Energy challenge locks us in ‘fail-safe’

If the earth holds its breath until the United States takes the lead in tackling the energy crisis, it will die of asphyxiation. As the biggest glutton in the world energy market, the United States will never find it to its economic interest to curb energy consumption.

First, there are political problems. When the pipeline was full and gas was cheap, everybody favored conservation over consumption. That has changed. According to the Pew Research Center, support for more exploration and drilling went up 33 per cent between February and June and support for more conservation and regulation went down 20 per cent. 

By the time the presidential election arrives, all candidates – with the exception of the irrelevant Ralph Nader – will be leading the consumption pack. Barack Obama has already discovered that opposition to offshore drilling is untenable in the present political climate.

The four-year term for president creates a four-year parameter for all national policy. That makes it politically impossible for presidents to offer leadership or continuity for solving a 50-year problem. As the energy crunch continues, the citizenry will keep opting for present day comforts over future disaster.

When national suggestions are offered to curb energy consumption, North Dakota will be the last state to comply with any voluntary proposals. Senator John Warner of Virginia has proposed adoption of a speed limit of 60 mph. The trucking industry has advocated 65 mph. Reading the political climate correctly, Governor John Hoeven dismissed both ideas out of hand. North Dakota is not going to slow down.

When climate change legislation was proposed in the Lieberman-Warner Climate Bill, Basin Electric Power Cooperative, a multi-state energy company headquartered in Bismarck, bought full-page newspaper advertisements to rally North Dakota opposition against the measure.

“Though it means well,” the ad read, “this drastic legislation will have a devastating effect on our economy – costing families and small businesses thousands more in electric bills and thousands of Americans their jobs.”

While that may strike some as gross exaggeration, it isn’t. It’s true. That’s because the American economy floats on cheap energy and the cost of energy cannot be increased without adversely affecting families, small businesses and the entire economy. The day will never come when this won’t be true.

The American political system is classified as a “status quo” system which means that nothing happens until massive consensus is achieved. With the public unwilling to accept inconvenience and higher costs, that consensus will not be achieved until the consequences of inaction become so apparent that all levels and branches of government and all interest groups are forced by circumstances to accept reality. Then  and only then  will anything happen. By that time, conservationists claim that the proverbial cold day in Hell will have arrived.

Unable to respond, the political system may have us locked in “fail-safe” mode, unable to change the direction of our current energy policies.

— Lloyd Omdahl

Omdahl is a former North Dakota lieutenant governor

and UND professor of political science.