Avoiding a Slick Argument

By Donald J. Boudreaux

With Japan’s nuclear crisis and a wave of instability crossing the Middle East, pols and pundits are turning again to the question of our energy future. Will civil war and strife disrupt access to oil and our way of life? Can the United States change its century-old pattern of relying heavily upon petroleum?

People will reach different answers to these questions and draw different conclusions about what to do. It would be helpful, however, if everyone could get the factual premises right.

Unfortunately, one thing all too many observers have in common is an erroneous understanding of what the term “proven oil reserves” means. The myths surrounding this oft-cited figure are pervasive. And there’s no way to have a realistic conversation about energy without getting facts and definitions straight.

Republicans for Environmental Protection is just one of many so-called expert groups that gets it wrong. “The notion that the U.S., which sits atop less than 3 percent of the world’s proven oil reserves, can drill enough oil to drive down prices if the flow is interrupted from a region with 64 percent of the world’s reserves is a pipedream,” David Jenkins, a vice president, recently wrote. He argued that supporters of drilling “all neglect to mention that the U.S. is already disproportionately depleting its scant 3 percent reserves to produce 8 percent of current global production.”

Jenkins paints a frightening picture of the future. But whatever good arguments there might be for keeping tight restrictions on drilling, his isn’t one of them.

That’s because the size of any nation’s proven oil reserves depends not only upon how much oil is contained in its borders, but also upon its government’s drilling policies.

Here’s how the Society of Petroleum Engineers defines it: “Proved reserves are those quantities of petroleum which, by analysis of geological and engineering data, can be estimated with reasonable certainty to be commercially recoverable, from a given date forward, from known reservoirs and under current economic conditions, operating methods, and government regulations.”

That last phrase is key. Our proven reserves are much lower than our actual reserves because government has blocked access, onshore and offshore. It’s silly to argue that there is no point to easing restrictions on drilling because “proven reserves” aren’t there. There’d be a lot more proven reserves if the restrictions were eased. Just in the past few years, we’ve started the process to extract a century-long supply of clean-burning natural gas we didn’t even realize existed.

Three years ago, Congress let expire the decades-long ban on leasing most of the Outer Continental Shelf. A study by ICF International found this could increase production of crude oil by nearly a million barrels a day and natural gas by 3 billion cubic feet per day. Yet legal delays still hamper extraction -- like a lawsuit claiming the government didn’t adequately investigate the effect on global warming.

There are plenty of places that industry experts think contain oil where Congress hasn’t lifted bans on drilling. While companies can now plan to work in the Atlantic and Pacific, Congress insisted that most of the Eastern Gulf of Mexico remain undisturbed. The vast potential of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is untapped.

It’s estimated the Eastern Gulf of Mexico has a recoverable 3.7 billion barrels of oil and 55 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. That ICF study estimated that if the ban on drilling was revoked in non-park federal land in Alaska and some Rocky Mountain states, America could produce 1.125 million barrels of oil and an extra 2.4 billion cubic feet of natural gas a day by 2030.

Even where drilling is allowed, companies slog through thick red tape, applying for 15 permits and meeting 90 federal regulations. That’s before state bureaucracies get involved, adding yet more sticky, tangled tape.

There is simply too much energy beneath American land and waters to take the current “proven oil reserves” at face value. You might support drilling, or you might oppose it. But no one can deny there’s plenty of fuel left to drill.

Donald J. Boudreaux is a professor of economics at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. He chaired the Department of Economics from 2001 to 2009. Previously, he was president of the Foundation for Economic Education.

Half Right

Larry Plachno’s Guest Commentary: Where Are The Jobs? got it half right. His diagnosis of the employment problem is correct. Corporations continue to create jobs in Asia. He’s also right that multi-national corporations move their manufacturing facilities to Asia because wages are lower, working conditions are not regulated and there are no environmental standards. He also believes that high taxes have driven and continue to drive American Corporations to China. His prescription: compete with China on China’s terms, is wrong.

