I came across an interesting article in my email the other morning about how higher energy taxes threaten US shale boom, and I was intrigued not really by the message, but by how the message was being delivered.  Being close to the oil sector myself I know that it’s a  high-profile industry and so it attracts many bright minds.  What Nathan Randazzo did with the article was sensationalize it, and he used a great deal of statistics. It is clearly, and unfortunately, a sponsored point of view.  Bright minds are attracted to statistics, and can be distracted by articles like this one.
The key point he pivoted his article upon was the need to keep low-cost (i.e. subsidised energy production going because of the “rapidly expanding population in the U.S.” But this is not quite correct: slowest growth predicted in U.S. over the next 10 years since the 1930’s Great Depression.  Only 7.3% growth predicted over this decade we are in now. It was only 7.25% between 1930 and 1940.  In addition to this the USA has the lowest vehicle fuel efficiency profile of any country in the world (courtesy of studies produced by the Rocky Mountain Institute of Snowmass, Colorado). Hence there is scope to reduce oil demand in the USA by making vehicles more fuel efficient. Thus the price will come down.  Even less need for subsidies. Also the USA is the second largest producer of global greenhouse gases, whilst having only 4% of the world’s population, hence placing great emphasis on “green” energy production methods. These are “high tech” industries, driving entrepreneurship, smart thinking and advanced technologies.  That can only be a good thing for people. My point is there is ample scope for redirecting skills, talent and resources towards better ways of producing energy without employee funded tax reductions and subsidies. Said in June 2000, by Sheikh Zaki Yamani, former Oil Minister of Saudi Arabia (1962–86), “Thirty years from now there will be a huge amount of oil—and no buyers. Oil will be left in the ground. The Stone Age came to an end, not because we had a lack of stones, and the Oil Age will come to an end not because we have a lack of oil.” The present Saudi Oil Minister Sheikh Ali Al-Naimi recently said “We know that pumping oil out of the ground does not create many jobs. It does not foster an entrepreneurial spirit, nor does it sharpen critical faculties.”  Jeremiah Josey