Tapping our resources

While Democrats and their global-warming groupies were campaigning for an alternative energy revolution -- never mind the economic consequences of such an abrupt, expensive transition -- federal scientists were confirming a discovery that could deliver enough affordable energy supplies to last a generation.

Naturally, many environmentalists aren't happy about it.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Geological Survey announced that up to 85.4 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas -- enough to heat 100 million average U.S. homes for 10 years -- can be tapped in Alaska with existing technology. The deposits below the permafrost of the North Slope exist as gas hydrates, solids formed under cold temperatures and high pressure. Five years of tests in the United States and Canada have proved the gas can be released simply by reducing the pressure within the deposits.

Because gas hydrates also exist in Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas, as well as several offshore areas, the successful delivery of Alaska's resources could provide the breakthrough that broadens the country's energy portfolio and helps reduce our dependence on foreign oil, a major policy goal of President-elect Barack Obama.

"I don't want people to think our problems are solved," said Brenda Pierce, manager of the USGS energy resources program, "but this has real potential."

But energy reserves that might one day allow the economy to grow and improve the quality of life of a growing population are a threat to the liberal environmentalist agenda. Under the BANANA Doctrine -- Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything -- the perceived interests of an uninhabitable environment always must be put before the needs of mankind. That means no drilling for gas in the "pristine" tundra.

"The process is still pretty damaging to ecosystems," said Athan Manuel, director of the Sierra Club lands program. "Bottom line, this is a very destructive way to extract natural gas."

Of course, it will be years before any natural gas from this deposit can be brought to market. Substantial environmental studies must be conducted. And a natural gas pipeline backed by Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin won't be ready for at least a decade. Those factors alone will continue to drive energy companies toward conventional natural gas deposits, at least for the short term.

Environmentalists will attempt to use this drawn-out timetable as a reason to leave the North Slope site untouched. "If consumers won't immediately see increased supplies," they reason, "why bother?" For the better part of 20 years, they've used this tactic to prevent oil drilling inside the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

"There's a lot that still needs to be proven with regards to safety," said Mike Daulton, legislative director of the National Audubon Society.

Then there are the questions surrounding the incoming Barack Obama administration and the expanded Democratic majorities in Congress. President-elect Obama is expected to repeal or supersede many Bush administration executive orders, including some that deal with energy policy, while Congress already has embraced the environmentalist agenda of subsidizing renewable energy generation and constraining supplies of fossil fuels.

President-elect Obama and his Democratic allies in Congress should remember that natural gas accounts for 24 percent of all energy consumed in the United States. Twenty percent of the country's electricity -- and 70 percent of Nevada's -- is generated by natural gas-fired power plants. Contrary to the green dreams of Al Gore, reliance on this resource won't end anytime soon. The country needs adequate supplies of natural gas to keep the lights and the heat on, and now more than ever, it needs that energy to come as cheap as possible.

The president-elect and Congress should fully support the USGS and American companies in their efforts to make this Alaskan mother lode a centerpiece in the country's drive toward energy independence.