A Gas Crisis 30 Years in the Making

No magic turn of the OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) oil wheel is going to alleviate that problem over the long term. No amount of U.S. military boots on the ground of someone else's oil-producing country is going to ultimately alter the inevitable outcome of rapid global consumption of a finite resource.

What is odd -- indeed what is scary -- is that there are so many Americans who don't get this, who don't believe it, who think that a quick fix is just around the corner. When you think about it, our mindset about oil is very much like that of a crack addict desperate for his or her next fix: "There must be some around here somewhere. I've got to have it. What must I do to get it? Whom must I kill? From whom must I steal?"

It's a useless pursuit.

Truth is we've got to withdraw from oil as much as possible. But a just-published survey by the Consumer Federation of America ("Americans Alarmed About Dependence on Oil Imports and Resulting High Gas Prices and Funding of Terrorism") says U.S. consumers are a long way from dealing with the truth.

Americans want a mandated increase in vehicle fuel efficiency. They are even willing to pay more for more fuel-efficient vehicles, the survey said. But they don't want carbon taxes or any other levies designed to curb their thirst for gasoline, according to CFA survey authors.

Reducing highway speeds can save as much as 19 cents per gallon of regular unleaded gasoline per five-mile-an-hour drop, according to the CFA's estimates. But anyone who has tried driving 55 miles per hour or even 65 miles per hour on Interstate 95 knows that he or she risks being run over by the majority of motorists who think that 75 or 80 miles per hour is okay.

We consume 20.8 million barrels of crude oil per day. But we daily produce only 5.2 million barrels of that amount within U.S. borders. We use 25 percent of the total oil and gasoline consumed in the world -- substantially more than any other country, including those that have no fuel economy rule. But we believe that fuel economy rules alone -- effectively shifting the burden of fuel conservation to the car companies while leaving the consumer side of the equation virtually untouched -- will solve our problem.

It's time to face up and fess up: We're high on cheap gasoline. Our current distemper is caused by the reality that in a world that loves the stuff as much as we do and that is beginning to use it with a profligacy that matches our own, we're going to have to pay much more to get it.

There is not an inexhaustible supply of oil. There is not now, nor has there ever been, and nor will there ever be an inexhaustible finite resource. Get over it. Let's start withdrawing now. Let's face, share, and manage the pain. Let's deal with our own greed either by using only what we need or paying more of the real price for using more than what is needed. Yeah, carbon and horsepower taxes, and congestion pricing to control the egregious fuel waste in urban rush-hour traffic jams. When it comes to oil, it's not going to get much better than this.