Give Alaska the green light

Sometimes I like to get in my car and just drive through campus, smiling at the poor souls who are trudging to and from class. Have you ever caught yourself doing that? It gives you a nice sense of luxurious superiority. It's surprisingly easy to imagine that I don't have to do it, too.\nIn reality, though, I'm a lowly undergraduate on a parking-ticket crazy campus. Driving my car isn't usually a feasible option, unless I'm headed home to Evansville (on one-lane country roads because I-69 isn't expanded here yet, but that's another column). With the recent jump in gas prices, leisure driving has become virtually unthinkable.\nPolitical pundits and lightweight politicians keep giving different reasons for the recent tightening in the economy and the steep drop in the stock market but rarely mention rising gas prices. This humble student of economics and public policy saw the problem last summer and fall when the Organization for Petroleum Exporting Countries raised oil prices.\nOPEC essentially controls the world's supply of oil, and thereby controls the price. Practically all major businesses in our country are now dependent on transportation, so high oil prices have a significant effect on them. Indeed, our livelihood, and ability to drive through campus, seems dependent on the mood of OPEC leaders.\nThe figures keep skyrocketing, and we're finally listening: Gas prices up 40 cents per gallon in Evansville in less than two months, up to $1.95 in Peoria, Ill., $2.02 in the Chicago area. One AAA spokeswoman said gas prices per gallon could be $3-$4 by the end of the summer.\nSimilar hikes occurred last summer when many Midwestern towns averaged a high of $1.90 per gallon. But this summer, gasoline prices reached an all-time unadjusted high.\nAt first I thought they would offset these costs by raising the prices of their products and thereby increase inflation. Instead, competition kept prices relatively stable, forcing companies to eat into their profits. This, in turn, has caused the plunge in stock prices. The root of the problem, therefore, can be traced to high oil prices.\nAl Gore, in his book "Earth in the Balance," actually proposed raising taxes on fossil fuels and gasoline. Ralph Nader, speaking on Fox News, said conservation alone could solve our energy crisis. The solution, though, will require an increase in supply as well as conservation.\nThe Arctic National Wildlife Refuge potentially has the largest untapped oil supply in the world, and yet we don't use it. The refuge is roughly the size of South Carolina, with the proposed drilling area only as large as Dulles Airport in Washington, D.C. ANWR is a barren, flat, treeless place where temperatures can drop as low as 40 degrees below zero. It's uninhabitable for nine months out of the year.\nBut ANWR is home to the Alaskan caribou, and some fear that they'll be in danger if we drill for oil. Environmentalists were up in arms two decades ago because of the trans-Alaska pipeline for the same reason. But today caribou herds along the pipeline and North Slope oil fields are thriving. Clearly, it's possible to drill for oil in Alaska without harming the environment.\nSome studies report that ANWR oil will last for less than a year. But the Alaskan Resource Development Council estimates the area could produce up to 1.5 million barrels per day for at least 25 years. That's about 25 percent of U.S. daily production.\nUnfortunately, no matter how much oil is in ANWR, the supply will eventually run out. Here's an idea for President George W. Bush: use Alaskan oil (respecting caribou as the trans-Alaska pipeline did), and use some of the money we'll save to develop renewable energy! Heck, we can even expand nuclear energy (gasp!).\nThis will increase supply, lower gas prices and we'll be less dependent on the OPEC cartel. Moreover, we'll ensure long-term growth in renewable energy and eventually reduce fossil fuel pollution.\nIn the end, Bush is sure to be criticized. Alaskans, for the most part, want to drill for oil. They feel like they can do it in an environmentally sensitive way and produce needed jobs in the process. If he does nothing Americans will soon start to blame him for the energy crunch.\nOn the other hand, environmental groups have made ANWR a battleground, and Bush will hurt his already poor environmental image if he gives drilling a green light.\nHopefully, companies exploring renewable energy options will be successful and continue their research and development. In the meantime, though, we must release OPEC's grip on our economy and increase our nation's oil supply in an environmentally sensitive manner.