US can’t keep relying on Saudis to cover for failed energy policy

Amid a sputtering economic recovery, steps toward conservation and greater investments in renewable energy may seem like luxuries. And with $4-per-gallon gas prices crimping the consumer spending that accounts for 70 percent of the American economy, US policymakers are eager to maintain a steady flow of oil. The oil cartel’s meeting in Vienna ended in a rancorous split between the six members, led by Saudi Arabia, that want to raise production quotas and six others, led by Iran, that say they want to maintain existing quotas. In the end, the dispute may not mean much; most OPEC members, including Iran, are pumping more than their quotas.

For the longer term, though, the arrows are pointing in the wrong direction. As demand from China and other oil consumers rises, it’s only a matter of time until global demand outstrips supply. And while the Saudis currently have the reserves, and the will, to keep a lid on the price of oil, there’s always the risk of a catastrophic terrorist attack on key Saudi oil installations.

But even if the Saudis have as much oil reserves as they claim, and even if they continue to pursue production policies meant to help the United States and undermine Iran, America’s interests differ greatly from those of the Saudi royal family. Ten years after 9/11, a portion of their petroleum profits is still cycled into mosques and madrasas around the world that preach the austere Wahhabi version of Islam, a fertile soil for jihadist extremism.

A junkie-dealer relationship with the Saudi royals may seem acceptable to Americans in moments of weakness, but the United States should be moving aggressively to extricate itself.