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During 2007 and 2008, we saw gasoline prices at the pump rise from under $3.00 per gallon to over $4.00

Then, toward the end of 2008 where I live (Snowflake, Arizona), the per gallon price declined to about $1.50. Now, it is January of 2009 and the price is above $1.80.

With the price of gasoline on the rise again, the good people of the US of A have something to worry about again. We, as a group, already worry about paying our mortgages, putting food on the table, heating and cooling our homes and on and on and on. Since our wheels of commerce turn on gasoline, everything transported to the stores for consumer purchasing costs more and more each day.

That's not all. Crude oil is the raw material of much of what we buy. Think about that container used for packaging your last frozen food purchase at the grocery store.

Other than the wealthy among us, we have genuine reason for genuine worry.

Robert Hirsch gives us much more to worry about. Five years ago most of us would have laughed at what Hirsch says today. Hirsch has long been recognized as an energy expert. If you choose to research his background, you will be impressed. Here, according to CNBC is what Hirsch said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”

"The prices that we're paying at the pump today are, I think, going to be 'the good old days,' because others who watch this very closely forecast that we're going to be hitting $12 and $15 a gallon, and then, after that, when world oil production goes into decline, we're going to talk about rationing.

In other words, not only are we going to be paying high prices and have considerable economic problems, but in addition to that, we're not going to be able to get the fuel when we want it.

The idea is that [world oil production] would hit a sharp peak and then drop off, and what's happened is, we've hit a plateau in world oil production, and that plateau has been ongoing since about the middle of 2004.

There's no single thing that's going to solve this problem, because it's as massive as one can possibly imagine."

I believe what Hirsch says can still come about. So, what do should we do?

If we actively plan starting now, some experts say we might have smoother sailing in 15 to 20 years. But, you ask, what about now - the short term? Thanks to our (all of us) negligence, there is no short-term solution. We were “had” when we were not minding the store. I lay the blame on all of us because we have been content to complain to friends, neighbors and co-workers but not to the people who can help, our elected officials.

I am convinced our elected officials will not do anything until they sense near revolt among us. When I see on the evening news, and I have, that truckers demand lower fuel prices, I have to think we are almost there now.

According to a May 8, 2008 article by Richard Simon, a Los Angeles Times Staff Writer, Congress is taking on the issue of rising gasoline prices. But, taking on the current rising gasoline price is, I think, congressional puff during an election year for deceitful appearance only. It is not a lasting solution. A lasting solution would give us oil independent of foreign oil. We'll see how serious Congress is when the fuel price bites us again.

Now, after saying that, I quickly add there is a group of people, I think small in number, who will balk at our taking steps to become oil independent. The group? The environmentalist. Not all environmentalist but those who can afford, and are willing to pay, extremely high gas prices. They will make the most noise because they have the wherewithal (money, and therefore, influence) to do so.

By the way, I have this to say to the environmentalist: In addition to animals and plant life, people are part of the environment too. The wealthy can pay rising fuel prices and can pay the rising cost of goods and services resulting from higher prices with little effect on their lifestyles. The wealthy environmentalist will attempt to block oil drilling in places where the environment is, in their words, disturbed.

ANWR

One such place is the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), an area of over 19 million acres with 1.5 million acres set aside by Congress for oil and gas exploration. Visit the ANWR website. There you will find the ANWR drilling issue has been discussed without progress for years. The website makes a convincing argument for oil drilling at ANWR.

When large numbers of working class citizens are provoked to make an ugly “scene”, Congress will see it our way. It will not have a choice. We hire members of congress to serve us and, if we force the issue, they will serve us. In ten or so years, we can have oil independent of other countries by drilling not only at ANWR but at other United States locations, such as off-shore.

What, then, happens if we really do become oil independent? We need to keep pushing forward. Our own oil production will not last to the end of time. Oil independency alone is not enough. Oil is only one source of energy. It is just the pressing concern at the moment.

We best look at the merits of exploiting natural gas, electricity, coal, hydropower, solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, ethanol , shale and nuclear. We need to develop each of these as they become cost effective and do it long before another energy crisis comes along - even a crisis after many of our lives are over.

Personal Solar and Wind Knowledge

My wife and I, living in a remote area of Arizona off the electrical grid, can attest to the effectiveness and efficiency of solar and wind (see photo). Both are pollution free and are ongoing. Both are inexpensive after the initial cost outlay.

But we, as a country, are not there yet. We will get there when we insist our leaders get serious and declare development of all energy sources the highest priority with a stated, and reasonable, deadline.

We Rallied at the Flagpole During WWII

We have done what seemed like the impossible before and we can again. We went from despair to victory after the Japanese blindsided us at Pearl Harbor nearly seventy years ago. We persevered through living with the rationing of necessities during World War II.

Many families with members fighting the war were tormented. Many families with members fighting the war were never reunited. We had to adjust our lifestyles at a time when our dilemma was far worse than now. We were forced to act during World War II and the deadline was not discretionary . The deadline was immediate because every day events could break us.

We Rallied at the Flagpole for the Space Program

President Kennedy, in May of 1961, announce the goal of putting Americans on the Moon and bringing them back safely by the end of the decade. We had a little more than eight years to achieve the goal. According to The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, “Skeptics questioned the ability of NASA to meet the President’s timetable.”

Our Choice: Achieve, Dilly-Dally or Give Up

Well, we came through as champs both times and we can achieve a near perfect energy solution if funds are made available to the brightest scientific and engineering minds we have. Or, we can give the job to “Cliff Notes scholars” and get nowhere. Or, we can forget a long-term solution completely and selfishly take care of ourselves - you know, “I got mine, you get yours.” Future generations be damned.

I hear talk of creating such a team, similar to the World War II Manhattan Project, for freeing us from foreign oil. Why now? Why wasn’t this started in the early 1970s when we had a national gasoline scare?

I’m skeptical. In time, we’ll see if Congress has the enthusiasm and resolve to force the completion of a workable solution. Too, we'll see if we have the gumption to pressure Congress.

Now, think about this: Once we become oil independent, the price we pay at the pump may never drop to, and stay at, that of the 1990s for at least two reasons other than inflation. One, putting the production and distribution infrastructure in place won’t be cheap. Two, as we become conditioned to paying $10.00 or so per gallon, “they” will have us where they want us. Even greater reason for weaning ourselves of oil to the greatest extent possible and becoming completely energy independent without delay.

When I was in the US Navy, a buddy told me the delivery doctor made a mistake when I was born. He said the doctor threw out the kid and kept the afterbirth. We laughed and I still chuckle when I recall his good-natured ribbing.

Now, fifty years later, I think the same about all of us because all of us contributed to the gasoline price fiasco. But, I don’t laugh and I don’t chuckle.