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UT-AAUP Board Member's Opinion
Mary Jane Erard, UT-AAUP Executive Director The UT-AAUP is proud to offer a re-print of Dr. Don Stierman's letter to the editor, which was published on May 30, 2011 in The Toledo Blade. See letter and link below.
Age of cheap oil, gasoline is over
Shortly after Ronald Reagan became president, his secretary of the Interior, James Watt, promised to open U.S. territory to oil exploration. Oil companies expanded exploration offices, hiring every available geologist.
Despite this massive effort, domestic oil production declined during that administration.
The Rocky Mountains belt failed to meet expectations, oil companies merged, and exploration divisions dissolved.
As a Readers' Forum contributor points out, northwestern Ohio's oil fields, once the most productive in the world, are played out ("No wonder Ohio can't create jobs," May 23).
But he fails to note that oil fields all over the country are pretty much played out. There are not many places where significant new fields might lie hidden between the millions of wells already drilled here.
U.S. Rep. Bob Latta (R., Bowling Green) is far more optimistic than major oil companies about undiscovered potential reserves in U.S. territory. Big Oil learned the bad news 25 years ago.
Environmental damage happens even where wells do not fail. Wyoming gas fields have severely disrupted habitat vital to pronghorn antelope and mule deer, much to the dismay of big-game hunters and small local businesses such as outfitters and guides.
Important migration routes were blocked. One gas field was approved with the promise that drilling pads would occupy only a small total area.
Oil from tar sands, oil shale, and deep-water wells is expensive to produce. On a global scale, the last year we discovered as much new oil as we produced was 1991. The gap between discoveries and production keeps widening.
The age of cheap oil and gasoline is over.
Don Stierman
Meadowood Drive
Editor's Note: The writer is an associate professor of geophysics and a seismologist in the Department of Environmental Sciences at the University of Toledo.
Link to Blade Letters to the Editor
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