Bartlett drops opposition to oil drilling in Arctic refuge

Baltimore Sun/AP ^ | May 22, 2008 | staff

[saganite]

Congressman Roscoe Bartlett says high oil prices have prompted him to drop his longtime opposition to oil and natural gas drilling in a national wildlife refuge in Alaska.

The Maryland Republican has co-sponsored a bill that would allow for oil and gas production on part of the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

[Dr.Zoidberg]

Many years too late you imbecile.

It’ll take minimum of 5 years for the first ANWAR oil to become gasoline if they could start drilling immediately. Which they can’t.

Too bad we can’t run our cars on fossil fools instead of fossil fuels, we have an unlimited supply of old morons to tap in washinton alone.

[trumandogz]

I have been riding my bike to work since gas was $1.50 or so a gallon.

[trumandogz]

Oh golly, that means Al Gore will have to park his private jet, and the Kennedy's will have to put their yachts into storage.

And you and I can decrease our driving, ride our bikes, buy or more fuel efficient car or you can continue to fill up your vehicle for $75.00.

It is your choice.

[trumandogz]

Your moral supperiority is duly noted.

Not morally superior. I simply love to ride my bike and I like to stay in decent shape. The hybrid is a perk of my wife's job.

The point is that Conservation is a major part of the solution.

[AFPhys]

NEVER [I’m almost certain] has a single-issue, direct bill regarding drilling in ANWR been voted on in Congress.

[Not just another dumb blonde]

I drove through town today and unleaded reg was $4.13 gal. Yesterday it was $3.97. But that’s not as bad as, on average, what my husband pays....$4.50 gal, for a 300 gal tank, at 5.5 mpg. I HATE tree-huggers! And I’d really like to know how many politicians and families own stock in oil, it’s a win-win for them they get the taxes from it to spend our money unwisely. And they reap the benefits from the killing they’re making from the stocks and we get to fill their cars and jets with fuel to boot. Now I know why they go into politics, it’s because they can do what they do and not have to go to prison for it. There’s little difference between them and bank robbers.

[saminfl]

But what do we do for the next 8-10 years until such oil reaches the consumer? Jackass!

Can cite some sources that confirm it will take that long for the oil to reach the consumer?

In Aug 06 I received a call from a company that said my late grandfather owned 1/2 the mineral rights on some land he sold in 1924. They wanted to put gas wells on that land. We finally reached a settlement on the royalty amount about Dec 2006. I received my first checks in 2007 and there are 5 wells on the property now.

If you can provide a cite, I would appreciate it. I have always been convinced the 10 year claim is another environmentalist lie.

[saminfl]

One other thing, if the 10 year figure is really true, then why didn't we drill 10 years ago? It would seem to me that if the 10 year figure is true then we should start drilling now to prevent another crisis like this in the future.

When would you expect a REAL alternative to gasoline to happen?

[saminfl]

The point is that Conservation is a major part of the solution.

Congress needs to pass a law mandating conservation. It should require we all ride bikes as often as possible and do not own a car that gets less than 70 mpg. /sarc

[count-your-change]

Do you a source for “the oil from Prudhoe bay is mostly shipped to Asia”? The EIA chart only shows about 500,000 barrels exported Feb. 2008.

[personalaccts]

It passed the Senate. It just didn’t pass to sustain the fillibuster. Why? Mccain, Coleman, Snowe, Collins, and Spector. I know where the Lib’s stand. There against anything to advance this country. Republicans aren’t suppose to be that way.

[fetal heart beats by 21st day]

Maybe they’re finally getting worried.

[airborne]

I just had a new house built with all the energy saving (and money saving) items I could reasonably afford. So far, it appears to have been a good investment.

Oh, and I use a manual wheelchair, as opposed to an electric one! ;^)

[thackney]

the oil from Prudhoe bay is mostly shipped to Asia because shipping costs make that more efficient.

Not True.

When first built the pipeline oil could not be exported; that was part of the deal to get the pipeline approved through congress. The ban against exporting Alaskan North Slope was lifted in 1996 yet 100% of Alaskan North Slope oil is kept in America. This has been the case for all but 4 years of the nearly 3 decades of Alaskan oil production. Between 1996-1999 5.5% of North Slope oil was exported to Asian countries. These exports were overwhelmingly supported by the US Congress and by the Clinton Administration to offset an oil glut in California at the time. In June 2000 Alaskan North Slope oil again ceased to be exported, and 100% of Alaskan North Slope production has stayed in America.

You can look at the export history from this area since the ban was lifted.

Exports, US West Coast including Alaska and Hawaii
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/hist/mcrexp51a.htm

Here you can see data from the California Energy Commission. They track the amount of oil brought into California from Alaska.

CALIFORNIA CRUDE OIL PRODUCTION AND IMPORTS
http://www.energy.ca.gov/2006publications/CEC-600-2006-006/CEC-600-2006-006.PDF

Here you can see from the Washington Government that 74% of the oil used in Washington State refineries comes from Alaska.

Washington State, Petroleum FAQs
http://qa.cted.wa.gov/portal/alias__CTED/lang__en/tabID__847/DesktopDefault.aspx

As for transportation costs, look at the distances:

Alaska Crude Oil Production
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/hist/mcrfpak2m.htm

US Crude Oil Exports by Destination
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/pet_move_expc_a_EPC0_EEX_mbblpd_a.htm

U.S. Crude Oil Exports to Japan
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/hist/mcrexja2a.htm

[airborne]

Gee, if we BANNED PRIVATE JETS or surcharged their fuel 100% I bet in two days flat there would be a bill passed to DRILL IN ANWR!

It's a good start!

[trumandogz]

No, the conservation should be you choice.

If you elect to pump $5.00 a gallon gas into your SUV that is your choice.

[R W Reactionairy]

I believe that Mr. Bartlett believes in peak oil and recognizes that a few more years of growth in oil consumption would only create a bigger downer when the drug is removed.

A paraphrase of a quote attributed to Mr. Bartlett: “One of the biggest failings of the human mind is the inability to understand the implications of exponential functions.”

On that basis and from his perspective, it would be logical to see increased drilling as way to flatten the declining side of the production curve.

BTW, for those of you that may have missed it, IEA has just announced that it is actually going to study production from existing large oil fields and attempt to analyze where future oil supplies are going to come from rather than plugging in demand curve assumptions and taking it for granted that future production will meet the demand. If you stop and think about it, everyone who has been pointing to an IEA or EIA projection of future oil production has actually been looking at a mislabeled demand curve. Food for thought.

[Kackikat]

Actually there were some interesting developments on Kudlow today, and he had a guest who talked about making “synthetic gas”...and at $55 a barrel, which they are now doing. I think its good idea, because my car uses synthetic oil and runs great, no pollution.
Also on May 28, 2008 in Dallas, TX the oil barons including Exxon are to meet on putting their windfall profits into developing alternative energies like solar, wind, hydrogen to stop using oil in future...it happened once before and OPEC lowered oil barrel costs significantly, so hopefully they won’t be fooled this time and use our money (profits) to develop those things this time.

[airborne]

What have you done to conserve oil?

I think some of the posts you're getting are responding to this comment you made to me.

It may have come off as a bit self righteous and condescending.

[saminfl]

If you elect to pump $5.00 a gallon gas into your SUV that is your choice.

Did you ever think that some people might actually need SUV's?

To me, requiring or even asking for people to conserve a resource (particularly a resource that there is no proven shortage) is almost like communal living.

In the case of WWII there was a need for to conserve, even ration items for our war needs. I would support that. What we have now are politicians beholden to very wealthy environmental groups who happily cost us taxpayers billions.