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Help support AmericanEnergyIndependence.com Energy Independence
and National Security
America's dependence on foreign oil has increased significantly in recent years and military tension in the Middle East has escalated into war. This is not saying the war in Iraq is only about oil. The issues are complex and the public debate about the war has divided the American people. There are no easy answers, but it is naive to think that the United States military would be in the Middle East if there were no oil. Our nation’s wealth, along with the blood of American soldiers, is being drained onto the sands of the Middle East to keep oil flowing. The Middle East is home to a large percentage of global oil reserves. Arab Kings and Muslim dictators control the oil in that region of the world, and the Saudi Royal Family controls the lion's share. Saudi Arabia is a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). OPEC controls the global oil market. OPEC is a monopoly. Renewable energy and synthetic petroleum cannot compete with Middle East oil on a cost of production basis. But if terrorists somehow stopped the flow of Middle East oil what would happen to the price of oil on the world market? Dependency on foreign oil is a national economic weakness that exposes all Americans to the threat of severe financial loss. Terrorism is not a military threat, it is an economic threat. Terrorists will never conquer the United States; that is not their goal. Militant Islamic fundamentalists believe they can disrupt the U.S. economy and thereby slow the progress of globalization, in the hope of preserving their medieval way of life. The religious customs practiced by Islamic fundamentalists today can be compared to Christianity during the Medieval Inquisition: Religion by force, women were property, dissidents were burned at the stake, theocratic leaders ruled. Much like the world that Osama Bin Laden and al-Qaeda call Islam. An Islamic Republic is a Theocracy, a nation ruled by religious clerics. Christianity has already completed the political transition that ended its Theocracy when the religious authority of the church was separated from the legal system that governs the people. The nations comprising the modern world are no longer defined by religious beliefs—citizens of modern societies are free to individually choose and practice their own beliefs without fear of state censorship. Islamic fundamentalists, supporters of Islamic Republics, view modern nations as a threat to their theocratic rule. Islamic terrorists say the war is a religious struggle, a Jihad. Americans do not see it as a religious war. Many Americans believe the military action taken by the United States is justified self-defense against religious fanatics who want to destroy freedom. Most Americans believe the war against terrorism is necessary to prevent future harm to U.S. citizens, and to defend the right of individuals to freely choose and practice their own personal beliefs. Whatever noble reasons given for the war in Iraq and the war against terrorism, without oil at the center of the conflict there would be no U.S. Military operations in the Middle East, and there would be no oil wealth to finance terrorist organizations. Islamic terrorism feeds off of America’s addiction to oil. Oil wealth in the hands of dictators and ideological extremists is financing terrorism. America trades its wealth for Middle East oil enriching the sponsors of terrorism. For these reasons, the war against terrorism cannot be won without American energy independence. The cost of the U.S. Military operations in the Middle East should be included with any statement about the competitive price of foreign oil. What price is America willing to pay? In addition to the monetary cost of the U.S. Military operations in the Middle East, there is the human cost. How many American soldiers will die before the American people decide that the price of imported oil is too high? For less than the cost of the military operations in the Middle East, the United States could build local synthetic fuel refineries, renewable energy farms, and safe nuclear power reactors across America. The combination of renewable energy, synthetic petroleum for transportation fuels, and safe nuclear power can free America from dependence on foreign sources of energy. The American taxpayer spends billions of dollars every year to pay for military hardware such as planes, ships, and tanks. These purchases are considered an investment in America’s security. The American people do not expect to make a profit from military hardware; they believe such investments are worth the cost in order to protect Liberty. The same argument can be made for investing in a national energy infrastructure. Energy independence is a matter of national security In 2005, Hurricanes off the coasts of Texas and Louisiana damaged oil production in the Gulf of Mexico, causing the price of oil to rise over $70 per barrel. What would another Arab oil embargo do? Or, God forbid, what would happen if Iran makes a nuclear bomb and gives it to Islamic militants who then detonate the bomb in the Saudi oil fields, destroying Saudi oil production? The price of Iran's oil, and all oil on the world market, would then skyrocket to over $200 per barrel. The price of gasoline and diesel would increase to over $5 per gallon in the USA and could go as high as $6-$10. Shortages would create gasoline rationing. What would that do to the U.S. economy? What would that cost the American people in real dollars? Jobs lost, retail sales falling, housing market collapsing... And, given the fact that a large percentage of the fuel that powers U.S. military vehicles and aircraft is made from foreign oil, U.S. oil dependence undermines the U.S. military’s ability to respond to a national security emergency. It is time for U.S. leaders—our Governors and elected Legislators—to define a national energy plan that will end our nation’s dependence on foreign oil. The U.S. Department of Defense has asked the Western governors to consider the
development of local synthetic fuel refineries: “The
Department of Defense (DoD) is working to produce synthetic
fuels from
coal, biomass, and oil shale. Given the West's vast reserves of these
natural resources, DoD would like to open a dialogue with Western governors
on the opportunities to the West that such an effort presents.”
