BARRY NOREEN: We all have oil villains; choose your own

If gasoline prices are hurting you, consider the case of independent trucker Rick Shipley.

On Monday, Shipley pulled into the Tomahawk truck stop in Fountain, where 200 gallons of diesel fuel would cost him $958.

Shipley, from St. Louis, said fuel prices are pinching him badly. He works far more than 40 hours a week and said he'll be lucky to clear $50,000 this year.

"It keeps you from buying things you need," said Shipley, who has been a trucker for 35 years. "Repairs on the truck, you can't do as much as you want."

Just up the road at the KOA Campground, a haven for RVs, owner Robert Speight said, "We're certainly down for the summer. June was down 8 percent and July looks like it will be the same. Gas prices were a concern, but now I think it's the economy overall."

Even though Mountain Metropolitan Transit boosted fares by 20 percent on its fixed routes this year, ridership is up 3 percent. Ridership on FREX, which also boosted rates substantially, is up 34 percent.

According to the American Public Transportation Association, ridership is up throughout the nation. Visitor numbers for Rocky Mountain National Park and the Pikes Peak Highway are down.

The perfect storm?

The economy is poor, gas prices sky high, it's a political year and our collective national angst makes it difficult to resist the temptation of singling out the convenient villain.

For some, it's a supply-side problem: We just need to drill more. The convenient villain is the environmental lobby, which opposes new offshore oil leases or drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

For others, it's a demand-side thing: We should reduce consumption and develop alternative sources. Their convenient villain is the oil industry, which has about 70 million acres of offshore leases it has chosen not to drill because it is cheaper to get oil elsewhere.

It would be nice if we could just vote for one political candidate who could make it all go away, but it's not going to be that easy.

It is a fact that the U.S. produces about 8 million barrels of petroleum products a day and consumes about 21 million barrels. Another fact: American domestic oil production peaked in 1972, and we'll never reach that level of production again, despite what all the talk show hosts say.

After domestic production peaked, did we use less oil? No, we just imported more, and big gas-guzzling vehicles became more popular.

More drilling won't come close to making up the difference.

Some oil industry experts say world oil production will peak in the next few years; some say the peak will come a little later. They all agree that drilling in the wildlife refuge and adding offshore oil leases would have little impact on that inevitable event.

This isn't over-the-top doom and gloom. It's a simple reality that every day there is less oil in the world while consumption increases.

What to do?

We could ask the Chinese to resort to rickshaws, but they're not likely to agree.

There's always carpooling, walking, riding a bike. The transit system has a seat for you. Have you noticed how many drivers are rolling their windows down instead of turning on air conditioners?

The first solution is to stop looking for the convenient villain and look in the mirror instead.

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Contact Noreen at 636-0363 or noreen@gazette.com. He appears every other Friday on KOAA's Comcast Channel 9 at 4 p.m.