More drilling, not the solution to oil addiction

First off let me just start by saying that I dont believe drilling in Anwar Alaska will solve our energy needs, not in the 10years to come and certainly not for a long enough period of time. I think most americans are looking for a quick fix and when they hear about the possibility of drilling on homeground they put their own current needs for energy ahead of the consequences for such a decision. No im not a tree hugger, Im a realist and upon research on this situation, keeping an open mind, I have come to the conclusion that simply more drilling will only feed our oil addiction for a short period of time.

Both Obama and McCain opposed drilling in alaska for envirnoment reasons, McCain was the first to flip flop, Obama eventually did as well and Pelosi followed. Since both Obama and McCain appear to be flip flopping over what they claim to believe I decided to do some research myself. What I found is well beyon what I expect, much of the facts I found got me wondering why those advocates for more drilling didnt bother to inform the public of the reality of taking this on. All iv heard from those for drilling, for the most part on the right, is that drilling will ease the gas prices. Well according to my sources it doesnt appear to be so.

Now that the Alaska drilling Legislation has passed through the house I feel that more could have been done to ammend the legislation to best suit all sides of issue. Its too bad that months of Republican-Democrat finger pointing wasted so much valuble time. I well and truly believe that for most part the Bush administration should take the bulk of the responsibility of the energy mess but that being said the democrats have done NOTHING to work out a solution as well.

I am a firm believer in energy independence. That doesnt just mean independence of foreign oil but independence of any single source of energy. For over a century now oil has been our only major source of fuel yet over all that time we have not seen major development in other kinds of fuels to use. This disturbs me especially considering the great minds we have in the United Stades and around the world, nobody has been able to bring in other sources of fuels. What further plays in with the years of silence over energy independence (until recent times) is the power of oil companies.

In the years following the invasion of Iraq or operation Iraqi freedom (OIL) major oil companies have made record profits over the rising prices:
abcnews.go.com...
www.boston.com...
Now while these companys make profits over the backs of hard working americans and other families around the world, they will will make more profit off the desperation of the very hard working people. Further drilling a alaska will only serve the oil companys.

According to the EIA (energy information administration) it will take over 3years for the infrastructure to produce the fuel from Alaska to be settled. Whats more interesting it will take a total of 10years for that fuel to come back to us:

"ANWR oil production would begin 10 years after legislation

www.eia.doe.gov...
10years, I mean seriously, people want to drill for oil now so that they can see prices decrease, do you really think waiting for 10years for fuel that will ony give you temperary relief is going to solve you issues?

If the government gets a clue and focuses heavily on cheaper alternative fuel veichles over that ten years, I believe there will be more impact. If public transportation is further developed, I am I firm believe that we will be able to let go of our addiction to oil. More drilling will just be feeding this addiction.

It will take 10years for any of this to benefit americans and evens that that prices will ony drop a mere 3cents for only a short period of time.

In addition to this fact, drilling on Alaskas northern slop has already been done:

drilling in Alaska’s North Slope have declined over the past seven years as the volume of oil extracted from the North Slope fell from 800,000 barrels in 1980 to half that amount, which is part of the reason BP and other companies have been so eager to drill in ANWR.

www.scoop.co.nz...
So it is apparent that the same oil companies benefitting from hard working americans will benefit off their desperation aswell.

Both candidates have claimed to be for alternative fuel yet McCain seems to be more vocal about domestic drilling that the focus on alternative energies.
www.johnmccain.com...

Obama was against drilling because he knows along with a large fraction of americans who actually do their research that drilling on home ground will not amount to anything more than a short term 3cent drop in ten years. The Democrats have been slack over the years on this issue I admit but atleast their focus is primarely on alternative fuels, atleast they know that drilling in alaska will only benefit to those already gaining from the current fuel crises. The Bush administration has done nothing, it was only recently that republicans began looking to alternative fuels aswell. Meanwhile we still have some righties closing their ears and ignoring the fuel crises. Drill drill drill is all we hear from them, this is their solution. Continue to feed the addiction.

The only benefit we might have from drilling is to heavily tax the oil companies drilling there so that the money from these taxes can go into the development of cheaper alternative fuel viechles. Sure, its what paris hilton said, but its been my thought for some time. Either that or we ditch drilling all together and focus on alternative fuels development over the next 10years.

