Posted on 06/13/2008 6:58:46 AM PDT by K-oneTexas
The very first sentence shows this guy has no clue. How can demand for a finite resource be ever-growing? He might as well write, "Americans have realized that it is necessary to break the laws of physics." Just cause you want reality to change doesn't mean it will. Saying let's drill the last reserves is like saying "one more hit man, just one more hit is all I need".
If I were Chevron, I’d move to a friendlier “environment”..............
SAVE THE PLANET. Neuter a greenie weenie.
“How can demand for a finite resource be ever-growing?”
Uh, because more people want some.
“Saying let’s drill the last reserves..”
Who says they are the last reserves? Peak oil nonsense. Oil is not an addiction, it is a commodity.
There's no economic law of which I'm aware that says demand for something cannot increase forever. We already have evidence of a 25,000 year history of an "ever-growing" demand for food. The rub comes with the ever-growing supply supply of a resource.
Umm... Demand is quite independent of supply. That's how economics works.
"Finite" describes the supply of a commodity, not the demand. There are plenty of commodities with high demand and lower (even "finite") supply. That's what makes them expensive. (Diamonds, Ferraris and Blu-Ray disc players are good examples) So, the author is quite correct in that regard.
However, I disagree with the sentence for another reason. The increasing price of gasoline is not "forcing" anyone to comprehend basic economics. A large chunk of government-educated voters (and even FReepers, sadly) are sure that the price of gasoline is just the result of a conspiracy among BIG OIL fat cats. Increasing prices are just making them hate capitalism and eeeeeeevil corporations more, not making them demand an increase in domestic oil production.
Bkmrk for later.
Drilling ANWR and the entire shoreline of the USA still wouldn't get more gasoline and Diesel fuel out of our refineries.
Second, even if the supply is finite, conservative estimates indicate that we have, right under our own soil and just off our shores, enough oil and natural gas to power our country for centuries - plenty of time to develop more efficient methods of utilizing oil and natural gas, and to develop other means of energy production.
And if it turns out that oil and natural gas ARE natural byproducts of geological reactions, and if it turns out that CO2 is NOT causing global warming (and there's more than a little evidence on that score), then the only "crisis" we face, is the imbeciles who insist that we hamstring ourselves on energy while the rest of the world passes us by.
The point is that there is absolutely NO reason for this energy "crisis" that we're seeing today, other than the fanatical, short-sighted, idiotic obstructions thrown up by environmentalists, liberals, and their democrat (and too many Republican) stooges in government.
That is true ... a refinery hasn’t been built in the US since 1979 or 1989. Either year is too long ago. Although I do seem to remember reading that Marathon Oil is building some, even though the number will not be sufficient to make much of a difference.
while Brown and the activists pretty much can say whatever they want without legal accountability.
Brown and the local government eventually may side with Chevron rather than the greens, but only because the company has deep pockets and is open to being shaken down.
Chevron essentially must purchase 450,000 tons of "carbon credits" annually from the city of Richmond or the state. As the street value of carbon credits is about $10 per ton, Chevron is being "green-mailed" to the tune of perhaps $4.5 million per year to upgrade its refinery amounting to perhaps a 1 percent annual "tax" on the gains in gross revenue produced by the upgrade. And the local government officials are not the least embarrassed about this extortion.
We may produce all the oil we need, but if we cant refine it, then it wont do much for reducing gasoline supply problems. So while working to expand domestic drilling, well simultaneously need to expand domestic refining capacity.
It will be quite the Pyrrhic victory to finally produce oil from ANWR and then not be able to do anything with it.
YEP! Somehow, we in America, are such stupid people, that any oil exploration, refining, etc, CANNOT be trusted to US, on OUR land....BUT, we CAN save the world, otherwise.....they'll miss us when we're gone....
Do you have any idea at all the amount of oil natural gas and coal that are off our shores and inside America there are and that our TRAITORS are keeping us from using? Enough to last us at least 1000 years at our current rate of use!
Not to mention the onerous task of the numerous "special blends" required.
the world is going to have to learn to play hardball with these green lunatics. One possibility: threaten to shoot and/or poison everything non-human which moves in ANWR if drilling there is not allowed.
Plans are moving ahead for the construction of the county’s first new oil refinery in 30 years to be built near Elk Point, SD. While the county’s voters approved a rezoning and the state is proceeding with the approval process, the Sierra Club and other outside environmental groups are vowing to stop this project too.
Sierra Club sues over Big Stone power plant pollution (eco-hobbits at it again)
http://www.twincities.com/allheadlines/ci_9551773
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