It's the Energy, Stupid.

Managing Editor Joseph Keefe's Editorial, first published in our April 2007 print edition, is rebroadcast in its original form for MarEx readers. Not much has changed except, of course, the price of gasoline and crude oil.

Elections have a way of coining catchy phrases to meet the needs of one camp or another as they try to sell their message. Not surprisingly, and in an age where packaging can mean far more than substance in any venue, the slogans work, and they work well. Not too long ago, the unforgettable "It's the economy, stupid" became the catch phrase which came to embody everything that anyone needed to know about that particular election cycle. As the 2008 elections loom large in the windshield, I just happen to have the perfect slogan for any candidate who wants to use it: "It's the Energy, Stupid."

Next year's elections are especially important because of the Presidential sweepstakes already underway, but there will be numerous seats in Congress up for grabs, as well. The election(s) will hinge on any number of important issues, but I'm going to predict (in no particular order) that foremost among these issues will be the Iraq war, the high cost of energy and the crushing trade deficit that could eventually make all other matters seem unimportant. Not coincidentally, all of these issues are related to one another.

The reasons for fighting the war in Iraq can be packaged in a variety of different ways, but at the end of the day – and I take no particular pleasure in telling you this – it comes down to preserving regional stability so that the oil can continue to flow unabated. It's why we have two carrier task forces deployed in and around the Persian Gulf and it is why we cannot easily extricate ourselves from this mess. Frankly, I don't know why this concept is so difficult for so many to grasp. Unless we can secure and guarantee at least a portion of our considerable energy requirements from other sources, we are going to be there for a long, long time. It doesn't have to be this way.

Whatever you think you know about global warming or the astronomical cost of heating John Edward's 25,000 square foot house, you also know that considerable stockpiles of fossil fuel energy are available right here – right now – at home. And I'm not talking about the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Some day, we'll move to a greener way of life here in America, but until that time comes, we're going to need energy to get Ken and Barbie to work and back in their luxury SUV's. This energy lays untapped under the frozen ANWR tundra, deep off the Continental shelf of our Gulf, West and East Coasts, and also sits on Alaska's North Slope in the form of millions of cubic feet of "stranded gas." All of it is currently off limits to the American consumer. It doesn't have to be this way.

Americans can only hope that, at some point, lawmakers will wake up to the reality that any energy extracted from U.S. sources in the future will (a.) involve the most environmentally sound construction and production techniques ever attempted anywhere and at any time in history, (b.) create sustainable employment for tens of thousands of Americans – including mariners, (c.) return hundreds of millions of dollars to the U.S. economy and tax coffers and (d.) help to significantly reduce the trade deficit – a large portion of which hinges directly on energy imports. But, I'm preaching to the choir here, right?

All of the foregoing is arguably unimportant in the face of the best reason to develop our own energy: I'm talking about removing the geopolitical grenade (oil) from the hands of people like Hugo Chavez, or worse, the rapidly escalating chaos which will permeate every sector of the Middle East after we "depart with honor." I want us to get out of there as much as the next guy. It sure would be nice if we had some sort of viable energy plan to back up that kind of action when it's time to do it.

Right before I sat down to pull the trigger on the last e-file for this issue of MarEx; I filled up the tank on the minivan at $2.87 per gallon of self-serve Regular Unleaded Gasoline. And, I can't help thinking that without a rapid change of direction in America's energy policy, five years from now, that same gasoline will cost $4.87 per gallon and we'll all still be reading the body counts in the Sunday New York Times. It doesn't have to be this way.

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Notes from present day: The above editorial, shown exactly as it was first published, appeared in THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE print magazine in April 2007. On Monday, Regular Unleaded Gasoline in the Charlotte area was selling for $3.87 per gallon. I sure hope I'm wrong about this, but that $4.87 gasoline I mentioned back in the spring of 2007 will be here before you know it. John Edwards has long departed the race and is now sitting at home in his energy-efficient, 25,000 square foot home. Left behind are three presidential candidates who are seemingly indifferent about domestic energy exploration or what to do about America's unquenchable thirst for oil. Looks like we'll continue to buy from our "friends" overseas, feed the trade deficit and the war in Iraq. So, the next time Barack Obama tells you he is going to pull our troops out, you might want to ask him what the rest of the plan entails.

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Joseph Keefe is the Managing Editor of THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE. He is solely responsible for the content of this editorial. Keefe can be reached at [email protected].

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