Mr. Plachno says taxes are too high and need to be reduced. Since JFK, presidents and the Congress have routinely lowered taxes. The Federal Government even invites representatives of major corporations to help write the tax bills. Many large corporations pay no income tax. Capital Gains has been reduced to 15 %, big pharma only pays (when they pay) 6% and the estate tax has been gutted. As many economists have stated over and over again, it is time to raise taxes. It is a myth that taxes are excessive. Ask Warren Buffet and Ben & Jerry, if they pay too much.

Mr. Plachno also calls for a reduction in regulations. I assume he means the safety regulations that are in place in every first world country to protect workers. No one who is serious really wants to eliminate OSHA and make jobs more dangerous. We have seen what has happened in America’s slaughter houses. They went from God-awful terrible to pretty good because of a combination of government regulation and union organizing. However, the lack of aggressive federal oversight and the elimination of the unions have recreated a situation which is shameful. Who but the desperate want to work in an American coal mine?

Thankfully, they are not yet as bad as Chinese mines.

I assume he also means reducing environmental regulations. Mr. Plachno wants to trade clean air and water for low paying jobs. He wants to trade our health for corporate profits.

When he talks about reducing labor costs, I assume he means in addition to eliminating the workers’ benefit packages; he wants to decimate their wages. He is a little disingenuous when he says he wants to trade $30 an hour jobs for $15 an hour jobs. Multi-nationals in the global market place want to pay perhaps $15 a day, not $15 an hour. Just look at the so-called wages that are paid to American food service employees, hospitality workers, and agriculture workers. Just look at the depressed wages that workers in northwest Illinois make.

Ask the Chinese who work in factories making Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Apple products what they think of their working conditions. Oh, I forgot they can’t talk about their jobs; they might go to jail.

Listen to the Republicans who want to lower and then eliminate minimum wage regulations and prevailing wages. Listen to the Republicans who want to allow the corporations to continue to discriminate against women. Listen to Republicans who are against workers’ compensation. Listen to the Republicans who are for tort reform and they continue to attack union collective bargaining rights. They want sweatshop wages.

In the name of job creation, Mr. Plachno ends by calling for elimination of special entitlements and programs. I assume he means Social Security and Medicare and the promising new health care plan. What he wants is to lower life expectancy for seniors, to close the nursing homes and hope that seniors have a relative who will take them in and save them from the streets.

A recent Marist poll shows that Paul Ryan’s Republican plan is deeply unpopular, with 80% of registered voters opposed, including 73% of Republicans and even 70% of tea party supporters.

One of the great American ironies is that because of a lack of sufficient funding our major state universities are in freefall. These are the same universities that the Chinese send their children to because there are no comparable institutions in Asia. These are the institutions that the Republicans want to slowly starve to death.

There is another answer: the creation of universal labor and environmental standards. When a country violates these standards, other countries can impose a tariff on their imports. If China continues to abuse its workers, refuses to pay living wages and pollutes the environment, we simply explain that because of these violations we are imposing a tariff.

Chuck Wemstrom

Mount Carroll, IL

Morrison Council Notes

Morrison City Council met April 25, 2011 at City Hall. Overflowing again!...(really think we need to move to a larger room…maybe, even more people could attend and feel comfortable). Seven council members (Bob Snodgrass-absent), Mayor Drey, city attorney, 4 council member-elects, and all department heads were in attendance.

Brian Melton stated they had some complaints on property upkeep. He has sent letters and will be following up with issuing tickets, etc. for non-compliance. Due to another eyesore to people who frequent Waterworks Park, they will be taking sealed bids on 3 vehicles. They are a Jeep Cherokee, a Crown Victoria and the Road Grader that are parked at Waterworks Park. So contact City Hall as to where to place your sealed bids before May 16, 2011. The police department hosted another Drug Take Back day on April 30, 2011 at city hall.

Gary Tresenriter reported he was in contact with Al Urban. McDonalds will be starting construction (for sure) in a few weeks. The hold up has been issues with a turning lane versus a meridian. Issues have been solved and McDonalds will be going ahead with their plans.

