How drilling in Alaska endangers U.S.

Too bad Friedman was such a whore for the Iraq war and an apologist for bad globalization policy. Sometimes he writes some smart pieces.

Thomas L. Friedman: How drilling in Alaska endangers U.S.

"On energy, the Bush team's obsession with drilling in the Alaskan wilderness to increase supply is mind-boggling. "I am sure China will be thrilled with the Bush decision to drill in Alaska," said the noted energy economist Philip Verleger Jr. "Oil in Alaska cannot easily or efficiently be shipped to our Gulf Coast refineries. The logical markets are on the West Coast of the United States and in Asia. Consumers in China and Japan, not the U.S., will be the real beneficiaries of any big Alaska find.

"With a big find, China and Japan will be able to increase imports from a dependable supplier -- the U.S. -- while consumers in the U.S. will still be at the mercy of unreliable suppliers, such as Venezuela and Saudi Arabia. It is simple geography. Also, a big find will lead to lower prices in the short term, promoting more emissions and more warming."

Moreover, focusing exclusively on squeezing out a little more supply will only discourage conservation, Verleger added, setting the stage for higher prices again in three or four years -- "when exhausting oil reserves and burgeoning demand from China and India will drive the price of oil to well above $100 a barrel."

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That's why America urgently needs what I call a "geo-green" strategy, which combines geopolitics with environmentalism. Geo-greenism starts with a $1-per-gallon gasoline tax, which would help close our budget gap, force the U.S. auto industry to convert more of its fleet to hybrid and ethanol technology and thereby reduce the amount of money going to Sudan, Saudi Arabia and Iran for oil. It would also reduce our dependence on China to finance our debt and the chances that we will end up in a global struggle with China for energy.

http://www.startribune.com/stories/1519/5301211.html