Addicted to Regulation - The real reason for America's foreign-oil dependence

Opinion Journal, WSG ^ | 21 June 2006 | Pete DuPont

[ChessExpert]

In his State of the Union Address, President Bush said that "America is addicted to oil." But it would be more accurate to say that America is addicted to opportunity, and oil and its products help us seize it.

[P-40]

Dupont, BP Join to Produce Biofuels

http://www.comcast.net/news/finance/index.jsp?cat=FINANCE&fn=/2006/06/20/417620.html

Like ethanol, butanol is an alcohol compound, but with four carbon atoms instead of two. DuPont officials said the different chemical structure of butanol gives it several advantages over ethanol, including tolerance to water contamination, facilitating transportation via pipeline.

The U.S. fuel market has been constrained by the fact that ethanol, which attracts water molecules and therefore tends to corrode pipelines, must be transported on trucks, trains and bargest in relatively small batches to storage terminals where it is then blended with gasoline.

Another advantage of biobutanol, officials said, is that it can be blended into gasoline at higher concentrations than ethanol without the need to retrofit vehicles, and it offers better fuel economy than gasoline-ethanol blends.

[Citizen Tom Paine]

By doing a very little bit of reading, I believe that butanol production is technically more complicated than ethanol. I can brew ethanol in my shed while butanol eludes my technical capability.

[P-40]

I can brew ethanol in my shed while butanol eludes my technical capability.

It does sound fairly complex...and the product is probably not drinkable. :)

On the plus side, the final product sounds so much easier to work with. Ethanol is a pain in the rear.

[FReepaholic]

Some key points from the article:

The problem is that America's domestic petroleum production has significantly declined, from 10 million barrels a day in 1970 to about 5 million today. Our response has been increasing importation of oil, now more than 12 million barrels a day.

our country's political establishment, from Congress to the press and the presidency, has worked for a quarter century to prevent increases in our energy supply

In 1990 the first President Bush issued a presidential directive forbidding access to about 85% of Outer Continental Shelf oil and natural gas reserves. In 1998 President Clinton extended the moratorium through 2012

the U.S. "is the only nation in the world that has placed a significant amount of its potential domestic energy supplies off-limits."

Congress has also limited the capacity to refine our oil. After Hurricane Katrina, a bill to streamline the refinery permitting process--we have not built a new one since 1976--and encourage the building of refineries on closed military bases was blocked in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee when every Democratic senator, along with Jim Jeffords (I., Vt) and Lincoln Chaffee (R., R.I.) voted "no."

[o_zarkman44]

We are the puppets. Congress is the puppetteer. They like to watch us dance and squirm. All they can accomplish is pulling our strings.
I would like to re-arrange congress like a Mr Potatohead.
Common sense seems to be almost non-existant in congress.
Time for a change.

[ncountylee]

Hope that butanol doesn't smell anything like buteric acid.

[RebelBanker]

Well, that would certainly make leaks easier to find!

The problem is that the smell of buytric acid tends to make people puke...

[ncountylee]

The mafia used buteric acid to punish dry cleaners, and others, that were late with the protection money.

[RebelBanker]

P U!

[ncountylee]

Yup...would permeate the cement floor which would have to be broken up and removed. Very effective enforcement. Happened to an uncle in the thirties.

[hotshu]

The vermin entrenched in DC KNOW they have three "legal" ways to control votes.

1. Taxes/expenditures. They decide how much of our hard earned cash we can keep.

2. Access to energy. They decide, via regulation, what can be drilled for and where, how much can be refined, if - when - and where nuclear plants are built, what the air and water quality surrounding coal burning plants are, etc. etc.

3. Representation. Thanks to McCain-Feingold, your input is no longer needed, thank you very much! Just send us your taxes, we will let you know what you need. And what you will receive from your benevolent leaders.

It all starts with #1. Take them out of the loop and put them on a budget. It's time for us to tell them how much we'll let them have to spend.

Eliminate income taxes and return the election of senators to state legislatures. The founders had it right!

[P-40]

P U!

I've been to that website before. Wait...that is a P....

[capt.P]

I've heard about the congressional block to streamline new production facilities, but I've seen very little data (ironically, I work for a major oil player, but on the transshipment side) indicating why this was done. Have you heard the justification behind this maneuver?

BTB, if you're following oil issues, the quote about no new refineries is misleading- there are no NEW facilities, but exisiting facilities have expanded greatly... and, seeing as they're clumped together, one hurricane can do a lot of damage to national infrastructure (another matter entirely).

If you want to blame someone, blame the EPA. They've ultimately given the pass to proposed new refinery plants, citing air quality concerns.

Wish we could outsource the EPA to India.