damage to marine life and coastal areas; certainly, this latest pipeline rupture will give them more ammunition. But, as we have noted, no major spills were recorded as Hurricanes Katrina and Rita roared through nearly 3,000 offshore oil and gas platforms operating in the Gulf of Mexico. Norway and Britain have been operating oil platforms in the North Sea for decades without incident.

A National Academy of Sciences report shows that 63% of the petroleum found in North American waters comes from natural seepage from the ocean floor. According to the Interior Department, since 1985 more than 7 billion barrels of oil have been taken from federal waters, with less than 0.001% spilled.

Perhaps the leak might not have occurred had BP — which stands for "beyond petroleum," the firm says in its recent ad campaign — spent more on infrastructure maintenance and less on ads fighting global warming or advocating alternative fuels. Solar panels are nice, but they're no excuse to let pipelines rust.

As Ben Lieberman of the Heritage Foundation points out, the caribou herd that migrates through Prudhoe Bay has increased from 3,000 to more than 23,000. He also points out that another Alaskan refuge, the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, has had on-site drilling for decades, with no discernible harm. Indeed, there are active oil and gas wells on at least 36 U.S. wildlife refuges.

Environmental damage is a risk that must be dealt with, but there is greater potential damage to be considered here — to our economic and national security at a time when oil exporters like Russia, Iran and Venezuela seem to be forming a new axis of evil. There is more than the comfort of a few thousand caribou at stake.