Crisis in the Oil Patch: How America's Energy Industry Is Being Destroyed and What Must Be Done to Save It

Hodel, who served as Secretary of the Energy and Interior Departments during the Reagan administration, and Dallas journalist Deitz here assert that America's oil industry is overregulated by Washington and pulverized by ``environmental extremists.'' They argue that the ``domestic oil and gas industry is being destroyed by imprudent public policies that are making the nation increasingly dependent on foreign energy supplies.'' Unfortunately, their specious solutions lack objectivity. Hodel and Deitz maintain that America must avoid ``politically correct'' but ``technologically flawed'' policies (e.g., Clinton's short-lived BTU tax), remove ``the alternative minimum tax on domestic oil and gas exploration,'' curtail foreign oil imports, restore ``an oil depletion allowance'' and ``open up for oil and gas exploration and development all promising federally owned land.'' Alternative scenarios are eschewed by the authors. Though titillating and likely to spark vitriolic policy debates in Washington, their arguments run out of gas. (Apr.)