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Bush lifts executive ban on offshore drilling
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CallMeJoe
Diamond Member
Studies showing extraction and conversion prices are highly speculative, and that $95/barrel price has likely increased significantly with the escalation of energy prices.
I'm not trying to say that oil shale extraction is impossible, impractical, or necessarily uneconomical, but it bothers me when I hear (or read) people implying that oil shale is easy energy out in the mountains waiting to be pulled out of the ground if the liberals and environmentalists would just get out of the way. There is potential there, but there are more questions about the process than there are answers. We may not see any practical use of organic marlstone for decades (if not centuries).
leave it to profjohn to only look at things from one perspective.....
1 - Anwr is a small supply of oil - that would take 8-10 years to produce anything - that wouldn't last for 10 years - not to mention the environmental risk it would pose.
2 - The myth of shale reserves - thank god someone on here has the brains to actually look something up - extracting oil from this rock is, in it's current state - experimental AT BEST. While I do support further research into better extraction technology, this doesn't look like something to rely on at all.
3 - Offshore drilling - what the President did today is play politics - the Right, realizing they can't simply lean on the war on 'terra', is looking for new talking points - so now they give us - "the dems are against offshore drilling, so they must like the fact that you are paying high prices", or some crap like that.
The reality is this - yes, there may be significant amounts of usable oil that is currently lying in areas that fall under the offshore drilling ban - however - there are plenty of areas, where drilling is allowed - that we aren't drilling - and there really is no difference between this land and the hypothetical yields of these 'offshore' fields.
Why not spend the next 5-7 years - the amount of time it would take to get anything out of an offshore project if it started tomorrow - into further research & incentives to putting some real alternative technolgies into our automobiles? Gas station infastructure - tax breaks continued for hybrid car drivers - fuel cell technology - using smart crops like switchgrass instead of wasting everyone's time and money using corn to produce ethanol - nuclear plant expansion - wind farm production, solar farms, etc, etc.
So i would say ProfJohn - the choices are -
1 - drill now, keep relying on the same auto technology that has us relying heavily on foreign oil - which wouldn't change much under your option 1 - keep using the same auto technology that continues to spew crap into our atmosphere - and perhaps there is a small price drop in 5 - 10 years
2 - use the money that might be spent in this offshore political game for - see above.
Still not a tough decision?
We need to break our reliance on transportation based on current engine technologies - cars, trucks, planes - it's that simple. Saying "let's open up offshore drilling" does NOTHING towards that goal, it's partisan games, nothing more.
1 - Anwr is a small supply of oil - that would take 8-10 years to produce anything - that wouldn't last for 10 years - not to mention the environmental risk it would pose.
2 - The myth of shale reserves - thank god someone on here has the brains to actually look something up - extracting oil from this rock is, in it's current state - experimental AT BEST. While I do support further research into better extraction technology, this doesn't look like something to rely on at all.
3 - Offshore drilling - what the President did today is play politics - the Right, realizing they can't simply lean on the war on 'terra', is looking for new talking points - so now they give us - "the dems are against offshore drilling, so they must like the fact that you are paying high prices", or some crap like that.
The reality is this - yes, there may be significant amounts of usable oil that is currently lying in areas that fall under the offshore drilling ban - however - there are plenty of areas, where drilling is allowed - that we aren't drilling - and there really is no difference between this land and the hypothetical yields of these 'offshore' fields.
Why not spend the next 5-7 years - the amount of time it would take to get anything out of an offshore project if it started tomorrow - into further research & incentives to putting some real alternative technolgies into our automobiles? Gas station infastructure - tax breaks continued for hybrid car drivers - fuel cell technology - using smart crops like switchgrass instead of wasting everyone's time and money using corn to produce ethanol - nuclear plant expansion - wind farm production, solar farms, etc, etc.
So i would say ProfJohn - the choices are -
1 - drill now, keep relying on the same auto technology that has us relying heavily on foreign oil - which wouldn't change much under your option 1 - keep using the same auto technology that continues to spew crap into our atmosphere - and perhaps there is a small price drop in 5 - 10 years
2 - use the money that might be spent in this offshore political game for - see above.
Still not a tough decision?
We need to break our reliance on transportation based on current engine technologies - cars, trucks, planes - it's that simple. Saying "let's open up offshore drilling" does NOTHING towards that goal, it's partisan games, nothing more.
ChrisFromNJ
Member
Yet your assertion that we will see a price drop within 5-10 years due to drilling is false, and it has been proven false many times.
