Five years late and at astronomical cost, Alaskan oil is at last flowing. But much of it has nowhere to go, because the saboteurs were holding the second line of defense: no pipelines to the east, and not enough refineries in the West. In early 1975, Dow Chemical proposed a $500 million refinery near San Francisco. Pollution control authorities admitted it was the cleanest facility they had ever seen, but denied a permit anyway, with the cryptic explanation that no permit could be granted even if Dow were to meet all emission standards. After two years' effort and $10 million in costs, Dow could obtain only four of the required sixty-five (!) permits. The rest were not rejected Dow was "simply unable to hack through the regulatory morass and get straight answers." Early this year therefore, Dow canceled the project. (Based on statement by Dow Chemical President P.E. Oreffice, quoted in the Wall Street Journal 7/26/ 77).
Those are the symptoms. And the roots? Here is L. H . Lapham's suggestion, excerpted from his article "The Energy Debacle" in the August issue of Harpers:
"Although as self-interested as the older class, the new class [of academics and bureaucrats] is less forthright about its desire for political influence. Its publicists seldom point out that a policy of "zero growth" . . . rewards people who explain, categorize and interpret things at the expense of people who make things. In a stagnant society, the bureaucrat holds sway. His taxes, regulations, and moralisms replace the market mechanism, and, like the grocery clerk in command of a limited inventory, he finds himself invested with the wisdom of Solomon. Knowing this to be so, the bureaucrat resents the messiness of abundance. In a robust or creative society, too many people go around making things without permission, inventing new sources of wealth and political theory. Obviously, people cannot be trusted. They must be managed. But most people object to being managed, even for their own good, and so first they must be frightened, which is why, in the best ideological circles, it is proper to say that the U nited States is cruel, ignorant, and wasteful . Thus the government's willing belief in the apparition of the energy crisis and the news that the world is coming to an end."
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Vol. 5, No. 2
Newsletter: Access to Energy Newsletter Archive Volume: Volume 5 Issue/No.: Vol. 5, No. 2 Date: October 01, 1977 02:04 PM Title: The demise of the ballot box
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