Celebrate the 1906 Antiquities Act

I've just returned from a trip to Devil's Tower National Monument, the first site designated as a monument under the 1906 Antiquities Act. Teddy Roosevelt-- Democrats' favorite Republican president --used the Act extensively to protect areas of historic, scientific, and scenic beauty, including the Grand Canyon.

Devil's Tower is an amazing place, well worth the visit if you are traveling through NE Wyoming. The natural site provides a striking contrast to the human-shaped landscape of Mt. Rushmore, a half-day's drive away.

Energy crisis is a matter of demand

Here's my latest newspaper column, hot off the virtual presses:


Energy crisis is a matter of demand
St. Cloud (MN) Times
5 May, 2006

The secret's out: We're in the midst of an energy crisis.

Nine months after most Americans got the message at the gas pump, Energy Secretary Sam Bodman finally acknowledged a problem with our energy supply.

"There's apparently some evidence that we have a crisis," he told Tim Russert on Sunday's "Meet the Press." It was in defense of President Bush's recent decision to halt deposits to the federal strategic petroleum reserve against the charge the move was an election-year ploy.

Certainly Bush, or at least his advisers, know playing around with the reserve will have little noticeable effect on retail prices. And Bush has previously stated his opposition to fooling with the reserves, especially if it's for political purposes.

In fact, in September 2000 he said, "Strategic reserves should not be used as an attempt to drive down oil prices right before an election. It should not be used for short-term political gain at the cost of long-term national security."

So he must have something else in mind.

Perhaps some of the president's advisers should tell him this: We consumed 5.5 billion barrels of crude last year and placed just 14 million into reserves.

Holding back a month's deposits will have no effect on the retail level. When the price of crude was in the $37 range — as recently as January 2005 — the cost of bringing a gallon of gas to the retail pump (including taxes) was about $1.85, fairly close to retail prices at that time.

Since then, the cost of crude has skyrocketed to about $66, a 78 percent increase.

But pump prices are hovering in the $2.75 range, or just 49 percent higher than in January 2005. So while we're feeling the pinch at the pump, current retail gas prices are certainly within reason, given the substantially higher cost of crude.

'70s crisis

We'd have to go back to the summer of 1979 to remember a time when the cost of gas made daily news headlines and energy was a regular topic of dinner-table conversation.

That July, President Carter delivered his now-famous "crisis of confidence" speech excoriating Americans for wasting energy and calling for sacrifice on all levels to relieve the shortage. In 1977 he had warned Americans that "ours is the most wasteful nation on earth," actually wasting more energy than we imported.

By 1979 energy was on everyone's minds because people were having trouble filling up their cars; some stations were even running out of gas. Carter responded to the crisis by establishing a clear set of goals for the future, capped with the bold pronouncement that "this nation will never use more foreign oil than we did in 1977 — never."

A variety of federal programs were established to promote investment in alternative energy, efficiency and domestic production capabilities.

Though most of the conservation and alternative energy programs died with Ronald Reagan's election, we did push ahead to increase domestic oil production through the 1980s, and within a few years prices came down.

Carter's pledge to reduce imports held true until we broke the 1977 import record in 1993. We have broken it every year since.

In 2005, we imported 3.6 billion barrels of crude, up 50 percent from the line Carter drew in the sand a generation ago and accounting for about one-third of the trade deficit. So the energy is still out there if we're willing to pay market prices for it; there is no crisis of supply.

What we are facing is a crisis of demand.

The problem

Though Carter was slammed for saying it, we are the problem.

We, all of us, use too much energy. We are still among the most wasteful societies on the planet.

We turn our backs on common-sense conservation measures and place the likes of Vice President Dick Cheney in charge of our nation's energy future, the very man who said "conservation may be a sign of personal virtue" but that the key to energy security was increasing production and relaxing environmental laws.

Though many will claim Big Oil or the OPEC cartel controls our destiny, it's really a simple matter of demand. We can chose to drive more efficient cars, better insulate our homes, waste less plastic and invest in alternative sources of energy.

Minnesotans are no better or worse than the rest of the country. In fact, we're pretty average, ranking 21st in population, 21st in petroleum consumption. But we can show our leaders in Washington we know there's more at stake in the current crisis than short-term political gains.

We can adopt new conservation measures, we can reduce demand and we can become part of the solution by changing our profligate ways.

As Carter said in 1979, "there are no short-term solutions to our long-range problems. There is simply no way to avoid sacrifice."

Far better to chose that sacrifice now than have it chosen for us somewhere down the line when we're less able to respond, less prepared to adapt and less willing to admit our own culpability in the problem.

Republican Energy Plan: Have They No Shame?

Just when you thought federal energy policies couldn't get much worse, Senate Republicans-- led by the usual suspects including Charles Grassley of Iowa, Ted Stevens of Alaska, Pete Domenici of New Mexico, and Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania --have introduced a bill to provide $100 refunds to all taxpayers to help "ease the pain" of high gas prices. Nice gesture guys-- but two free tanks of gas for America's SUV fleet will not solve the growing energy crisis. Neither will opening ANWR for drilling or any other attempt to increase supply in the short term. We need a conservation plan and a windfall profits tax on Big Oil, not more election-year pandering to voters. CNN has the details.

States Move to Impeach Bush While Historians Consider His Ranking

The anemic congressional response to a litany of complaints about the Bush adminstration-- the Plame affair, Iraq, wiregate, etc. --and Bush's sinking popularity have become an issue of debate in state capitals. This week legistlators in Vermont, Illinois, and California all introduced impeachment resolutions aimed at forcing the US House to take action via a virtually unknown rule from "Jefferson's Manual," an unofficial set of rules long followed by the House. The states are being joined by county and city bodies as well. Though there is little expectation any of this will lead to action by the House, it cannot easily be ignored by the mainstream media and will likely be source of significant distraction for the adminstration in coming weeks.

Meanwhile, The current issue of Rolling Stone features a cover story titled "The Worst President in History?" written by famed historian Sean Wilentz considering Bush's fate in history. The article does a pretty good job of explaining how and why historians rate past presidents, and while it doesn't outright label Bush as the worst it makes a good case for historical comparison.

Has the tide turned? While polls show only four states now actually "red" (i.e. where Bush's approval rating is above 50%) the midterm elections will certainly be the key indicator. If the Democrats are able to capitalize on discontent over Bush, high gas prices, and Congressional behavior we may be in for an historic midterm shift in the balance of Congress that leaves the Bush agenda dead and will likely result in major investigations of events related to the Iraq war, Katrina, and related events. But given the ~95% success rate of incumbent candidates in recent years, a "throw the bums out" campaign may well fizzle as voters continue to support their local congressmen despite concerns over the overall Congress.