Stealing from our children
For a nation that touts how concerned we are for our children, we have a poor history and current day record in that regard. We have a long and sordid record of how we continue to steal from future generations, our children and grandchildren. From the massive destruction of forest and fauna in the 1800’s to our current national debt, any excess use and spending of resources and money are resources and money, not of our own but of our children, and in many cases, our grandchildren.
This thievery is especially true for our fossil fuels. For example, up to when I was born, 1949 (yes I am an old white guy!), the U.S. petroleum industry had exported approximately 1.1 billion barrels of oil (http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=MCREXUS1&f=A). This was my oil, my generation’s oil! They did not need it and could have kept it in the ground for me and my generation. But instead they sold it, sold my inheritance, at a fraction of what it was worth in my lifetime. Of course my generation has not done any better. Since my birth, not only has the U.S. petroleum industry exported another 1.8 billion barrels of oil but overall 20 billion barrels of petroleum products, 16.6 billion from 1981 to today alone! (http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/pet_move_exp_dc_NUS-Z00_mbbl_m.htm). As we are currently importing 3.3 billion barrels of oil per year (http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=MTTIMUS1&f=A ), it mystifies my as to why we export even a drop of our petroleum products! It seems we are not only stealing from our children but ourselves!
And yet, because of the increased domestic production from hydrofracking (another major and more devastating theft from our children!), we want to lift the ban on exporting domestic oil. In an act of pure lunacy, we have always continued to export oil we import and petroleum products we produce to the tune of 1.3 billion barrels a year! With the lifting of the ban on exporting domestic oil, we can expect these numbers to even go higher! If we don’t need this oil we are producing, by the fact we want to export it, is this not the oil of our children? Do we still believe, as did the robber barons who stole my generation’s oil, that the oil will never run out? Do the people of North Dakota, the BIG hydrofracking supply that is fueling the clamor for exporting oil, really believe their measly 6 billion barrels of proven reserves (http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=RCRR01SND_1&f=A) will last more than a few years? Should they not meter it out over a longer time to meet domestic demand and spreading the economic benefits over future generations? Nooo… they want to suck it out and export it as fast as possible, robbing economic stability from their children!
The picture gets even worse for natural gas. With the use of hydrofracking, again with a major theft of environmental quality for our children, we expect to not only be self-sufficient in natural gas by 2017 but a major exporter! (http://www.eia.gov/naturalgas/weekly/archive/2016/01_14/index.cfm) Again, do we really think the natural gas wells will never run dry? Do we seriously think we can continue to use hydrofracking as a way of extracting natural gas? Have we not learned our lessons from the past? If we have learned anything about fossil fuels, it is that they WILL run out, the wells will run dry! Exporting our “excess” of natural gas just to line the pockets of gas companies is crazy. There is NO excess natural gas as there is no excess oil, it is the gas, it is the oil of our children. It is the gas, it is the oil, if exported, will not be there for them. And no, they will not find more. Every barrel of oil, every cubic foot of gas we sell to someone else is a theft, a crime, against our children. Look at your children, your grandchildren straight in the face and see if you can tell them: “Sorry, we sold your oil and gas, your inheritance, your birthright, to someone else. Too bad!”
And don’t lecture me on the economics of oil and natural gas, the crap about stabilizing supplies or prices. Oil and natural gas economics is the epitome of the economics of greed. Oil and gas are bought and sold, moved all around the world just to maximize short-term profits. It has nothing to do with stabilizing anything and certainly not for the long-term welfare of the people living where the oil and gas come from. Companies just want to go in and extract it all as fast as they can, the future be damned. And they can do that faster if they can export it!
As I said, our policies on fossil fuels represent just one of the many ways we steal from our children. It is one, however, that has had, is having, and will have major consequences to every baby that is born today, tomorrow, and the next day, and the next. Until we stop stealing from our children, they will inherit the problems that we, as adults do not have the social will to deal with and like cowards, have passed it on to them.