Terry Wilkens stated concerns with the new budget for 2011-12. He wondered where they were getting the figures for the property tax since there has been a decline in the economy. He also questioned $11,500 budgeted for elected officials salaries-he was told it covers the mayor, treasurer (he is appointed) and the city council members.

I had sent in 3 pages of budget questions to Gary. He was going to get with Jim Dubois and Brian Melton for more information. We will be meeting sometime soon to go over my questions. So, the answers do not affect the budget as presented.

The new budget was passed. (Hope enough is budgeted for the inflated gas prices-for all departments.)

Sarah Thorndike had planned a “Goal Setting Meeting” for April 30, 2011 at the Community Room. Apparently, people had not gotten back to her with their availability-because most everyone had other plans. I replied quite a while ago to report I was available in the morning. Hope we do get together….the old board (to evaluate their goals) and the new board (so that we can make new goals for the board). This was a free meeting to take the place of the “Goal Setting Retreat” that was held in Oregon two years ago. I am still looking forward to this!

The newly elected council members will be seated during the first meeting in May. I will try to make myself available to residents of Morrison so I can represent the people who elected me. The next city council meeting is May 9, 2011 at 7:00 pm at City Hall.

Thought of the week: If you ain’t makin’ waves, you ain’t kickin’ hard enough. (Anonymous)

A Morrison Taxpayer

Marti Wood

Something To Get Excited About: H.B. 311

There isn’t a person in Illinois that isn’t aware that our state has big financial problems. The increase in the Illinois income tax isn’t going to solve it but it is a big help. So what would you think about a plan that would save you money and save the state of Illinois a ton of money? There is such a plan and it is called House Bill 311: Illinois Universal Health Care Plan.

It would provide coverage to all residents of the state of Illinois. It would cover medical, dental, eye care and mental health as well as preventative care. It even provides for nursing home care. It does not cover unnecessary cosmetic surgery, no breast implants, no tummy tucks. Those medical luxuries you would have to pay for out of your own pocket.

There are huge advantages to independent business people, self employed, small businesses and giant businesses like John Deere and Caterpillar. There health care cost would disappear. There would be no need to negotiate health care benefits. It would cut workman’s compensation cost. No one would have to worry about the Affordable Health Care Act.

The state would benefit from not having to provide Medicaid; those covered by Medicare would not need supplemental policies. It would eliminate the state’s burden of providing health care coverage to its public employee retirees. The bill also eliminates “For Profit” care providers and limits administrative cost. It negotiates prices with providers.

Finally, it is not a thousand page bill. Anyone one can download it at the State of Illinois website and read it in less than fifteen minutes. So read it. If you like it, let your state representative and senator know.

Arthur C. Donart, Ph. D.

Thomson, IL

National Nursing Home Week Is May 8-14

The Good Samaritan Society-Mount Carroll is celebrating National Nursing Home Week, May 8-14, with the theme: “Loved, Valued and at Peace.”

National Nursing Home Week is set aside each year to honor residents of long-term care centers, their families and those who work in long-term care. The American Health Care Association established the week in 1967.

The Good Samaritan Society-Mount Carroll plans to celebrate with a week of celebrations including theme days and special activities. Theme days include: Hat Day, Flower Power Day, Red, White and Blue Day, Sports Day and Western Day. Staff and residents will also enjoy picnic meals, ice cream sundaes and root beer floats.

“Providing loving care to people in an environment where they feel loved, valued and at peace is what we strive to do each day,” says Rich Rimkus, administrator. “During this special week, we have the opportunity to thank the community and celebrate with our residents. We also encourage friends and family members to stop by for a visit and see the wonderful things that go on at our center each day.”

The Good Samaritan Society-Mount Carroll is part of The Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society, a not-for-profit organization that owns and operates more than 240 rehabilitation/skilled care centers and retirement living centers across the country. The Good Samaritan Society’s mission is to share God’s love in word and deed by providing shelter and supportive services to older persons and others in need, believing that “In Christ’s Love, Everyone Is Someone.”

