Drill Baby Drill!!!!

[DannyBoy]

What happened to all the people demanding that we drill in ANWR and off of our coasts?  We've got refineries throttled back on capacity all over the place.  Platform construction and upgrades have been cancelled and/or delayed.

A few dollars off a gallon of gas and everybody seems to forget it ever happened.....and that was 1/2 of the republican platform.

This is another example of how we are completely reactionary to just about everything.  There is very little true strategic-forward-proactive-predictive planning and actions going on in Washington.  Perhaps the obama can change this.  I doubt it.

react, react, react.....Make a plan and stick to it.  Stop shifting gears on every little whim or challenge that pops up.

The big energy initiative has a chance, but if fossil fuel prices continue to stay low, we may all be staring at abandonded wind farms, solar fields, biofuel plants, etc. in a few years.  It all comes back to money doesn't it?

We should be working on strategic plans for drilling so when the time comes again, it won't be a panic reaction and a drill-baby-drill mantra.  Have a plan to do it right, make the case, if it doesn't fly....put it to bed for good or until another technology breakthrough comes along.

Quite a paradigm......$4 gas leads to desire to drill baby drill while at the same time drives renewable energy demand through the roof......  $2 gas leads to hey we've got plenty of oil and its cheap while at the same time drives renewable energy down the drain.

[Locutus]

Drill baby drill is just a tool used by politicians to incite ignorant sheeple into thinking that'll actually do some good in lowering prices.

[kimmi]

Drill baby drill is just a tool used by politicians to incite ignorant sheeple into thinking that'll actually do some good in lowering prices.

Word!

[Ma and Pa]

Too many people have their attention focused on Survivor, Lost, American Idol, et. al.--
can't be bothered with finding solutions to our common problems. But listen to the howl of surprise and anguish when taxes, unemployment, and PRICES go up!    Pa

[Sandy Eggo]

Too many people have their attention focused on Survivor, Lost, American Idol, et. al.--
can't be bothered with finding solutions to our common problems. But listen to the howl of surprise and anguish when taxes, unemployment, and PRICES go up!    Pa

This reminds me of a comment that I read quite a while ago, which was similar, but more in the the vein of the American public being more interested in what's happening in Hollywood than what's happening in Washington (or even locally) - which happens to be directly effecting us.

The truth in it makes it brilliant but sad all at the same time.

[kimmi]

Yes and during commercial break, they all seem to come online and want to bitch about the nation and the way it is run, myself included.  I guess this is the "pick you up by the bootstraps" thing we should be doing rather than texting in our vote.

[Ma and Pa]

Kimmi, you are right, but at least if we get together, either online or in groups of  friends or co-workers, and discuss current issues and common problems, we are starting to DEAL with the issues. We exchange viewpoints and opinions, hopefully clear up each others' misconceptions, and most importantly, we can try to come up with some ideas to try to improve situations. The next step might be letters to the local newspaper, or contact with our legislators-- remind them that we're out here. We can't all go on TV and speak to the nation, but the power of grassroots action should never be "misunderestimated", to quote the former Pres. What's really important is to gather real information, and have civil and insightful discourse, rather than sticking the old noggin in the sand, or tuning in "Dancing With America's Biggest Losers". You can either be part of the problem, or part of the solution, ya know. Thoughtful postings by yourself and some other logical characters on this forum have convinced me that we are leaning toward the "solution" position. Pa

[Palehorse]

One of the big reasons we have seen lower prices surrounding oil/gasoline has nothing to do with the OPEC nations, but rather the large investment corporations (American) that began buying up oil futures and refineries when the stock market began to go south. They figured oil was a safe haven for their billions and after all, deregulation of the industry made it a sector where they could legally play games and artificially move prices up or down. . .

