OPINION: We don't need oil

Here we go again, thumbing our noses at our country's own oil and gas resources, despite President Barack Obama's stated goal of energy independence.

Colorado's own Ken Salazar, Obama's Interior secretary, hadn't warmed up his new chair before he scrapped the leases on 77 parcels of federal land slated for oil and gas drilling in Utah's redrock country. Oil independence may be terribly important, but not if it involves having to look at an oil rig for a short time - especially if that rig is near the personal playground of Robert Redford, a Hollywood A-lister no starry-eyed Washington politician would ever want to cross.

"I see this announcement as a sign that after eight long years of rapacious greed and backdoor dealings, our government is returning a sense of balance to the way it manages our lands," said Redford, in a written statement gushing over Salazar's move.

Redford didn't want the oil drilling because he owns the nearby Sundance ski resort, and likes to ride horseback in the region of the oil leases. And let's keep our priorities straight. Oil independence has some merit, but what about Redford's scenic view while he's riding a horse? Burdening him with a possible glimpse of an oil pump is just plain rude. It's a price too high to pay.

Salazar said he opposed the leases because they would put oil rigs near pretty things in the vicinity of Arches and Canyonlands national parks and Dinosaur National Monument.

He also wants to protect the high cliffs of whitewater sections of the Green River through Desolation Canyon, and plateaus that are home to big game along Nine Mile Canyon. Of course, nobody has speculated that oil rigs would undo any of these scenic resources, or even cause permanent harm to the view.

All this fuss about the burden of someone possibly catching sight of oil equipment has more than annoyed some just-plain-ordinary folks who need to fuel their cars and heat their homes and are tired of foreign wars and living at the mercy of OPEC. A group of black ministers and a leading black civil rights activist took to the streets of Salt Lake City the night before the opening of Redford's glamorous Sundance Film Festival in January to express their displeasure with his efforts to kill oil production. A group of mostly black protesters led by civil rights warrior Niger Innis, spokesman for the New York-based Congress of Racial Equality, suggested that Redford "relinquish his wealth" and live like a poor person concerned about fuel.

"The high energy prices we're going to see this winter are essentially discriminatory," said Bishop Harry Jackson Jr., of the Hope Christian Church in Beltsville, Md., as quoted in the Salt Lake Tribune.

Opponents of the drilling leases responded as they always do, arguing that domestic production of oil couldn't possibly help with our dependence on foreign oil.

Try to follow their logic: We need more oil, but the solution isn't more oil.

If questioned on this strange equation, oil opponents throw out numbers explaining that only a small amount of oil would come from offshore drilling, or Alaska, or the area of Utah in question.

Apparently small amounts of oil don't combine to help free us from foreign oil. It's kind of like a household in need of $1,000 dollars turning away $10 dollars, because it's just a small amount of money. "Honey, let's turn away any trickles of income because I'm more interested in a pot of gold I hope will come our way."

Here's how Joyce Deep, a spokesman for Redford, explained that we don't need a little domestic oil: "These contested oil leases in Utah really have nothing to do with the cost of home heating. The fact is, the oil and gas industry already has more leases than it knows what to do with."

Redford, through his spokesperson, would have us believe that new oil production has no nexus with oil prices. He would have us believe that oil and gas producers want to invest millions to drill near his personal playground just for the heck of it. Sure, that all makes tons of sense.

Oh well, at least Salazar has a glamorous new Hollywood friend. He's probably on the A-list for party invites. Meanwhile, our country won't move one hair closer to freedom from foreign oil.