http://www.usatoday.com/news/washing...terstitialskip

To me, this is a step in the right direction. Before drilling can happen, congress must vote. The world oil situation is pretty bad. We must take steps on all fronts to make the pain less severe. The US is definitely dependent on oil so the more the merrier. Since it will take a few years to drill and pump the oil, we need to start now. THen we need to R and D any and all kinds of alt fuel technology. Mr Ross Perot proposed a 50 cent gas tax back in 1991, when gas was much cheaper, will all proceeds going to alt fuel technology. If that had happened, we would be in a much better position today. The government's failure to act on that tax demonstrates the inefficiency of government. Remember, Ross Perot was a businessman first. He was looking at economics and not moral obligation or some other BS term government officials like to use to justify their actions.

Originally Posted by Doody

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washing...terstitialskip

To me, this is a step in the right direction. Before drilling can happen, congress must vote. The world oil situation is pretty bad. We must take steps on all fronts to make the pain less severe. The US is definitely dependent on oil so the more the merrier. Since it will take a few years to drill and pump the oil, we need to start now. THen we need to R and D any and all kinds of alt fuel technology. Mr Ross Perot proposed a 50 cent gas tax back in 1991, when gas was much cheaper, will all proceeds going to alt fuel technology. If that had happened, we would be in a much better position today. The government's failure to act on that tax demonstrates the inefficiency of government. Remember, Ross Perot was a businessman first. He was looking at economics and not moral obligation or some other BS term government officials like to use to justify their actions.

Im not sure of the results of this. From what I understand, the issues leading to increasing fuel costs is not so much a lack of crude, more a lack of refinement capabilities (and the fact that the Chinese/Indians are purchasing a lot more then they have been in the past). If this is the case, then perhaps our money would be better spent on more refineries rather then investing in drilling more crude.

I agree, we need to build a few more refineries since we have not built one sine the 1970's and most of our refineries are at 90% capacity. Every time there is a fire or a refinery goes down, the price of oil and gas spikes. But these days, a bad storm is all it takes for the speculators to drive the price of oil up.

We need to take action on all fronts to get ourselves out of the current mess.

Nonononono no no no.

How exactly does this solve our problem? This oil won't affect prices for at least a decade, according to what I heard on NPR earlier this afternoon. And then we'll still run out of oil within 15 years anyway.

Just another example of Big Oil running the country...

Originally Posted by The Other Guy

Nonononono no no no.

How exactly does this solve our problem? This oil won't affect prices for at least a decade, according to what I heard on NPR earlier this afternoon. And then we'll still run out of oil within 15 years anyway.

Just another example of Big Oil running the country...

Believe it or not that's a good thing, ever heard the statement that "necessity is the mother of all invention". It has by now become abundantly clear that we will not invest in a replacement for oil until we have no other option which will be about the same time it runs out.

Originally Posted by MontyB

Believe it or not that's a good thing, ever heard the statement that "necessity is the mother of all invention". It has by now become abundantly clear that we will not invest in a replacement for oil until we have no other option which will be about the same time it runs out.

When it's too late...

Sometimes I hate humanity...

Drilling her and drilling now is the right answer. I wouldn't go as far to say it is the answer by itself. Even with this going on, the alternative energy also ought to be a mission.

While the contention that we won't see an immediate impact out of drilling more wells and building more refinery capacity has a lot of validity, if we don't start RIGHT NOW to address this catastrophe, we could very well be in a world of doodoo that can destroy any possibility to maintain the lifestyle we have all come to expect.

EVERYTHING ... EVERYTHING ... EVERYTHING, IS NOW DEPENDENT UPON ENERGY AND FUEL.

Whether you are talking about services or durable goods, without energy or fuel, these goods and services would soon disappear.

With us being in an election year, most of what GW is doing (since he is a lame duck President), is politically motivated. Lifting the President's ban of exploration/drilling on the Continental Shelf is a starting point to partially soften the impact of spiralling crude oil prices - however - even the President's own party (Republicans), haven't taken steps to lift Congress'/Senate's ban. GW urged them to do so earlier this year and promised to tailor his ban lift to the package that Congress and the Senate passed. Neither the Democrats nor the Republicans had done anything to even get the "question" to the floor for discussion or debate.

Whether the President's action will force the issue or not, it should ratchet up the view by many Americans, that government has NOT done enough to address the spiralling cost increases ALL Americans are facing at the pumps and on their heating and electrical bills.

While increasing our own ability to increase available crude is a start, ultimately, we are going to have to find cheap alternates for fuel and energy if we wish to continue our march to a prosperous American Dream for all Americans. Without energy or fuel, our way of life and our lifestyles will go the way of the Roman Empire (America as a third world country anyone?????????).

I think thats good stuff there for the most part Chief.
As for America third world country, could be if certain folks have their way but I'm not getting into that, too easy to get in trouble.

There be something else we have not talked about; oil shale and tar sands.

Estimates are varied but my neighbors to the north, the Canadians, estimate that Alberta alone might have enough oil locked away in tar sands as Saudi Arabia. Of course the echo nazis declare the process to refine oil sands and oil shale emits 3 times as much green house gases as regular oil does. The good old USA has a lot of oil shale. Tar sands and oil shale were looked at after the Middle East shut off oil to the West. It is expensive to process the stuff, but estimates in Canada say it costs $18 a barrel to refine tar sands. With oil above $140, its game on.

Once again this is a market driven solution. I can see lawsuits and government hindering this solution just like off shore drilling which a democratic controlled congress won't pass.

here be some sources from the news that support my claims
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&q=...-8&sa=N&tab=wn