[JustAnAmerican]

I for one am all for ANWR because, as I have been told, it will decrease our dependence on foreign oil. However I heard something today that hopefully someone here can clear up for me. The Alaska Pipeline goes to northern Alaska, Oil drilled in Alaska will use this pipeline for transport.

And from what I have heard so far, all of the oil in the Alaska Pipeline is sold to users outside the United States. So other then Oil companies making more money, how the h*ll are we going to reduce our dependence on Foreign(Read Opec) oil this way?

[iopscusa]

It's time for this country to reinvent the whole energy system to include all sources; oil, nuclear, hydrogen...how about some incentives on taxes for new inventors and R&D, the Hewlett Packards and Edisons of today....that is where the breakthroughs will come from and forget about any new Guv.Orgs.

[68skylark]

As I understand it, oil is "fungible." The world oil market is like a giant bathtub -- produces put oil in and consumers take oil out. Increasing the supplies will help lower prices. But it's expensive (and counter-productive) to try to use export or import controls to control which oil source goes to which country.

[Valin]

And from what I have heard so far, all of the oil in the Alaska Pipeline is sold to users outside the United States. So other then Oil companies making more money, how the h*ll are we going to reduce our dependence on Foreign(Read Opec) oil this way?

Yes it does. Remember it's a small world, and there is (for all practical purposes) one pool for oil. The more oil there is in the pool the cheaper it is. The days are long past (if they ever existed) where one nation could go it alone. We are never going to be "Energy independant" if by that you mean we won't import any oil, we (the whole world) are a petroleum based civilization.

[Cicero]

ANWR was amply justified, but relatively speaking it's a drop in the bucket.

There's nothing wrong with exporting Alaskan Oil and importing oil to some other part of the country if that works out most efficiently. It all balances out.

But this article is correctamundo. There's no substitute for nuclear power in the foreseeable future. And there's a long lead time to plan and build, so we really should be starting in on this NOW.

Vehicles can be hydrogen powered. But hydrogen can only be usefully produced by hydrolizing water with electrical power. And that means more nuclear power for the electrical grid. There's no alternative, because the other "alternate" power sources will never contribute more than 2 or 3 percent of what we need.

[SampleMan]

Oil is a commodity. Thus, unless supply is cut off (war) burning our own oil vs. someone else's oil doesn't bring down the cost one cent.

Total supply / Total demand = Price

Adding ANWR would increase our war reserve and/or increase total supply.

A side note is that increased domestic production (war reserve) provides some leverage to hold down prices. OPEC must keep in mind our ability to produce or purchase elsewhere (Russia), before they go too radical.

Build new, pebbliest reactors throughout the U.S. Make them safe from attack or accident (pebble-beds are impossible to melt down) and design and market very small two-person commuting cars to augment the family cruiser. I've bee west of the Pecos and throughout Nevada and I think God made that land just for the purpose of burying nuclear waste.

[Dog Gone]

And from what I have heard so far, all of the oil in the Alaska Pipeline is sold to users outside the United States.

Baloney. A tiny fraction goes to Asia. The rest goes to the American west coast refineries.

[thackney]

all of the oil in the Alaska Pipeline is sold to users outside the United States

Not true, nearly ALL the Alaskan Oil is sold to the US. Very little, but a little of Alaskan oil is exported out of the US. ~5.5%

CRS Report for Congress, Alaska Oil Exports

Protests against Alaska oil exports

www.ANWR.org Flyer on Exports