[edit on 14-8-2008 by southern_Guardian]

Anwar, offshore drilling, and inland drilling will not meet Americas oil needs..............But it sure wont hurt. We will not be able to play catchup with the oil crisis. but tapping into our American oil and building a new refinery may drive the price down some. In the meantime we can work on alternatives.

If the countries that hate us decided that they wanted to cut off our oil, we will be sorry we didnt DRILL..DRILL..DRILL

reply to post by southern_Guardian


Hey SG...

One thing I wanted to point out the; the coordinated obstruction Republicans have been practicing in Congress. This an ancient and very effective way to make "the other guys appear lazy". In fact if you look at actual bills that got an up or down vote it becomes apparent that quantity or quality of their work is not the issue.

The issue is that so many bills are being voted down or amended to death...
If you don't have the votes things don't get accomplished, period.

7/23/2008--Introduced.
Consumer Energy Supply Act of 2008 - Instructs the Secretary of Energy to publish a plan to: (1) sell prescribed amounts of light grade petroleum from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) and acquire an equivalent volume of heavy grade petroleum; (2) deposit cash proceeds from those sales into the SPR Petroleum Account; and (3) withdraw from such proceeds the administrative and operational costs of the sale and acquisition.
Requires an offer for sale of 70 million barrels of light grade petroleum from the SPR.
Requires the sale to: (1) commence within 30 days after enactment of this Act, regardless of whether the Secretary's plan has been published; and (2) be completed within six months after enactment, with at least 20 million barrels offered for sale within the first 60 days after enactment.
Sets forth an acquisitions schedule for heavy grade petroleum to replace the light grade petroleum sold under this Act.
Encourages the Secretary to grant requests to defer scheduled deliveries of petroleum to the SPR if deferral will result in a premium paid in additional barrels of oil which will reduce the cost of oil acquisition and increase the volume of oil delivered to the SPR or yield additional cash bonuses.

www.govtrack.us...

5/20/2008--Introduced.

Consumer-First Energy Act of 2008 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) deny major integrated oil companies (i.e., companies producing at least 500,000 barrels of crude oil daily) a tax deduction for income attributable to domestic production of oil, gas, or primary products thereof; (2) conform tax treatment of foreign oil and gas extraction income and foreign oil related income for purposes of the foreign tax credit; (3) impose a windfall profits tax on major integrated oil companies; and (4) establish an Energy Independence and Security Trust Fund funded by revenues raised by the tax provisions of this Act to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign and unsustainable energy sources and reduce the risks of global warming.

Petroleum Consumer Price Gouging Protection Act - Declares it unlawful for a supplier to sell crude oil, gasoline, petroleum distillates, or biofuel at an unconscionably excessive price in an area for which the President declares that an energy emergency exists. Grants the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) authority to enforce this Act.

Authorizes the President to declare a federal energy emergency if the well-being of U.S. citizens is at risk because of a shortage or imminent shortage of adequate supplies of crude oil, gasoline, petroleum distillates, or biofuel because of: (1) a disruption in the national distribution system; or (2) significant pricing anomalies in the national energy markets for such products.

Authorizes state attorneys general to bring civil actions to enforce this Act. Sets forth civil and criminal penalties for violations.

Directs the Secretaries of Energy and the Interior to suspend acquisition of petroleum for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve until December 31, 2008.

No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels Act of 2008 or NOPEC - Amends the Sherman Act to make it illegal for any foreign state to act with another foreign state to: (1) limit the production or distribution of oil, natural gas, or any other petroleum product; (2) set or maintain prices for such products; or (3) otherwise take any action in restraint of trade for such products. Denies sovereign immunity or act of state doctrine protections for foreign states who engage in such such illegal conduct.

Amends the Commodity Exchange Act to require the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to: (1) determine that foreign boards of trade subject to CFTC jurisdiction regulate and provide information on off-shore oil trading; and (2) set a substantial increase in margin levels for all oil futures trades, contracts, or transactions.

www.senate.gov...

So as one can see both of these are related to energy and are intended to alleviate
consumer "pain"... I'm sure I could find more examples of sourcing legislation that has been gutted.the thing that pisses me of is that 3044 was a clean bill - No Amendments

No hidden gems or motives.

Anyhow

These are just two of many, many, many examples of stonewalling on behalf of the GOP. So I may agree that the this Congress is not very effective I would argue the source of the problem.

