Energy Security, Not Energy Independence

by Alex Thurston :: Filed Under Energy Policy :: December 15th, 2008 @ 4:12 pm EST

“Energy independence” sounds great, but the fact that it’s become a talking point for both the left and the right shows how vague it is as a policy position.

Also, the idea of energy independence evokes the image of cutting our ties with “countries that hate us,” even though Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states have been steadfast American allies for decades.

I prefer to talk about energy security. In an interdependent world, we won’t necessarily always be able to - or want to - produce all of our energy domestically. The question is rather, how can we make sure we have the energy we need?

When considering our dependence on the Gulf, a little history never hurts:

The American protectorate in the gulf evolved as the result of deliberate policy and by accident. Over two centuries Americans systematically drove the British from the region. Unfortunately, when Americans finally found themselves No. 1 Englishmen, they also discovered that it was hard to distinguish between the old and the new world orders in regions such as the Persian Gulf. To their chagrin, along with economic dominance came political and military responsibilities.

Nor was the West’s or the United States’ own more limited dependence on the Persian Gulf for petroleum unintentional. In the 1940s American policymakers planned that, too, hoping to preserve the oil of the Western Hemisphere as a vast strategic reserve. As the United States intended, Middle Eastern Oil fueled the economic recovery of wartorn Western Europe, a development that was perhaps the most important factor in preventing the spread of communism within Europe.

Michael Palmer, Guardians of the Gulf, p. 245.

So Arabs haven’t “pulled one over” on us. The main obstacle to energy reform is actually the dinosaur corporations that would rather milk the status quo for its last drops of profit rather than help innovate us into a new era.

The answer to the energy crisis will come in the form of diversification, mostly domestic. But just talking about an “all of the above” platform isn’t enough. Each region has its own needs and its own resources, and energy policy should reflect that.

If we conceive of the problem as “cutting our dependence on foreign oil,” we’ll come up with limited and even counterproductive solutions. But if we reformulate it as a question of security and sustainability, we can make the decisions we need to.