Owner of arguably the most beautiful and pristine environments on the planet, but faced with significant production challenges, Norway has its priorities straight.

I have never written political commentary, considering my role to be more aligned with introducing new drilling and production technology to the global industry. However, an incident at the recent Offshore Northern Seas Conference in Stavanger, Norway, inspired this column.

Before you turn the page, let me hasten to add that the targets of this column are neither characterized by lumbering pachyderms or braying jackasses, but the majority of the members of the US Congress - perhaps best characterized by another creature, the ostrich, because they surely have their collective heads in the sand.

Here's what fired me up. Thorhild Widvey, Norway's new minister of petroleum and energy, whose very title suggests Norwegians have their priorities straight, made a very wise and prescient observation. Although admittedly a novice to the industry, Ms. Widvey said, "Drilling activity in recent years has not been as high as we would have liked and new discoveries are smaller. The government has taken the decline in exploration activity very seriously and we have just finished a very successful licensing round in frontier areas, where we made more acreage available to the industry than in any frontier rounds since licensing began in 1965. In addition, we have given the industry access to all mature acreage on the shelf through the introduction of pre-defined exploration acreage in mature parts of the Norwegian Continental Shelf."

Even a blind hog could find all the acorns in this comment. First, Norway has an energy plan; second, its not working as well as it would like; third, it takes this seriously; and fourth, it has acted to stem the decline.

Not so in the United States. Despite volumes of evidence supporting an even more critical condition, our Congress seems unable to muddle through this logic. Instead, members on both sides of the aisle can't even recognize that we have a problem, much less agree on a solution.

The keyword is access. By merely giving access, Norway knows it can solve its energy problem. The United States can too. Please note that at no time did Ms. Widvey suggest any relaxing of existing environmental or safety regulations, arguably among the world's most stringent. Even while refusing to compromise on these issues, she knows that by working with, rather than against, oil and gas developers, the people of Norway benefit.

Meanwhile domestic oil and gas interests are denied access to areas known to contain vast reserves. And the reason is pure politics. Why else would a majority of supposedly educated senators blithely ignore the facts of US energy dependence, the facts of US drilling and production technology, the facts of energy's role in the very future of this country, if not to curry votes.

Today I received a bulletin from the prestigious Houston law firm, Fulbright & Jaworski. In it, the company reported a federal district judge's rejection of environmentalists' challenges to an oil and gas exploration project in Utah. The suit, which was based on unfounded allegations and fuzzy science, "failed to prove that any cultural resources would be harmed by project operations." Will this deter the environmental activists - no way! They have embraced the strategy of using the US courts as their foil, if not to deny access, to delay it indefinitely. Should we be delighted with the ruling? Yes, but believe me, the next lawsuit has already been filed. Well-known Wyoming oilman, Diemer True, himself the immediate past chairman of the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA), said, "The myriad of regulatory restrictions, rules and limitations has made it particularly difficult in the US to do business. Even if you do get access it's only after a lot of work that includes considerable angst and red tape."

The irony of all this can be found whenever there is a natural disaster. Pick any one - from hurricanes in Florida, to wildfires in California - and you see government breaking all records to send relief to the victims (read voters). I suppose this means that when the perfect storm of energy shortages finally hits America, Congress will act. Only then it will be too late, because no one on Capitol Hill has bothered to find out how long it takes to develop an oil or gas field.

Instead, we'll hear the same tired old solution, "Simple, we'll just open the valves." Good luck.
While Congress is running around looking for valves to open, Norway is taking decisive action starting with ensuring access is available to areas with potential. While activists are making a mockery of the American justice system, Norway is encouraging exploration and funding research and development projects. Norway's people enjoy one of the world's highest standards of living, and while there is a lot about Norway's style of government that may not suit Americans, intelligent energy development is not one of them. Perhaps there remains some vestige of intelligence in Washington, some folks who can recognize a storm coming and do something about it before it hits. But I doubt it.

Time to speak up.

Comments