AFTER some last-minute drama and serious arm-twisting earlier this month, the US House of Representatives approved the Gasoline for America鈥檚 Security Act by two votes. The GAS Act is a response to hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which knocked out a series of oil refineries and so pushed up pump prices. The legislation would make it easier to build more refineries.
The name is somewhat misleading, however. In the short term, the act might secure lower prices at the pumps. But by encouraging greater reliance on oil it would increase the country鈥檚 long-term vulnerability to the volatile politics of the Middle East, the vagaries of the oil market and potential damage from climate change.
Most western democracies are dependent on oil; the US is just the most extreme case. But that lifeblood has a finite lifetime. What鈥檚 more, as demand grows in Asia, we are nearing a tipping point at which demand will outstrip production. Once we reach that point, the price will begin an inevitable and inexorable rise.
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As any investment analyst knows, the best way to build security is to diversify. Most governments more or less back a move to hydrogen fuel, even though doubts exist over its environmental impact. What the world really needs is more than one energy source to choose from.
The oil crises of 1973 and 1979 triggered massive investment in developing renewable energy sources, the fruits of which we have seen only in the past decade. Today, there are still radical ideas for clean energy waiting to be explored (see 鈥淪ounds of the sea give intruders away鈥�). Governments need to make research into alternatives to oil a priority once again. The US Senate, which is drafting its own version of the GAS Act, has a chance to do some real trailblazing.