“DOD intends to catalyze the commercial industry
to produce clean fuels for the military from secure domestic resources
using environmentally sensitive
processes that create jobs and wealth in the United States.”
Policy
Issues for Alternative Fuels for
Military Operations—Testimony presented to the House Armed
Services Committee, Subcommittee on Readiness and Subcommittee on Terrorism, Unconventional Threats and
Capabilities on September 26, 2006 Synthetic fuels are needed because Energy Independence cannot be achieved until all cars, trucks, and buses on American highways are powered by fuels made in the USA, from sustainable American natural resources. The USA has an abundance of natural resources that can replace imported crude oil:
The United States has an estimated 270 billion tons of recoverable coal in existing mines, equivalent to three or four times as much energy in coal as Saudi Arabia has in oil. That's only the coal in existing mines. If you consider total reserves, the U.S. has over 500 billion tons of coal. And, if anyone thinks the USA may run out of coal soon, consider the North American oil shale deposits are far greater than American coal deposits. American oil shale is estimated to hold over 1 trillion barrels of oil.
Today, the USA burns about one billion tons of coal per year in power plants to generate electricity. If one billion tons of coal was used annually to produce synthetic oil, at 3 barrels of oil per ton, the USA could replace about 65% of its imported oil with domestic coal [At 12 million imported barrels per day, 65% is 7,800,000 barrels per day.] More than 3 barrels per ton of coal is possible if hydrogen gas (extracted from water using renewable or nuclear energy) is added in the process. The place to stop oil dependence is at the oil refinery. The job of the oil refinery is to break-down the crude oil at the molecular level and recombine the molecules in such a way that they become useful fuels and chemicals. The refinery only needs a cheap source of hydrocarbon molecules. In the past, crude oil has always been the cheapest source. When crude oil is selling above $40 per barrel, it is cheaper to make gasoline and diesel from coal or other sources of hydrocarbon molecules, using a technology known as Fischer-Tropsch chemistry.
Synthetic fuels—diesel, gasoline and jet fuel—are obtained from synthesis gas, which is a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide molecules produced by a process involving the gasification of hydrocarbons. Any hydrocarbon source can be used to produce synthesis gas, which then feeds into the Fischer-Tropsch process to obtain synthetic fuels. When synthesis gas is produced from coal, the synthetic fuels obtained are called CTL (Coal-to-Liquids). Rutgers coal-to-diesel breakthrough could drastically cut oil imports
Clearly, the amount of money America spends to protect Middle East oil and battle a war against Islamic terrorism, if redirected for investment in energy independence, would be more than enough to develop new technology that would obsolete fossil oil as a source of energy. Using American tax dollars to buy the initial hardware needed to create energy from renewables (solar, wind, ocean waves, geothermal, and biomass), clean hydrocarbons (Synthetic Fuels), and safe nuclear power would reduce the cost of the energy produced by the hardware. With public funding of the initial capital investment the price of domestic energy production would be equal or less than the price of imported oil and gas. Why? Because the hardware is expensive, not the energy. It doesn't cost much to produce the energy after the hardware is paid for. Renewable energy and synthetic liquid hydrocarbon fuels are believed to be more expensive than imported oil because of the requirement to make a profit from the investment in the energy hardware, or repay the loan for the investment in the hardware. America needs to invest in the hardware to build a national energy infrastructure for national security, not for profit. Private companies make a profit selling hardware to the military but America's national defense policy is not decided by those profits. Similarly, private companies should be allowed to make a profit developing and selling energy technology, but America's national energy policy should not be decided by the profits (or campaign contributions) of private companies. The development of a national energy infrastructure would create and sustain tens of thousands of good jobs in America; and give private American companies an opportunity to profit from the manufacture and installation of the energy hardware. The economic stimulus and growth resulting from such an enormous investment would generate new local, state and federal tax revenue that would eventually return far more than the original public investment. The American people must tell their Governors, State Legislators and representatives in the U.S. Congress to support the development of new energy technology designed to end the reign of fossil oil as the primary source of transportation fuel. A guarantee from the U.S. Government
to purchase Synthetic petroleum made from American coal or
oil shale for $50/barrel (if the supplier could not otherwise
receive a higher price) would stimulate the largest capital
investment in U.S. history.
No way out? The barriers to developing an alternative fuels industry
are not technical, but social Write your legislators in Congress today and ask them to support federal incentives for the development of Synthetic Liquid Fuels. 
Strength and National Security through Energy Independence
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Copyright © 2003-2008 Ron Bengtson. Boise, Idaho USA |
Energy is the lifeblood of the American economy. Cut off the flow of
energy and the economy will die. For this reason, energy independence
should be a matter of national security.
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