Neither of your choices are valid, and they are dishonest at best.
brandonbull
Diamond Member
1. Stop drinking the Right-wing oil kool-aid.
2. Stop making 5 ton SUVs to haul 1 person 20 miles to work everyday
3. Don't waste time on drilling for a small amount of oil
4. Don't put all of your eggs into the oil shale basket scam. Nothing like locking yourself into an expensive and wasteful alternative.
quest55720
Golden Member
Exactly there is no reason not to do both. Those new leases and royalies can help fund alternative research and insentives. Any energy plan that does not do both is a complete failure. Every day this congress does not lift the bans is 1 more day we pay to much for gas, heating oil and any good that is transported by truck.
It is about time bush does something right. Now the ball is in the dems court I hope the republicans bring this issue up every day. I hope they filibuster every single bill that is non essential till the dems give in to lifting the bans.
I don't drive a SUV but do heat my house with oil. I honestly don't know what I am going to do this winter. I might have to take out a loan just to heat my house. I wish the election was in january that would get congress to get off its butts and do something.
manowar821
Diamond Member
lol, nevermind
trenchfoot
Lifer
If I recall correctly, that's exactly the question recent Senate hearings by the Dems have been asking Oil Company executives and have been getting evasive and obfuscated answers from these execs in return.
dahunan
Lifer
Big Oil will not waste time and resources researching alternatives even though Bush gave them FORTY BILLION DOLLAR TAX BREAK TO DO IT
OH>. and when they find another way to create energy... they will still chage you the highest amount possible.. even if it is generated from wind... lol
got to love those oil baron replublicans
dmcowen674
No Lifer
It does get rid of a very big lame excuse.
Pliablemoose
Lifer
Agreed.
lupi
Lifer
I believe china just started signing some of the agreements, so it won't be fiction for much longer.
Besides the fud and headless chicken alarmism being tossed around here, at least he's putting it fully in the hands of congress so if the party that promised to lower gas prices in 06 still does nothing it will be easy to make a choice in 08.
btw these arguments about allowing drilling wont help for a decade are stupid. These were the same arguments presented back in the 70's before we doubled our consumption of foreign oil. The same arguments presented when ANWR was opened up a decade ago but blocked by Clinton.
In 10 year when we rely even more on foreign oil than we do today and are back in another war because of it. We will have nobody to blame but ourselves. And dont buy some magical alternative energy source is going to show up in any meaningful way in the next decade or two either.
We need a smooth transition. A smooth transition off oil includes keeping the costs from skyrocketing in a short period of time whacking our economy out of tilt. That means increasing supply.
In 10 year when we rely even more on foreign oil than we do today and are back in another war because of it. We will have nobody to blame but ourselves. And dont buy some magical alternative energy source is going to show up in any meaningful way in the next decade or two either.
We need a smooth transition. A smooth transition off oil includes keeping the costs from skyrocketing in a short period of time whacking our economy out of tilt. That means increasing supply.
Pliablemoose
Lifer
In 10 years it won't matter, we'll be owned by a shell corporation based out of Dubai.
We need to do something now, developing domestic resources to divert some of the 700+ BILLION dollars/year flowing to countries that are decidedly not friendly to us is suicidal on our part.
We need to do something now, developing domestic resources to divert some of the 700+ BILLION dollars/year flowing to countries that are decidedly not friendly to us is suicidal on our part.
I agree with this completely. The environmental nutjobs need to sit the fuck down and shut their mouths - we've had enough of their well intended but completely flawed influence over energy policy in this country. We're sitting on literally an ocean of oil that we can't get to because of continued interference from the environmental lobby and the fucktards who buy into Al Gore's PowerPoint and suddenly feel they need to start living in teepees and lighting their own farts to keep warm in the winter.
What we have here is not an energy crisis, it's a government problem. Instead of doing what's smart and logical and accessing our domestic energy reserves years ago we've continued to chase some idealistic dream of a magic alternative energy regardless of the economic or political and military implications to this country. Oddly enough, magical fairies have not come down from the forests to shit eco friendly hydrogen cells that we can gather in hemp baskets and use to power our cars... So now we have a shortage of affordable energy. Go f-ing figure.
This isn't just about energy - this is about people who want to see this country maintain it's leadership position in the world versus those who would sell our prosperity and quality of life out to a few middle eastern shieks and central American dictators in the name of eco-friendliness.
Luckily, Jo-Bob voter and his pickup truck who is now paying $4 a gallon for gas is getting mad... and sees that the populists (left and right leaning) in congress pandering to the neo-hippies are doing nothing to fix the problem. Hopefully this will lead to a serious house cleaning in November and put a serious dent in the influence that the environmental lobby has over politics in this country. It's fine to want to encourage alternative energy sources, it's not ok to do so at the expense of every American's relative prosperity and national security.
manowar821
Diamond Member
Tool.
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