My Gosh, I Agree with Ted Turner
December 22, 2009
Denver hosts the Colorado Oil and Gas Association convention every summer. This year we were favored with ex-senator Tim Wirth as a speaker. Mr. Wirth was a New Age politician representing Colorado for some twenty years. He then went on to work for Al Gore and currently is working for Ted Turner. For those who care to do so, conclusions may be drawn about Mr. Wirth’s world view and politics.
And yet, he had some interesting things to say. Mr. Wirth comes across as a thoughtful man, even though his outlook is different than that we, in this industry, are often exposed to. Obviously he sees himself as a spokesman, even an apostle, of the global warming gospel. But he had a very strong message for us, specifically for the natural gas business.
He chastised natural gas people as both foolish and naïve. His point was that a great debate, a battle, is being fought in Washington and in the media over a bundle of issues centered the concept of global warming. This is no great surprise. I think we all know this to be true. Legislation being hammered out now and in the next few years will profoundly affect our industry, our economy and our lives for decades to come.
Mr. Wirth recognized that his audience was strongly against such governmental interference in our energy markets. He did not try to convert us. He did not insult our intelligence. But he did consider us fools. And listening to him, I was hard pressed not to agree with him.
In the ongoing public debate and resulting political horse trading, he said that the natural gas industry has aligned its interests with the other hydrocarbon energy producers; i.e. oil and coal. This is natural. We call it the oil and gas industry after all. An informal poll of folks I know in the natural gas business shows that people employed in the natural gas business, at least those over the age of 30, think global warming phony science at best, and most likely a plot by socialists to destroy the free enterprise system.
But in this case, the self-interest of the natural gas business is aligned with the renewable energy people, the environmental lobby and the regulators. Every time we stand arm in arm with our cousins in the coal or oil business, we are shooting ourselves in the foot. Natural gas is what makes renewable energy workable. Natural gas is the natural ally of all except the Trotskyite wing of the environmental lobby. Natural gas allows regulators the insurance policy to begin the formidable task of regulating atmospheric carbon dioxide.
But such political clout as the natural gas business has stands with oil and coal. But Mr. Wirth pointed out that such loyalty is not returned. As evidence, he cited the preliminary energy bill put out by Congress. Lobbyists for oil and coal had done their work and earned their money. It was laden with exemptions and set asides for both oil and coal. There were no favors, set asides or exemptions that helped natural gas. Our allies had done nothing for natural gas. It was every man for himself and the devil take the hind most.
Natural gas is pretty apolitical. Of course, the people in the business have their own opinions, which tend much more to Rush Limbaugh than to Bill Maher. It is an entrepreneurial culture that tends to business rather than favor seeking. Our contractors are for the most part merit shop, as well as are our operating organizations which further contributes to our lack of interest in politics. We have to deal with various federal and state agencies to get permits and access to federal lands, but those interactions are technocratic rather than political as well. As a consequence, we are a notoriously poor soil for raising political contributions. Politicians do not seek us out because we don’t give them money and we do not seek out politicians because we just want to be left alone. We have been lucky but also naive.
When faced with politics as engineers, we tend to react as though we had smelled an over ripe carcass and rapidly exit the room. That is why we became engineers. The sordid details of human organizations and how they work hold little enchantment for us. Better the pure world of mathematics and the acrid smell of welding than the trading of favors and ethical gamesmanship of politics. If we were comfortable with those things, we would have gone to law school.
But we live and enjoy a civilization that only exists because of the availability of widespread and cheap energy. Whether justifiable or not, the circumstances by which that energy is produced and used are now going to become the subject of politics. We may shrug our shoulders, talk about how socialists will ruin everything with politicians no more than bagmen for the rich or lazy and then leave the room. If we do so, then our futures will be decided by others. Yet you know as well as I that the level of ignorance in our culture and decision makers regarding energy is abysmal.
Energy production and its use are about to change. That future is not ordained or governed by the laws of the inevitable. The future is up for grabs. Mr. Wirth was perceptive, natural gas is a world class athlete watching from the sidelines while the biggest game of its career is being played. But we are going to have to climb down from our pedestal. We are going to have to get involved and we are going to have to compromise our “beliefs”.
Most in the natural gas business view “environmentalists” as the enemy and react to them with contempt and dismay. But they are the natural allies of natural gas and in desperate need of what natural gas brings to the table. The environmental movement has made a mistake and actually come to Power. They will find, as have those who came before them, that Power is seductive. Just as the all-consuming need of Cash is to have more Cash, Power is consumed by the need is to stay in Power. Staying in Power requires politics, which requires compromise, and so they will do so.
Environmentalism needs to compromise on producing energy. Even setting aside thermodynamics, renewable energy and green energy are not realistic alternatives on anything less than multi-generational timetables. Of course the purists in the environmental movement will require bicycles and composting toilets rather than our present life style. The environmentalists in Power realize the folly of these people as it relates to staying in Power. And so the purists will be sent packing, hence the term Trotskyites.
To those in Power looking to compromise, natural gas is the perfect alternative. While nuclear power offers an alternative, it too is generations away and so of little use in the game of Power.
Blog Archives
December 2009
My Gosh, I Agree with Ted Turner - 12/22/2009November 2009
Natural Gas Prices - 11/16/2009July 2009
Leadership Near a French Town - 07/16/2009Perversity Strikes Again - 07/10/2009
Of Mice and Windy Men - 07/10/2009
June 2009
Dead Cat Bounce - 06/15/2009Notes From Dubai - 06/15/2009
Value - 06/15/2009
Buffoons or High Priests - 06/15/2009
April 2009
Cold Harbor - 04/10/2009An Arrogant Crow - 04/07/2009