COMMENTARY | CNN reports Rick Santorum is blasting President Barack Obama on rising gas prices. He claims Obama’s disapproval of constructing the Keystone XL pipeline was a mismanagement of foreign policy. Tension in Iran over possible economic sanctions caused the Middle East power to stop the flow of oil to Great Britain and France. Europe is weighing economic penalties in wake of Iran’s increased nuclear fuel production at a facility inside the country.
Business Week reports the Keystone XL pipeline, proposed by a Canadian company, may only have negligible effects on the overall U.S. economy. TransCanada stated jobs gained by the pipeline varied from 3,500 to 20,000 temporary jobs to construct the underground pipeline. Only around 20 permanent jobs would be created because the pipeline is supposed to be automated.
The same article said a study was done in 2008 that stated adding 500,000 barrels of oil per day to U.S. refineries would drop oil prices just three cents. The Keystone XL pipeline, though huge, would not be a panacea for America’s dependence on foreign oil.
Before politicians blame everyone else but themselves for rising gas prices, they simply need to look at the truth of the matter. It’s not going to take one pipeline from Canada to fix things or even 100 of them. Our entire society has to change in order to ease our addiction to foreign sources of crude oil.
The point is that Americans, from policymakers to consumers, need to do much more to reel in high gas prices than build a pipeline. Cars must be more efficient. Some need to not run on gasoline altogether. Although a recent study claims fracking for natural gas doesn’t cause groundwater pollution, there is the matter of the earthquakes, according to the Discovery Channel.
Alternative fuels for automobiles such as liquified natural gas, biofuels and even electricity need to all be a part of the solution in addition to more domestic petroleum. It’s time for politics to put aside this issue. American pocketbooks are already hurting due to high unemployment. Now we have to deal with a spike in gas prices yet again because a country half a world away is upset over economic sanctions due to their controversial nuclear program.
There were plenty of lessons to be learned by the Arab Oil Embargo of 1973. Somehow, those same mistakes are being repeated 40 years later.