First Draft

        For decades amongst decades, politically the talk about oil and energy independence has been a significant topic for Americans, and a very heartfelt one at that. A lot of people in the U.S. find themselves asking this one particular question, "Why don't we take advantage of the oil resources we have in America and exclude ourselves from this middle east reliance, which will presumably hurt us with outrageously high prices of gas". It is a very good question but it generally is an uneducated one. Our society has obtained such an intolerance for patience, it has evolved to an "act now" attitude and we exclude ourselves from researching the facts and it causes us to end up making irrational decisions. So we leave out the pieces in which this controversy is created by, including: OPEC, volatility of oil, and the cost of retrieving domestic oil. When you finally have conception of these three topics it proposes that domestic oil might not be the best solution to obtain energy independence, but to look towards bio-fuels and better fuel economy. 

          OPEC is an acronym for Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is a coalition of 12 countries, which coordinates and unifies the petroleum policies of its Member Countries and ensures the stabilization of oil markets in order to benefit the supplier and consumer somewhat equally. It is control of 75% of the world's oil. Embargo: is the partial or complete prohibition of commerce and trade with a particular country, in order to isolate it, which in this case would be oil.

        When the first automotive vehicle was built in the early 20th century it had a great impact on mankind. It was an innovative and much quicker way of traveling but it did only give us these life changing accomodations but it caused petroleum to become the most eminent resource of resources. With time petroleum's importance and demand proliferated. Seemingly through history man is never able to control mediation their interests are fueled by envy of power and wealth. Thats why today fuel suppliers are more concerned about their profits other then the consumer's needs. This has driven this commodity to be corrupt and caused fuel wars. Beginning in the early stages of the oil market countrie's were in dispute constantly with their prices of fuel. One would lower the price so it would be more marketable then it's competitor would lower their price where virtually neither one would be making money. Subsequently in the 1960's Venezuela and Saudi Arabia came together and basically said "Whether then continually making little profit and being arch enemies, why dont we come together, form an organization so we can increase our prices of crude oil and create a stabilized market. This was the birth of OPEC which now controls 75% of the worlds oil and is a big reason for our high prices oil.

           Many people in America, mostly those who are both conservative and republican feel that the United States needs to take advantage of our domestic oil resources, including formations such as ANWR and Bakken in South Dakota and cut ties from the middle east. With global conflict and middle east corruption arise this idea makes a lot of sense. If we could export and utilize our own oil it seems our energy security would be much stronger and it would stimulate the economy. But they're are a few major bumps in which that path leads. A lot of our oil isn't as accessible as the oil in the middle east or the gulf coast. It is located much deeper and even though drilling technology is very advanced, retrieving this oil is so expensive it becomes unprofitable. In order for American Oil Companies to make even a measly profit they  would have to charge around $5 a gallon, which is obviously to high in today's market. In addition to the high cost to create output we have OPEC

        In an article titled "International Oil Security: Problems and Policies", from the website Resources For the Future, Michael A Toman states that In 2000, the United States imported almost 60% of its total petroleum consumption, though imports from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) were only about one-quarter of consumption (45% of total U.S. imports). So this shows almost 50% of our oil is imported from foreign countries which the U.S. goes through 7 billion barrels of oil a year. That is a good portion of fuel coming from unstable countries. But what is demoralizing is even if America could export oil and make a reasonable profit, OPEC is such a dominant force in the world market, being that it controls 75% of the world's oil they're capable of lowering their price of gas under ours. This would presumably cause a large shock in the world's oil market and possibly cause embargo, because countries wouldn't be making as much money as they want to, so they just restrict their output, creating a bigger problem.

         This is where we ask ourselves "Does domestic oil sound very appealing anymore or should we be innovators and alternatively resolve our high prices of energy by better fuel economy and bio fuels?" We should probably chose better fuel economy and bio fuels and stop looking at this solution as it being only liberal powered movement but the right solution. In a blog called "Gas Prices and Smart Policies" dicusses credible propositions that would substantially lower gas prices for us in a different manner. Their sourcesThe National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), show statistics for what the requirements will be in 2025 including emissions and fuel economy for American vehicles, which if automotive companies increase their efficiency jsut 3% each year, in 2025 every single car will be getting 42 mpg needless to say what will cars like diesel jetta's be getting miles per gallon if they are already getting 50. In an article "Proposal Pending on Mileage for Heavy-Duty Vehicles" by Mathew L. Wald proves that our government is already tightening down on mileage standards for all small vehicles, but it is now preparing to make heavy duty vehicles much more efficient.

          These are they types of steps we need to be taking towards energy independence. They might be part of a very minute movement but they are afforable and with time they become incredibly efficient. And while steps like these are progressing our countries drilling technology will be advancing, so amidst the fuel economy we will be able to drill very cheap oil.