PICKENS: Energy independence

While the 111th Congress and the Obama administration work on the details of the federal stimulus package, we have to make certain that we are looking for nongovernment mechanisms to stimulate the American economy.

One large target for preserving American cash is the huge amount of money we are sending overseas to buy oil. If OPEC is successful in reaching its target price per barrel in 2009, reported to be about $75 per barrel, the United States will spend about $350 billion on foreign oil. That number will be repeated – if not exceeded – year-after-year until we do something to reduce our dependence on imported oil.


To put that into perspective, the District of Columbia spent about $900 million last year on all its public school programs. Money spent on foreign oil ends up funding the building of schools and malls in the Middle East. But if just one year’s worth of the money we spend on oil were kept in the United States, we could fund D.C. city schools for 389 years.

It is unlikely, in the foreseeable future, that we will be able to completely wean ourselves from foreign energy sources. But we have significant domestic resources which are readily available and – to use a current phrase – shovel-ready – for development. Imports from Canada and Mexico should be secure well into the future.

Washington Times