And so it was until Lehman Brothers went belly up, and then they all started figuring they had better dump the stuff because the regulators were going to be poking around everywhere over Lehman Brothers. . . But guess what; nothing happened. So now gasoline is on the rise again, but this time they're taking baby steps instead of giant leaps. And the SEC and other regulatory agencies still aren't doing anything to intervene; mainly because they legally cannot until the laws/policies are changed again.

I've been screaming about diesel prices since 2004, when they started exceeding gasoline prices by an ever increasing margin. They still do and I am still screaming. Initially this increase was explained as necessary to pay for the environmental required changes to their refining process. (No matter that it is STILL the dirtiest grade refined and cheapest to refine). Now you can't tell me that with these HUGE profits they've been reaping that the ROI hasn't been met and then some. . .

Yeah, folks seem to have a very short attention span, and when they get tone lock on something all that is necessary is to throw them a bone of some sort and everything magically is good again. . . Really chaps my hide! 

[dan foster]

The price of gas had nothing to do with the price of oil, or its supply.  It was, and will always be, about the money.  Just take a look at any of the oil company's profits for any given quarter and you will see what the price of oil, or gas, was tied to.

Drilling in ANWR won't change the price of either, as well.  We need to cutoff any further search for oil, anywhere, reduce demand and switch to alternatives NOW, so we embargo all non-North American oil imports, NOW, and move to the elimination of the use of oil as a fuel from this point forward.  If all wheeled vehicles aren't running on anything but oil by the end of the next decade, we will all pretty much be f'ed.

[Anne]

Any suggestions on how to accomplish this?

[dan foster]

Any suggestions on how to accomplish this?

Mandate all public transportation run on natural gas within 1 year.  Mandate all automobiles get 100 miles to the gallon within 2 years which really only leaves hybrids, fuel cells or pure electrics.  I think for all those car buffs, classic rides would be exempt, but only if legally designated a show car and driven less than 500 miles per year.  It should be harder and harder to find a gallon of gas.

Mandate home efficiencies that require fuel cells, solar water and power, wind, etc by raising the price per kilowatt hour (this comes in handy for those who will be selling their excess power back to the grid), tax credits for conservation, tax breaks for alternative energy, etc, zoning laws that require new home construction to meet extreme efficiencies which can only be met with alternatives to what we are doing now and require all home sales to meet a higher efficiency with tax breaks for the difference in cost of bringing a home up to code to sell.  This should all go in place within the next two years.

All manufacturing that pollutes under the current problem would be given five years to stop, convert to alternative energy, or shut down.

Most of this would require a lot of start up, new hiring companies to work the needs.  Seems like a pretty good stimulus package that would cost the most by tax incentives, but shouldn't be that much.  We need this and much bolder steps if we are going to survive, economically or climatically.

[Palehorse]

Mandate all public transportation run on natural gas within 1 year.  Mandate all automobiles get 100 miles to the gallon within 2 years which really only leaves hybrids, fuel cells or pure electrics.  I think for all those car buffs, classic rides would be exempt, but only if legally designated a show car and driven less than 500 miles per year.  It should be harder and harder to find a gallon of gas.

Mandate home efficiencies that require fuel cells, solar water and power, wind, etc by raising the price per kilowatt hour (this comes in handy for those who will be selling their excess power back to the grid), tax credits for conservation, tax breaks for alternative energy, etc, zoning laws that require new home construction to meet extreme efficiencies which can only be met with alternatives to what we are doing now and require all home sales to meet a higher efficiency with tax breaks for the difference in cost of bringing a home up to code to sell.  This should all go in place within the next two years.

All manufacturing that pollutes under the current problem would be given five years to stop, convert to alternative energy, or shut down.

Most of this would require a lot of start up, new hiring companies to work the needs.  Seems like a pretty good stimulus package that would cost the most by tax incentives, but shouldn't be that much.  We need this and much bolder steps if we are going to survive, economically or climatically.

So basically what you are saying is you want to turn up the time-line for converting the US into a third world country. . .

