U.S. needs to stop using so much oil

The U.S. is looking for oil … If we just had more, prices would go down, or maybe not.

Russia has oil, but they prefer to sell it to other countries, like China. Saudi Arabia only exports about 65 percent of its oil because they need some for themselves. That’s only fair, it’s their oil. Canada has lots of untapped oil, eight times that of Saudi Arabia, enough to keep the world going for a century. Maybe we could take their oil away from them.

Mexico has oil. Their price at the pump is $2 less than ours. I guess they are willing to share their people but not their oil. Truckers in California are braving the cartel wars at the border just to gas up.

We could frantically start looking for oil in the U.S., but it could take years before we saw a drop. Four U.S. oil companies are hammering out the final deal with Iraq. We go in and make needed repairs to their four largest fields in exchange for exclusive rights. Perhaps that was the purpose for the war in the first place.

We could point our finger at China and India and their population growth, yet these countries consume just two barrels per person per year. The U.S. consumes 25 barrels per person per year. No wonder we are the biggest contributor to greenhouse gases.

I think it’s time for us to stand up, tighten our belts, put aside our discomfort and step away from the all-you-can-eat buffet.

LAURIE WADKINS

Priest River