I am writing this article in memory of my late father, Kenneth Gray Reed, who was an oil man all of his adult life. I am also writing it because I am appalled at the stance President Biden has taken with the fossil fuel industry by his recent actions against the oil industry by prohibiting exploration for oil on federal land, prohibiting the completion of various pipelines in North America, etc. all of which have caused the price of fossil fuels to skyrocket. Instead of a nation that is rich with petroleum, even to the point of suppling it to other countries, we are now a nation that is importing oil to supply our needs.

And just what are our needs? Do you realize that petroleum is used in the production of over 6000 articles? Sure, we are told that wind and solar power will meet all of our needs. Really? What if you live where the sun doesn’t shine that much in a long, cold winter and you need your furnace to heat your home, or perhaps where the sun shines too much in the summertime and you need to turn on the air conditioning unit to cool things down. Do you realize that the electricity that runs the unit is generated by fuel oils?

And here we are on the steps of possibly another war. Who is going to supply all of the petroleum needs that we will need to fight a war, even though it is currently halfway around the world. Think of the fuel needed to get our men to and from the battle fields and hopefully back home again.

If we are lucky enough to retain our cars, how are we going to maintain our highways and interstate system of roads because petroleum is here again the main element used in pavement. This reminds me that we now have cars that run on batteries, many of which are made with elements found in countries not all that friendly to us, but more than that, the electricity that these so called “electric” cars are being run by is electricity generated by guess what, petroleum! Also, you might want to keep in mind that our electrical grid is already taxed to its limit. How many more black outs will we have when all of these “electric” cars get plugged into the grid?

Wake up, people! We are at a precipitous point in history. Make your voice heard and your vote count. Make sure the people you vote for will restore fossil fuels to meet our energy needs as well as the thousands of articles that are made from fossil fuels.

Kay Bedford Roundup