Cheap gas Prices Ever Again Cheap Gas

The United States consumes about 20 million barrels of oil each day.  In addition to fuel oil, jet fuel, and other oil products, about 180 million gallons of gasoline is consumed each day.  Refineries are operating a near full capacity to produce these products and, especially in the Spring when refinery maintenance is usually performed, demand for oil products can exceed refinery capacity.

The price we pay for gasoline is determined by the cost of crude oil, taxes, refining costs, distribution costs, and markup at stations.  Crude oil prices have risen from $35.00 in 2004 to over $104.00 in April, 2008 and is still rising. About 40% of the oil we consume is imported from the 13 OPEC countries and we have little control over their production levels and prices.  The remaining oil we consume comes from domestic and other sources.  But domestic supplies of easy to get light, sweet crude is dwindling.  We still have plenty of oil, but getting to it and extracting it from the ground is sometimes challenging and expensive.  Much of it is heavy, sour crude which is much harder to refine.  In fact, most of our domestic refineries, with their current design and configuration,  cannot refine heavy crude at all.

As the price of oil and gasoline increases, alternative energy sources become more viable.
Organic oils, wind and solar power, hydrogen fuels, and other energy sources are available, but the technology needed to utilize and develop these energy sources is lacking.  Only recently have alternative energy sources received the attention they deserve.  Although capable of easing our need for petroleum, it will take years of work and research and development to make a significant difference.

In the meantime, we will experience an effort by industry to exploit our national parks, monuments, wilderness areas, wildlife refuges, and coastal waters for crude oil.  If allowed to happen, the very lands we’ve strived to protect will be compromised forever.
Wildlife species hanging on in these remaining habitats will be adversely affected in many ways, some of which we have yet to discover.  Furthermore, even if we were to allow oil drilling and extraction in all these areas, there would be no long term solution to our energy crisis.  Exploiting our national treasures is simply not worth the cost to our environment.  We need to focus on the bigger picture.

We must develop ways to use energy more efficiently.  We need to create clean energy  from alternative energy sources.  We need to understand that the age of crude oil is coming to a close.  We need to adapt to a new age and a new way of doing things.  And lastly, we need to make the sacrifice, commitment, and  investment necessary to succeed in all these challenges.  What we do in the present determines the future.