“In Defense of Oil”–coming to a campus near you — VOICES for REASON

Every day, Americans use about 3 gallons of oil a day. That’s almost one billion gallons total.

It’s hard to find anyone who thinks this is a good thing. Indeed, the overwhelming view heard in our culture is that our use of oil is an “addiction”. This term was popularized by former President–and oilman–George W. Bush in his 2006 speech.

Barack Obama is even more opposed to oil: “the age of oil must end in our time,” he has declared unequivocally. And: “the country that faced down the tyranny of fascism and communism is now called to challenge the tyranny of oil.” (Note: our President is comparing our use of oil to movements that killed a combined 100 million people.)

A recent book review in the New York Times gave the following–favorable–summary of one of the latest anti-oil books:

Oil is the curse of the modern world; it is “the devil’s excrement,” in the words of the former Venezuelan oil minister Juan Pablo Pérez Alfonzo, who is considered to be the father of OPEC and should know. Our insatiable need for oil has brought us global warming, Islamic fundamentalism and environmental depredation. It has turned the United States and China, the world’s biggest consumers of petroleum, into greedy, irresponsible addicts that can’t see beyond their next fix. …We can’t be rid of the stuff soon enough.

This week, I will be visiting four universities–University of Utah, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Carnegie Mellon University, and University of Minnesota (Monday-Thursday respectively, see schedule here)–to encourage students to question the idea that oil is an “addiction” to be ended as quickly as possible. Why question it? Because the standard line on oil only tells one side of the story: all the (alleged) negatives that come with our use of oil. But what about the positives? What is the positive we get from our use of oil, and what would be the consequences of a major government initiative to fulfill Obama’s mandate that “the age of oil must end in our time”? This neglected aspect of the debate will be my focus in “In Defense of Oil.” Following each talk will be an extended question period where audience members are welcome to ask questions about any and all oil controversies (climate change, peak oil, Mideast oil politics, etc.)

If you’re in the area, I hope you can make it. If not, check out “The Triumph and Tragedy of the Oil Industry,” which opens with a discussion of the value of oil–and my Investor’s Business Daily article celebrating the 150^th anniversary of oil. Both are available at the Ayn Rand Center’s “In Defense of Oil” page.

flickr/Fábio Pinheiro