Posted on 01/06/2008 4:01:44 PM PST by Graybeard58
An elderly caller to Dan Lavallo's program on WWCO-AM told a harrowing tale Wednesday about energy prices. The man keeps his home thermostat at 40 F during the day, raising it slightly at night to ensure the pipes don't freeze. He is trying to make 200 gallons of oil last the heating season.
His is the most dire story we've heard to date, but he is not alone in feeling the pinch. Heating oil was about $2.50 a gallon after Labor Day but climbed to $3.15 this week, and is expected to rise further when $100-a-barrel oil hits the market. A prolonged frigid spell, a disruption in world oil production or a refinery breakdown could send the price into orbit.
Meanwhile, offshore and beneath Alaska's north coast are tens of billions of barrels of crude just waiting to be tapped. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is said to have enough oil to meet 100 percent of domestic demand for 25 years, and the offshore fields could be richer still. Congress, however, has declared those areas off-limits.
Sensible Republicans on Capitol Hill have tried for more than a decade to open a few square miles of the 19.5 million-acre refuge for exploration and development.
Cheered on by Rep. Christopher Shays, R-4th District, then-Rep. Nancy Johnson, R-6th District, and the rest of the Connecticut's congressional delegation, Bill Clinton vetoed a bill in 1995 that would have opened ANWR to drillers. His justification? It would be of no immediate help because it would take 10 years for the oil to reach the market. Reps. Johnson and Shays were more concerned about winning environmental awards than securing their constituents' energy future.
Back then, crude fetched less than $20 a barrel; it's an inflation-adjusted 333 percent higher today. Suffice it to say, the elderly caller to Mr. Lavallo's program might benefit from a little ANWR oil today.
President Bush, the Democratic Congress and the Connecticut delegation are insane if they think energy independence will be achieved with 35-mpg vehicles, ethanol and compact fluorescent light bulbs. Alternative fuels are decades from replacing oil as the fuel that drives our economy, heats our homes and powers our autos. How high must the pile of frozen corpses be before they come to their senses?
Shivering consumers should raise holy hell with the delegation. Here are the numbers to call: Sen. Joseph Lieberman, (800) 225-5605 or (202) 224-4041; Rep. Christopher Murphy, aka Congressman Green, D-5th District: (203) 759-7541 or (202) 225-4476; Rep. John Larson, D-1st District: (860) 278-8888 or (202) 225-2265; Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd District: (203) 562-3718 or (202) 225-3661; Rep. Shays: (203) 579-5870 or (202) 225-5541.
Forget former Connecticut Sen. Christopher Dodd; he's been too busy running for president to help anyone back home.
Un-effing-believeable. No offense, m'friend, but stick to whatever industry you're now in. Crazy people in the awl bidness only go broke.
I blame the oil, for not being more plentiful, and for being so hard to get to.
Land Rover sold over 3200 Range Rovers and Discoverys in China in a recent 9 month period.
Considering those and all the other vehicles being sold in China, that means a LOT of gas they want to consume.
The price then gets bid up.
Love Dave Berry, but 'silly' isn't at all the same as 'funny'.
Agreed. I’m no fan of ethanol.
I believe Bush wanted to give oil companies the freedom to drill in ANWR. +1 for Bush. I believe he was fully supportive of ethanol subsidies, - 1 for Bush. There. My objectivity on Bush has been demonstrated. But what I really wish is that politicians would keep their dirty hands off of free markets.
Who’s to blame? Hubbert’s Peak along with China and India industrializing.
My idea for a bumper sticker?
Don’t want to drill? Then get the hell out of your car and start walking you ignorant libtard!
I know, kind of wordy...
The policy since the 50s has been to use ME and other foreign oil and keep domestic oil on reserve in case of a serious problem, and even so the domestic production is about the same as Russia or Saudi.
Oil is still cheap and plentiful. Keep the domestic in the ground until it is really needed and this isn’t that time of need. Time of need is when foreign oil goes offline and the enemy is at the gate; this inconvenience to private wallets is nothing in comparison to mere survival.
So many houses owned by the elderly were designed and built during the era of cheap energy. They didn’t or couldn’t afford to retrofit. In California we have had rebate programs to encourage adding insulation, double pane windows, and attic fans.
In summer my Alaska house rarely gets over 70 indoors even when it is 80 outdoors. Insulation works this way, too.
If you are interested, click below to see 5 pages of photos of the magnificent mines that were put out of business.
Slick willy has been gone for nigh on 8 years.
What I find absolutely frightening is how many Americans apparently don’t understand the basic principle of supply and demand. The democrats are constantly trying to cut or stop growth in the supply of oil, then they have the audacity to blame Bush for high prices. The fact that they are taken seriously by nearly half the population does not bode well for the future of democracy.
Democrats have little to say about most world oil production.
E.g. his slams at science and mathematics (not to mention his older anti-Reagan columns) leave *me* cold.
My apologies.
But back to the original topic of the thread, I *still* think that at least $10 - $20 per barrel of current oil prices are due to speculation, as opposed to demand. For example, the rumors of violence in Nigeria this week did not affect either supply or *consumer* demand enough to whipsaw the price but (say) $5 in a single day.
Cheers!
Well, I'd rather use up the rest of the world's natural resources first, and then leave the US / Canada /Mexico as the world's sole suppliers. :-)
:-) ...I admit this is not my specialty, and there may be other considerations.
Cheers!
We had some stretches of 90-100 degrees with high humidity last summer that were a bit unpleasant. The house will stay comfortable until we string a few of those days together and then the a/c has to come to the rescue. Shooting foam between the wall studs is something I’m considering, I’ve done most of the easier upgrades already.
Let's see...we'll round off our daily usage to 20mbd which is roughly 7+ billion bpy. 25 years is 175 bbo...I don't think so...
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