Oil Tops $100 to Start 2008

“A dramatic change in our nation’s energy policies is clearly overdue.”
- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) January 2, 2008

The $100 market barrier on the price of oil was breached earlier today. How high might it go?
Some market analysts are predicting oil will soon reach $135, with $100 oil replacing $70 crude price as a benchmark. It's also apparent that historical market limitations to oil pricing are diminished as a function of energy spending becoming less a part of our economy. Indeed, MSNBC headlines its analysis of $100 oil by stating “Consumers likely to shake off rising price of oil.”

Obviously, consumers will be paying attention as gas prices surge far beyond $3/gal – a point that isn’t lost on Washington. The Baltimore Sun reports that the issue is already gaining increased attention of the partisans on the Hill. And in this 2008 forecast report, Business Analyst Doug Kass predicts that "the Democratic Party's populist view of a windfall tax on energy companies (will gain) increased acceptance."

President Bush has remained reluctant to pass an excess profits tax on the oil companies to help fund alternative fuels. Instead, comments made today at a briefing by Press Secretary Dana Perino reinforce the Administration's assertion that oil price relief will be best achieved through additional drilling of oil wells in ANWR and our coastal areas. In response, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid referred to the Bush Presidency as “the most oil-friendly administration in history,” claiming that “This economically disastrous milestone is a product of the President and Bush Republicans’ misguided policies that put corporate profits ahead of our nation’s economic, environmental and national security."

Pocketbook issues reign supreme in Washington. The rising price of oil will therefore "fuel the fire" under this nation's quest for energy conservation and an alternative fuels policy. Whether Republican or Democrat, it is becoming increasingly clear that the next Administration will necessarily be far more proactive in this pursuit than the oft-times dismissive Bush Administration.

AFV solution that's ready for market: Diesel power, with biodiesel in the tank.
Diesel power is a competitive replacement technology for gasoline engines that reduces fuel consumption. And biodiesel further leverages the gains to be made by providing an alternative – available today – to the $100+ per barrel petroleum that presently drives these engines. The production and distribution of biodiesel must therefore become a key objective of any policy that would hope to counter rising oil prices, increased global demand and diminishing supplies while reducing our carbon footprint.

All these troubles in the transportation fuels market make it even more sensible to remain bullish on biodiesel. Solutions to these challenges we face are available, beginning with a public commitment to support the biodiesel industry as our means to create “A Home Grown Fuel for a Better Wisconsin.”

- posted by Jeff Pieterick, President, Wisconsin Biodiesel Association