The question of America's energy supply is on the front burner after recent spikes in gasoline prices as well as the threat of rolling blackouts in California, evidently because of that state's failure to build additional power plants over the past decade. The modern petroleum industry was born in 1858 in Pennsylvania when a derrick was constructed at an oil spring near Grove City and drilling, modeled on salt-well operations, was begun. The following year, oil was struck at a depth of 69 feet. Print story E-mail story Far larger American oil fields were later discovered in Oklahoma, California and Texas. Petroleum, composed of decayed microorganisms liquefied by geologic pressure, is the basis not simply of fuels like gasoline and kerosene but of road materials like asphalt and myriad petrochemicals used in drugs, synthetic fibers, dyes, household cleaners and lubricants.
Much natural gas is a collateral product of oil drilling.
The southern tip of Philadelphia, once sacred Indian territory marking the union of the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers, is a dizzying mass of turreted oil refineries and giant holding tanks, replicated in a mammoth site at the old 17th century pirate town of Marcus Hook near the state border. By day and night, these futuristic complexes spout steam and blaze with spires of electric lights and infernally flaming exhaust pipes. Huge oil tankers sitting low in the water and flying cagily mysterious national flags make their way up river past Philadelphia International Airport from Delaware Bay, the Atlantic Ocean, and beyond. This elaborate international system, vulnerable to mishap or political instability, has given us the plentiful, relatively cheap gasoline that has fostered Americans' love affair with cars. But a heavy price has been paid in pollution, introducing contaminants into the air and water supply whose long-term health effects are still unknown.