Anna Gray

Resource Development Director

Good Samaritan Society-Mount Carroll

81244-7715

Random Drug Testing of Students Who Participate in Extra-Curricular Activities

This year, the District has been evaluating the concept of random drug testing of High School students who participate in extra curricular activities since October.

The Citizens’ Advisory Committee has surveyed staff, students, and the community about their perceptions, knowledge of the situation, and views on random drug testing. They have also collected information on what other school districts in our region do in this area and what drug testing supplies, methods, and procedures are used to make sure the testing is accurate, fair, and economically feasible.

What we have found is that Morrison is not unique and like many other high schools the results from all three surveys indicated that students do smoke cigarettes and use drugs. We also found that other school districts in the region are already doing random drug testing for students in extra curricular events. The process that will be used is as follows:

Any students who plan to participate in an extra curricular activity next year will be asked to declare this intent at registration. Extra curricular activities include sports, academic and fine arts competitions, and dances such as Prom. Any student who does not declare their intent and later decides to participate will then be required to take a drug test when they sign up to participate.

Ten students each week of school will be randomly selected for testing. There will be a 5 drug test panel in addition to testing for nicotine. If a student has a prescription that could cause in a positive result will have the opportunity to bring in the prescription so that they are not penalized.

The most frequent question that I am asked is why not test all students. The answer is that it is not legal to test all students. The courts have ruled that we are only allowed to test students who participate in school sponsored activities that are not part of a graded course.

To help clarify the process and procedures as well as the consequences for infractions, a parent/student meeting will be held in August. The goal is not to catch students but to help students refrain from using illegal substances and to keep them safe during a time in their life where research indicates that the brain is still developing and damage is more frequent.

If you have comments or questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. My e-mail is and my phone number is .

Sincerely,

Suellen Girard

Morrison Superintendent of Schools

Capitol Report

By Jim Sacia, State Representative, 89th District

Appropriations committee meetings dominated the week. Our mandate, craft a budget that doesn’t spend what we don’t have - pretty common sense stuff.

My committee - Appropriations: Public Safety makes up just seven percent of the $33 billion of anticipated income to the state.

The two largest agencies included in our committee, are the Illinois State Police with a proposed budget of $275,000,000 and Illinois Department of Corrections with a budget proposal of $1,278,000,000.

To give you some concept of the tasks taking us into the wee hours of the night, here’s a snapshot of Corrections with our objective of cutting $100,000,000 from their budget. 27 facilities, 11,600 prison guards, 48,000 inmates, 26,000 parolees, 936 vehicles (802 with over 125,000 miles and at least ten years old) and the guard force will receive pay raises from collective bargaining totaling $54,000,000 next year alone.

Yes, you read it right, pay raises, collectively bargained.

Now here’s the real kicker, overtime compensation totaling nearly $40,000,000 (down from $70,000,000 last year).

Many of you will say open Thomson, which should resolve that. There you go using common sense again. Overtime is part of collective bargaining. That’s an entire article in itself.

Allow me to segue into another issue of the week: Just for a moment imagine that fingerprinting, as an identification source, had never become the law of the land.

Arguably, the most recognized and accepted tool in the world to positively identify persons or remains following disasters, wars, accidents, crimes, or something as simple as loss of memory, never would have been available.

Then we discover DNA. A simple saliva swab will positively identify that person even absent fingerprints.

HB3238, that just passed the Illinois House of Representatives, will require DNA to be collected from those when probable cause of serious crimes, including first degree murder, home invasion, predatory criminal sexual assault, aggravated criminal sexual assault and criminal sexual assault, does exist.

Ninety-nine members of the House voted aye and nine voted no. Those in opposition most often argue that it’s a rights violation to collect a small amount of your saliva for retention in a DNA data bank. Those of us supporting the bill argue this simple collection process may also be what proves your innocence. If collecting a tiny amount of your spit is a rights violation what would collecting fingerprints be if that process just became available?

My years in law enforcement, having toiled with uncooperative persons who did not wish to be fingerprinted, give me a special appreciation for the future of DNA.