Posted on 06/20/2008 8:21:24 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Gas is $4 a gallon. Oil is $135 a barrel and rising. We import two-thirds of our oil, sending hundreds of billions of dollars to the likes of Russia, Venezuela and Saudi Arabia. And yet we voluntarily prohibit ourselves from even exploring huge domestic reserves of petroleum and natural gas.
At a time when U.S. crude-oil production has fallen 40 percent in the last 25 years, 75 billion barrels of oil have been declared off-limits, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That would be enough to replace every barrel of non-North American imports (oil trade with Canada and Mexico is a net economic and national-security plus) for 22 years.
That's nearly a quarter-century of energy independence. The situation is absurd. To which John McCain is responding with a partial fix: Lift the federal ban on Outer Continental Shelf drilling, where a fifth of the off-limits stuff lies.
This is a change for McCain, but circumstances have changed. When the moratorium was imposed in 1982, gasoline was $1.20 and oil was $30 a barrel. Since the moratorium was instituted, we've had two wars in the Middle East, and in between a decade of garrisoning troops in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and the UAE to preserve the peace and keep untold oil riches out of the hands of the most malevolent of our enemies.
Technological conditions have changed as well. We now are able to drill with far more precision and environmental care than a quarter-century ago. We have thousands of rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, yet not even hurricanes Katrina and Rita resulted in spills of any significance.
(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...
Abolish the gas tax.
Threaten the Sultan with supporting the Jihadists who want him dead unless he up productions and lowers prices.
Confiscate the driver’s license of anyone who supports to global warming mythos and ban them from taxis and livery services. Most of congress will be forced to take the bus.
Urge scientists to hurry up with the magical clean cheap energy thing.
i tell my democrat tv-viewing friends who oppose drilling in or off shore america,
you’re treasonous.
but yet, they still drive their cars and fly on vacations.
si.
Google it.
My Energy Manifesto:
* Cease all ethanol production. It takes away from food production and the unintended consequence is higher food costs. As diesel prices go up, the cost of farming tips the balance of cost to make ethanol a bad idea. Just say "no" to ethanol! Even Jimmy Carter says that diverting farm production from food to fuel is dumb – even HE gets it. This will create only ONE "blend" of gasoline and will cease regional "boutique" blends (gasohols) which are stupid, costly, and meaningless. Trucking custom blends around the country is wasteful. Ethanol blends may actually lead to fewer miles to the gallon, and adds to the cost of production and transportation. Newer cars do not need oxygenated fuels.
* Lift the restrictions in order to drill for oil in Alaska, Gulf of Mexico, and other sites in the CONUS as a matter of national security.
* Encourage the petro industry to construct state-of-the-art refineries and/or retrofit current and dormant ones and crank up production for our newly-accessed oil in the CONUS.
* Make all “carbon credit” scams unlawful. Discrediting Algore should have been a slam-dunk a long time ago. Stop electing Reps who buy into the Global Warming / Global Cooling / Climate Change Hoax. CO2 is not our enemy!
* Construct SEVERAL, regional Pebble-Bed Modular Reactors (or other similar modern designs) that are rechargeable, and cleaner than any current nuclear generator design. Refine spent nuke fuel for recycling. DO SOMETHING NUCLEAR to resolve energy problems.
* Use the residual heat from the reactors above to process motor fuel from coal and/or shale. Even though Clinton "stole" some of the best coal reserves, we still have a lot to use.
* Become independent enough to make the cartels (i.e. OPEC) inconsequential.
* Convince local taxing bodies to lift or cap the sales tax on gasoline so that as gas prices go up, the local tax collectors don’t see a windfall revenue jump at the expense of the consumer. The Federal government could compel the states (and locals) to cap the fuel taxes.
If you squint real hard, and read between the lines, the ‘manifesto’ will require fewer RINOs and LibDems and the election of some clear-minded conservatives to even consider the above.
Good article. The fact that we aren’t/haven’t done it eludes me.
When the environmentalists come up with a viable solution...I’ll sure pay attention.
Sadly..IMHO..it is oil..not love that makes the world go round.
Not "we," Chuck. You need to rewrite this sentence.
It’s pretty obvious isn’t it?
The Arabs have to but food and goods from the rest of the World because they can’t do it on their Desert well enough to freed their general population.
So why is it that food and goods are still being delivered and sold to them at regular market prices? Why not mark up those goods in proportion to what they have done to Oil? the same goes for any other OPEC Cartel.
MAKE THEM PAY 50 BUCKS FOR A BUSHEL OF CORN OR WHEAT FOR CRIPES SAKE! OR $10,000 A POUND FOR STEEL OR BUILDING MATERIALS! And pull all American commerce and trade out of their sorry countries because this is almost an act of war.
We (the government) should own the refineries. Then we can control how much gets out into the market.
Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY)
That was interesting. Hmmmm....
If you knew Krauthammer, you’d have recognised his sarcasm.
Bring back the slack !
By limiting US oil production, the US Congress has yielded to foreign nationals control of oil availability and prices for the world. Permit our technically superb oil companies to do what they do best, with reasonable controls. The world will again have glut of oil. Oil will be priced accordingly. And opportunistic oil nationals will disappear.
I saw this also..It scared the heck out of me. Welcome to the USAofVenuezuealChina.
“Sadly..IMHO..it is oil..not love that makes the world go round.”
You’re wrong on both accounts — it is greed that makes the world go around.
I can’t even debate that. You are 100 per cent correct.
It’s not greed that makes the world go round, it’s duct tape. It even holds the planet together in a ball shape, else the world would be flat.
You are both wrong.
Oil fuels the means of our Democratic Republic.
Greed fuels all other sins.
Honor fuels the difference between US and them.
Stupidity fuels the deconstruction of the United States of America.
Apathy is the tool.
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