Will the Gulf spill push conservation measures?

A recent newspaper headline, ‘Spill may push oil up’ (June 19, London Free Press) got me thinking.

Will higher oil prices push more conservation measures and lessen the possibility of other spills and damage to the environment?

Not likely.


The article said ‘the worst environmental disaster in US history is likely to push up production costs and oil prices and that may benefit Canada’s oilsands.’

Ouch. It’s not a good thing when dirty oil production benefits from a disaster. Sure, more people are put to work, more Dodge Rams fly off the lot, but there are downsides to those benefits, are there not?

I also read that tighter safety regulations will result in higher oil prices and because ‘an offshore deep water well needs an oil price of about $60 a barrel to break even’ investment in the industry will slow and oil prices per barrel will rise further.

If that’s the case, perhaps we should be thinking ahead about ways to conserve oil as much as possible, in the event the prices get out of hand.

Maybe Dodge Rams could be smaller. Maybe we turn our lifestyle demands down a bit. Maybe we think.

.