More than 100 days after the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico efforts to seal the worst oil spill in U.S. history are causing a sense of security that University of Nebraska Assistant Professor Adam Liska warns is false comfort. In an article Liska points out that there's a quieter crisis in the other gulf, the Persian Gulf, which should call American's attention to the even more severe consequences of relying upon imported oil.
Defense Department costs of protecting oil shipping lanes through the Persian Gulf total more than $50 billion annually. Liska calls that oil's hidden cost to taxpayers. He says these costs do not include the nearly 20 years of continual warfare seen in the Middle East driven by a policy of access to oil. There are also environmental costs to consider; for every billion dollars spent in military activity to access oil in the Middle East U.S. military operations emit a staggering 289,000 tons of carbon dioxide.
Liska supports the alternative, domestic ethanol, which is at least 59% cleaner than conventional gasoline. Domestic ethanol creates U.S. jobs by keeping American money in the American economy instead of shipping it overseas. Domestic ethanol strengthens our national security by reducing our dependence on foreign oil. Liska believes we should change our priorities so that we stop paying the price in human lives, our economic future and accelerated climate change.
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