Take That, You Environmentalists!

Guri Dam, Venezuela

Since the 1950s when President Eisenhower provided funds for interstate highway construction and folks began moving out of the city to the fancy new suburbs, America has been all about the automobile. Suddenly, we could go practically anywhere we wanted to AND have half an acre of our own on which to construct our white picket fences.Ozone depletion? Global warming? Cancer-causing exhaust emissions? Not even vague ideas in our consciousness yet. Big, heavy-hauling gas guzzlers were fine because those folks down in Oklahoma and Texas were pumping out oil from hundreds of derricks that resembled so many chocolate fondue fountains. Years later, of course, some namby-pamby tree-huggers got all excited about the environment and began suggesting, no demanding, that we look to other sources for our power: wind power, electric power, solar power and hydroelectric power. They're not feeling so smug now. As if failing brakes on our Prius were not bad enough, there are other ominous clouds on the horizon. Just ask Hugo Chavez.
You know him: he's the dictator/ruler in Venezuela who once vowed to bring down the United States with oil...figuring his country had a lot, and we couldn't control our buying no more than some women (and me) can control the urge to buy shoes. See, Venezuela depends on hydroelectric power for 70% of their energy. Thus, the worldwide shortage of oil would not affect quality of life in Venezuela and would, in fact, expand it as greedy countries like ours HAD to have more and more oil so every 16-yr.-old could drive the five blocks to school. But he neglected one possibility: drought.
Venezuela is ion the middle of the worst drought in 100 years, and hydroelectricity has become an incredibly precious and expensive commodity. Rolling blackouts are common, and recently, Chavez declared a state of emergency on one of his Suddenly With Chavez radio broadcasts. BTW, these broadcasts can occur at a moment's notice, any time of the day and are preceded by harp music. ???
Anyway, users are threatened with a 75% price increase if they do not cut use by 10%...and this means everybody. How bad is the water shortage there? At the major source of power, the humongous Guri Dam, water levels have dropped more than 30 feet below normal levels. The famous Orinoco flow isn't flowing so much anymore.
Of course, Venezuela still has all that oil, but they cannot use it effectively. I sense a sell-off coming.
Forget the plug-in electric car. Fire up the V-8.