Self-Sufficiency and U.S. Oil

Thomas Dietz’s article on the tragedy of the commons outlines a number of concerns that span not only IPE but also sociology, biology, etc. The depletion of natural resources common to the world is a legitimate concern; Dietz is quite convincing in that respect. However he focuses entirely on those resources which are common to the globe. This is the premise of his argument so that makes sense, but I found it hard to read an article about the political ramifications of environmental concerns without thinking about the world’s (specifically U.S.’s) dependency on oil.

In terms of foreign relations and international economies, oil seems to be second to no other concern. Perhaps Dietz’s common focus can be attributed to the fact that the article was written in 2003, because the Washington Post ran an article today in which foreign relations in the Middle East and oil production were at the forefront of the news. The article in the Post is actually much more optimistic than I expected when scanning over the words “U.S. oil” and “Saudi Arabia.”

The article cites new technology in extraction methods as reasoning behind why the U.S. will in the next decade become nearly self-reliant in oil production. The U.S. dependency on foreign oil based in the Middle East has dictated much of foreign policy in the past few decades, and the newfound self-sufficiency will help bolster national security.

The most disturbing piece of the article in my opinion was a small blurb that appeared somewhat out of context at the end of the essay. The author mentions that, “in emerging nations, government subsidies will continue to spur fossil fuels use, even as lower-carbon energy sources become more popular.”

Although the U.S. may strengthen its Middle Eastern relations by subsidizing its own eco-friendly energy sources, the move will also widen the gap between developing and developed countries. The article doesn’t go into enough detail to predict whether this will spawn new political energy turmoil in the future, but it seems unavoidable. By improving relations in one area of the world, the U.S. is worsening them in another.

Link to the Post article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/us-oil-output-to-overtake-saudi-arabias-by-2020-iea-says/2012/11/12/4b89c9ee-2cf3-11e2-b631-2aad9d9c73ac_story_1.html