The duplicity and hypocrisy of the Bush administration's energy policy was thrown into sharp relief again with the unveiling of the White House's 2006 budget, which proposes to cut off funding for a range of R&D programs in the oil and gas industries.
(Original article here, subscription required.)
Yes, that's right oil and gas. It's hard to believe the oil-soaked Bush would cut funding for fossil fuel research--until you find out who the beneficiaries of the DoE funding are.
The research funds are mostly directed at universities, which in turn develop new technologies for the production, processing and distribution of oil and gas. One example is the University of Tulsa's research on marginal wells.
Most of Oklahoma's oil production comes from marginal wells, or stripper wells, which produce less than 10 barrels of oil a day and represent the vast majority of the more than 500,000 producing wells nationwide, DOE said.
Independent producers account for 90 percent of domestic drilling activity and a substantial share of U.S. oil and gas production.
Small independent producers have long relied on the DOE to fund research aimed at enhancing production from marginal wells. Without those funds, such research would not be possible because small operators lack the capital to do it themselves, said Liz Fajen, executive director of the Oklahoma Marginal Well Commission.
"Exxon doesn't design technology for a 10-barrel-a-day well," she said.
Federal funding for oil and gas research has declined every year over the last several years. DOE funding for oil technology research has been cut from $68 million in 2001 to $34 million this year.
The Administration's mantra in support of drilling in ANWR has been a duet of energy independence and national security, but this episode exposes their position as the marketing fluff that it is.
Forget for a moment that the North Slope is located in one of the planet's few remaining areas of pristine wilderness. Even if there is as much oil there as the most rosy projections claim, it would make little difference in light of America's monstrous appetite for petroleum. And we wouldn't see a drop of it for years. Meanwhile, the Administration is eliminating funding for technologies that extend the production of existing wells right here in the lower 48.
If anyone can come up with a plausible explanation for this obvious contradiction of stated Bushco policy--other than the fact that the DoE funds don't directly benefit Big Oil--I'm all ears.
This is my first diary on dKos, and hopefully not my last on energy-related issues.