DONALD W. LYONS: A few oil myths have become fact in energy debate

During the national energy debate, at least four fallacies about oil resources seem to have attained the status of truth. What is disturb

During the national energy debate, at least four fallacies about oil resources seem to have attained the status of truth. What is disturbing is that there is ample information that clearly refutes them and is available to anyone who, like me, is concerned about our nation's growing dependence on the volatile Middle East.
I offer the following four fallacies and responses.
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World oil production has already peaked and will soon begin to decline.
Nothing could be further from the truth. There are substantial oil resources in the world, not only in the Persian Gulf, but elsewhere, including a wealth of unconventional oil. Conservative estimates are that Canada's tar sands, Venezuela's heavy oil and shale oil in the United States can and will eventually provide trillions of barrels, enough to last into the indefinite future.
Many of the sources of unconventional oil are located in North America. Developing these unconventional sources of oil was not cost-effective when Middle Eastern countries were willing to sell their oil for less than $20 per barrel, but are cost-effective at far less than the $70 per barrel that these countries are now asking for their oil.
There is no environmentally safe way to drill for oil.
It is true there is no totally safe way to produce oil so long as the word "totally" is emphasized. But the amount of oil lost during the past 25 years has been very, very small.
According to the U.S. Coast Guard, there were 7.4 billion barrels of oil produced in U.S. offshore areas from 1980 to 1999. But only a tiny amount -- less than one-thousandth of 1 percent -- was spilled. That's less than the amount of oil that seeps naturally from the ocean floor.
The U.S. has large quantities of untapped oil and gas off the Atlantic coast, in the Gulf of Mexico and in Alaska. We should develop these domestic sources now.
U.S. oil companies are not reinvesting enough of their profits for tomorrow's energy needs.
The oil and natural gas Americans consume today comes from industry investments made years or even decades ago. The five major companies made $650 billion in new investments from 1992 through the first three quarters of 2005, according to research by the accounting firm Ernst & Young.
Earnings today are enabling oil companies to make the needed investments to develop tomorrow's technologies. It takes several years for these huge investments to complete construction, but they will be producing in the next few years.
There are realistic alternatives to oil.
Not now. The alternatives tend to fall into three categories. Either they're too economically expensive, such as corn based ethanol; too limited, such as electric batteries; or too uncertain, such as hydrogen. Even if we can use hydrogen for fuel cells to power automobiles, the infrastructure needed to produce, distribute and retail hydrogen won't be available for many decades.
Because of its abundance and economic advantages, oil will remain the dominant source of energy for many decades to come. It won't be as cheap as it was in the past, but it will be available in abundance at less than today's temporarily high prices.
Donald W. Lyons is a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the West Virginia University College of Engineering and Mineral Resources.