The Michigan Daily-Saturday August 8, 1981-Page 3
Strategies for energ
Reagan s deregulation
sparks debate
By MARK GINDIN
Daily staff writer
Will trust in the free market solve the
nation's energy problems or will gover-
nment deregulation merely allow the
American public to continue wasting
energy instead of encouraging conser-
vation? This is the debate sparked
among national and University energy
experts by President Reagan's recently
unveiled National Energy Policy Plan.
The goal of the Reagan ad-
ministration's energy policy, like the
president's policies in other areas, is to
remove regulatory barriers that it
believes inhibit industrial exploration,
development, and production of energy.
If only government would stop
punishing the energy industry for its
profits, the adnministration argues, in-
dustry would produce enough energy
for everyone at a reasonable price.
THE POLICY change in Washington,
however, has prompted responses
across the country from University
professors, oil companies, and en.
vironmental groups, with reaction
ranging from enthusiastic support to
complete disdain.
The debate has broadly divided
policy-makers and energy experts into
twogroups with differing philosophies
about the nation's energy. One group,
which largely supports the President's
deregulation, argues that the nation
should concentrate on reducing
American dependence on foreign
energy sources through accelerated
domestic exploration and development.
The 'other group, including some en-
vironmentalists who oppose Reagan's
plan, contends that the country must
first stem its wasteful use of energy
before exhausting undiscovered sup-
plies.
RACIN TEK, a former energy ad-
visor to three presidents and now a
professor of chemical engineering at
the University, applauds President
Reagan'senergy policies.
"There are decades of oil left," -
from 30 to 50 years - "50 to 100 years of
natural gas left, centuries of coal, and a
milennia of nuclear power, probably
fusion," said Tek, who is presently con-
sulting with about 30 oil companies and
has worked with the Department of
Energy as an advisor.'
An abundance of natural gas was
discovered six months ago underneath
what used to be a prehistoric lake in the
middle of what is now central
Michigan, said Tek. Discoveries like
this one are proof of large deposits of
still undiscovered energy, he said.
"Given freedom, this country can ac-
complish anything," including
reducing its dependence on foreign
energy, said Tek, who has written 12
books and 85 published technical papers
on energy development.
DURING THE Carter administration
"the country went 20 years behind in
energy development in those four
years," said Tek. The attitude of the
time was for the public to think of the
energy company as stealing from them
and making obscene profits, he said,
"What's wrong with profits?"
"If you provide the carrot, the rabbits
will go after it," said Tek. The profits
are the carrot for more efficient oil in-
dustry production, he said.
Everybody should make up their own
mind as to whether they want Big
Brother interferinfg, Tek said, buta look
at history will show that planned
economies, such as Russia's, do not
work. Oil dependence should be
reduced, "but freely," he said.
ANOTHER University professor and
energy expert, physics Prof. Marc
Ross, however, expresses concern
about Reagan's energy policy.
Although Ross said he supports the
concept of energy development guided
by the free market, he warns that
Reagan has not allowed for a truly free
market.
If the free market is to work effec-
tively, Ross said, the obscure-subsidies
to the energy industry must be
eliminated. The government distorts.
the market now with special tax breaks
.for the oil industry, and the money the
oil companies save by using such tax
breaks could be used by the gover-
nment for different areas, such as
manufacturing, he said.
But, thb idea that oil companies
would buy up every area of consumer
dependence if there were no taxes is not
accurate, according to Stirling Pack,
an economic analyst at , Marathon Oil
Company. The public is not necessarily
the opponent of oil companies, both can
work together under a free market for
the benefit of both.
See ENERGY, Page 5
OUT ON HIS veranda, University Prof.
Racin Tek (left), looks over one of the
geological charts he uses as a con-
sultant to 30 oil companies.
nilv Photobhv KIM HILL
Daoiy rnno oy rKMHL
A LOCAL TRUCKER fills up his tank truck with oil at a regional oil company distribution center on State St. in Ann Ar-
bor. A Marathon Company spokesman said deregulation will lead to more efficient oil production.