Bovine-4-U, Inc

A friendly foreign country has discovered that pure bovine milk can fuel a new automobile engine. These engines produce enough horsepower for the average SUV achieving over 100 miles per gallon of milk. After combustion, the exhaust is water and oxygen making this fuel very ecological friendly.

This country is gearing up to be a major exporter of this engine.

Discuss what impacts you foresee in the USA as a result of this discovery and the importing of these engines in light of our chapter. (2).

The introduction of a new automobile engine that runs on bovine milk would shock the automobile industry, from those who manufacturer engines, all the way to those who provide the fuel. The entire game would change, or would it? Instead of discussing the type of industry changes that would have to occur in order to maintain this new fuel (IE, new trade contracts, fueling stations, vehicles, ect) I’m going to focus on why this “new fuel” won’t work in today’s global climate. This scenario is very similar to another that happened in the late 1970’s. President Carter was in office and there was an oil crisis and renewed interest at finding alternative fuels to rid us of our dependence of foreign oils and OPEC, Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

In a speech titled, “Crisis of Confidence” President Carter said the following:

The energy crisis is real. It is worldwide. It is a clear and present danger to our nation. These are facts and we simply must face them.

What I have to say to you now about energy is simple and vitally important.

Point one: I am tonight setting a clear goal for the energy policy of the United States. Beginning this moment, this nation will never use more foreign oil than we did in 1977– never. (Carter, 1979)

Here we are, 2007. A few nights ago during the State of the Union address President Bush echoed President Carter’s message. He said:

Extending hope and opportunity depends on a stable supply of energy that keeps America’s economy running and America’s environment clean. For too long our nation has been dependent on foreign oil. And this dependence leaves us more vulnerable to hostile regimes, and to terrorists — who could cause huge disruptions of oil shipments, and raise the price of oil, and do great harm to our economy. (Bush, 2007)

Why is it that we have two presidents separated by 30 years telling the American people the same message of getting rid of foreign oil dependence? The reason is because no matter how many times our nation’s leaders try we can’t seem to shake the cow off our back. And why is that?

In the 1970’s and early 1980’s a technology came along that looked very promising. The “new fuel” would have converted coal into oil. Congress backed a group called the Synthetic Fuels Corporation and gave it 88 Billion (yes, that’s with a B) in funding to develop this alternative fuel. Their goal was to produce 2 million barrels of oil a day using a state of the art processing plant.  (Hershey, 1980)

This new fuel was so promising that congress swiftly acted 6 years later to shut down the production and close up shop. Why did congress suddenly have a change of heart? During the time that Synthetic Fuels Corporation was laying the foundation for ‘a better tomorrow’ OPEC decided to lower the price of crude oil. Using inflation to relate to today’s prices, the price of oil went from just above $60 a barrel in 1979 then dropped dramatically to $15 per barrel in the mid-80’s. (Economics, 2006)

With the price of gas so low the demand for a new fuel source declined dramatically. Americans were once again enjoying dirt-cheap oil and we had no need to fund Synthetic Fuels Corporation. It wasn’t cost effective to do so.

So, when bovine milk is discovered to be the next big thing, in all likelihood OPEC will react similarly.  They will reduce the price and make it so investing in bovine milk engines, bovine milk fueling stations, and bovine milk refineries to be an economic risk that wouldn’t be viable to take. The American people would then be blinded by cheap oil. They would completely forget the whole “Save the planet, rid us of foreign oil” campaign. Then in 20 years the issue would start anew. 

Works Cited

Bush, P. G. (2007, January 23). Whitehouse.gov. Retrieved January 25, 2007, from State of the Union 2007 : http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/01/20070123-2.html

Carter, P. J. (1979, July 15). AmericanRhetoric.com. Retrieved January 25, 2007, from Jimmy Carter: “Energy and the National Goals - A Crisis of Confidence”: http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/jimmycartercrisisofconfidence.htm

Economics, W. (2006, September). Retrieved January 28, 2007, from http://www.wtrg.com/oil_graphs/oilprice1947.gif

Hershey, R. D. (1980, September 21). New York Times. Retrieved January 25, 2007, from http://www.glennbeck.com/realstory/09-13-06/synfuels_1980.pdf