Like it or not, we need the oil

David Adams, Las Vegas

Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012 | 2:01 a.m.

This is regarding Thursday’s letter, “President has no grip on oil crisis,” and the writer’s claim that we “have to fill our gas tanks with expensive oil imported from the Middle East.”

In 2010 and 2011, the top six countries from which the United States imported oil were (in order): Canada, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Venezuela, Nigeria and Colombia. The amount from Canada was nearly twice that from Saudi Arabia, which is the only country on the list in the Middle East. So much for our dependence on “Middle East oil.”

I am concerned about the (over) emphasis on solar, wind and geothermal energy, which do virtually nothing at all to reduce our oil imports. Nearly two-thirds of the oil we consume each year is in the form of transportation (gasoline, aviation and diesel fuel). Unfortunately, those alternative energy sources don’t power 18-wheelers, which transport nearly all of our food and goods. Planes don’t fly on solar power, either. Like it or not, oil is a necessary part of life for the foreseeable future.

But anyone complaining about our dependence on “Middle East” oil should think again — less than 20 percent of our oil comes from that part of the globe. Hopefully, that percentage will shrink.