Converting to natural gas isn't the answer concerning transportation. (Seen your heat bill lately?) There is no infrastructure for mass distribution for one thing. Secondly natural gas, while it may be a bridge solution to whatever is next, isn't THE solution.

A more reasonable bridge solution would be diesel in my opinion. It is far more reliable, available, and fuel efficient; which is why so many foreign countries have already initiated incentives for consumers to make the switch.

Additionally, by imposing such heavy handed restrictions the nation wouldn't have to worry much about the fact we have lost so many jobs, because no one would be able to get to them if they were there. The cost to convert to such a resource in transportation would be well beyond the average worker's means to purchase. (Even if the infrastructure were in place, which it isn't).

The replacement source for energy for transportation, heating, etc. needs to be identified before we go head long down a path that may very well lead us to nowhere.

The costs to install the alternative energy sources you suggest for residential purposes is absurd, not to mention the financial disaster imposing such requirements would heap on top of what already is a high potential for ruin for a large number of Americans in the current economy.  Doing these things would certainly expedite the already widening gap between the wealthy and middle-classes, ensuring the elimination of the middle class within 2 years.

Cities nationwide that presently use coal fired processes to generate electricity and steam would be forced to stop generating these utilities, placing a large portion of our society back into the 1800's. While I agree that alternative sources to generate these items are necessary and that right quickly, a meaningful and achievable time line for doing so must be utilized in order to preserve quality of life for the average citizen.

To just "flip a switch" without proper planning and reasonable time lines is like putting a gun to the head of every person in the country. . . 

[dan foster]

First, for public transportation, natural gas is already being used in most progressive cities.  Second, I wasn't implying that the current cars had to go, just all new car sales within 2 years.  An added detail would be for those who can convert their current cars to natural gas, give tax credits for doing so.  There are companies that already exist selling kits and home fueling stations for some current cars.  I am considering the move.

http://alternativefuels.about.com/od/naturalgasvehicles/a/cngconversion.htm

People will still be able to get to work and the jobs would grow exponentially in a new economy with a green basis.  Otherwise, let's just not do anything.  A moon landing program is required to get us off top-dead-center, before we are under.  The total cost of going to the moon in the 1960's was around $150B in today's dollars, when we were a third world country by today's standards.  What part of what I suggested do you think we shouldn't spend the next $1T stimulus on? 

The personal price would be absorbed by the tax credits I talked about.  I hope your first answer to anything at your job isn't "can't be done", or is it?  Perhaps we already are back to third-world status as it seems no one in this country can do anything, anymore, or certainly just lack the vision to do so.

[Mr442]

While you're at it Dan, let's get those airplanes out of the sky.  Taking an all electric train would be much better than flying through the sky, burning up millions of gallons everyday.  Let's put more folks on two wheels everyday as well.  Consumption of oil could go down rather quickly.

100 mpg cars are a pipe dream.  They won't be big enough for more than a person or two at best, have little to no get up and go, and have limited range.  Not very practical and until they design something that will haul a family of four, will move out of it's own way, and have some long distance capabilities.

[dan foster]

While you're at it Dan, let's get those airplanes out of the sky.  Taking an all electric train would be much better than flying through the sky, burning up millions of gallons everyday.  Let's put more folks on two wheels everyday as well.  Consumption of oil could go down rather quickly.

100 mpg cars are a pipe dream.  They won't be big enough for more than a person or two at best, have little to no get up and go, and have limited range.  Not very practical and until they design something that will haul a family of four, will move out of it's own way, and have some long distance capabilities.

Sorry, but fuel cell, electric engine, hydrogen, etc, etc, etc, all contribute technologies to above 100mpg.  There are sub-compacts that achieve that now.  No reason a hybrid SUV can't get there, as well.  Hypermillers are coming.  However, I wasn't referring to running on oil, alone, so pipe dream it is not.

As for planes, I would like to see the price of an airline ticket at least double to force the greyhound crowd back onto buses.