So ya,,, Energy... OIL ...$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$


Alaska will provide buku money to a few and create a couple thousand jobs


But to have people believe that the oil problems would be remedied considerably
by this is sneaky and opportunistic IMO

GOOD OP SG- S+F

reply to post by mental modulator


Yes well researched Mental modulator. We all know the instigators of this oil situation and righties invasion of Iraq was key to this. That being said the Democrats put their own selves into the problem aswell, I know Bush vetos most bills proposed by the democrats but Iv seen numerous times where they just didnt bother to try. Hopefully if Obama is elected, we can finally get this cheaper hybrid car development in focus.

The day America cuts her dependence on oil is the day the national healing process begins.

I hope you find this thread relevant

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Couple possible solutions can be found in my post.

Excellent thread!

I agree drilling is not the answer!

www.abovetopsecret.com...

This PROVES! The Republicans are blocking DRILLING IN ALASKA AND OFF SHORE!

But its the Dems fault... Right.

Do we need ANOTHER thread about this?

I personally think we should drill.
Its our only option unless we can make the government release the technology that they have.... good luck with that.

So, are only option is to drill........

These oil threads are too overdone, I'm sure there's at least 4 other threads with the same exact topic.

Originally posted by ThreeDeuce
Do we need ANOTHER thread about this?

I personally think we should drill.
Its our only option unless we can make the government release the technology that they have.... good luck with that.

So, are only option is to drill........

These oil threads are too overdone, I'm sure there's at least 4 other threads with the same exact topic.

EXCEPT THE REPUBLICANS BLOCKED DRILLING IN ALASKA AND OFF SHORE! So the GOP is to blame for high oil prices.

the long term reason 'we' are addicted to oil is because the economy was built upon the existance of cheap and abundant oil (gasoline/fuel/enegy)


your correct that more (offshore & restricted area) drilling won't solve the 'oil addiction' paradigm.
your correct in noting that drilling will only reduce our dependence on imported/foreign oil... and the price won't decline because of increased domestic production.

so- the thread is in a box.... no answer, no remedy, no policy path....



+ the recent runup of the dollar has brought oil prices down,
+ the recent increase of buying some $1.2 Trillion in US debt, (immediately before the Russia-v-Georgia hostilities) was instrumental in helping the sagging USD to recover.
+ the announcement that 'hydrogen' fueled cars will be leased @ $600 month in CA @ DC as a pilot program.
+ the recent push to retrofit the USA transportation system into natural gas
rather than gasoline from refined foreign & domestic oil
+the high cost of fuel is causing less gasoline consumption

now these are some of the elements that can or should be able to change this 'oil addicted' economy... not more watered down and self-serving legislation.





[edit on 14-8-2008 by St Udio]

It's truly amazing how many Americans overlook the facts before them and follow the leader, who in this case, is a dysfunctional lame (stolen) president. Bush did NOT win either presidential elections.

Why aren't people asking WHY we aren't pursuing alt energy plans more aggressively? Does Bush really talk about conservation even? No, he talks about finding more oil. He even tried to shut down solar energy research projects a few weeks ago. Oil. It's ALL about oil.

What about the 10,000 drilling permits the oil companies haven't used yet? The oil found in America doesn't stay here...it goes on the world market.

From what I hear, when Cheney had his secret meeting with the energy people right after they stole of office, the two goals were 1) war and occupation of Iraq, 2) drilling in Anwar.

Originally posted by tommyb98201
Anwar, offshore drilling, and inland drilling will not meet Americas oil needs..............But it sure wont hurt. We will not be able to play catchup with the oil crisis. but tapping into our American oil and building a new refinery may drive the price down some. In the meantime we can work on alternatives.

If the countries that hate us decided that they wanted to cut off our oil, we will be sorry we didnt DRILL..DRILL..DRILL

currently, refineries are running at 85% of capacity as reported in the main stream media. this is the lowest they have run in quite some time, gee...does anyone suppose that this is to keep gas prices high? if the U.S. brought in a million more barrels of oil a day, OPEC would simply cut production by a million barrels a day. this is why the democrats don't even respond to this. if anyone thinks that more drilling is needed to lower gas prices, they need to ...yes...READ A BOOK!!!!

10 years is a BIG lie

www.abovetopsecret.com...