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Drilling Obama

By PaganPower on July 12, 2008 at 2:30 AM in Barack Obama, Harry Reid

Democratic senators are quietly moving away from Obama’s energy stance. Illinois senior senator Dick Durbin now supports offshore drilling. As does Harry Reid and Sherrod Brown.

Democrats Are Distancing Themselves from Obama

Obama is shaping up to be the only Democrat without a chair when the music stops. His latest ad claims offshore drilling won’t be effective, putting him in a terrible bind. If he sticks to his guns, he’s at odds with his party and the vast majority of Americans. If he flip flops, there’s yet another reason for his countrymen to conclude he’s nothing but a milquetoast flip-flopper whose words mean nothing.

Sherrod Brown is joining with George Voinovich in supporting offshore drilling. This spontaneous bipartisanship may soon become common practice. Most Americans support drilling for more oil.

Do we lift the ban on offshore drilling?

Sen. George V. Voinovich said yesterday that the combination of $4-per-gallon gas prices and rising voter support for more drilling could pave the way for a compromise that would have been unthinkable a year ago.

The Ohio Republican predicted that Congress will pass a comprehensive bill this year to clear the way for drilling off U.S. coasts while providing more money to develop cleaner energy sources.

That’s quite a prediction. And I would lay odds he is right. It only emphasizes how completely out of touch Obama is.

Now I am not about to jump on a bandwagon that says drill with abandon. I believe we have a supply of oil available if we drill for it. And I am not without concern for environmental degradation should something go wrong. But I do think it wise to make available as many resources as we can. And keep every last drop of oil produced.

Obama is right. We won’t see a return on this for maybe a decade. But it will be a return. So it takes time. We won’t have it if we don’t start it. Obama prefers not starting it.

The federal government estimates that 89 billion barrels of oil could be off the East, West and Gulf coasts. The U.S. consumes 20 million barrels of oil every day.

Its not a large amount of oil. I’ll grant you that. But it is American oil that we could have at the ready should the rest of the world get all freaky.

I would rather we were protected, even if that protection is temporary. Even if that protection takes a while to achieve. It provides a buffer.

I sure wish we had one right now.

  • Alien

    This oil will not come in for many years. The cost will be high & USA will still need to import the overwhelming majority.

    The problem is the USA lifestyle using everything up from the planet.

    Sp Pagan you will use up the next generation’s supplies because???????

    • lute

      No drilling. And Nobama.

      • karen for Clinton

        The environment is tops on my list of electorate issue deciders for many years. I went to see Inconvenient Truth the day it came out and told friends it should be shown to every child in every school on earth. I’ve been a member of GreenPeace since 1971. I give Nature Conservancy land gifts for Christmas, last year I gave Osa Penninsula Costa Rica acres to my family. I have been a scuba diver for 30 years and have seen the coral bleaching from Key Largo to Belize.

        I have spent many happy days rolling around with manatees and listening to whale song and petting sharks and have many dive logs to prove it.

        I have also, after all these years come to the conclusion, after a lifetime of protesting nukes and oil drilling and organic gardening, that my fellow inhabitants of this planet just don’t give a rats ass when it comes to saving the world for their children. They didn’t cry when they read Silent Spring decades ago. They haven’t driven small compact gas efficient cars their entire lives – or used mass transit. They didn’t renew, reuse and recycle and they don’t live, like I do, in a log cabin in the woods.

        I have been appalled by SUV’s since the day they first came out and have suffered driven behind them in ever increasing numbers for decades.

        I will never vote for ob. He was pushed on the electorate by the vast right wing conspiracy.

        They knew he was unelectable and they had a pact to beat MY candidate. I will support her till the last dog dies and if it comes down to it I will hold my nose and vote McCain.

        • karen for Clinton

          um, early. meant “driving”, more coffee.

        • http://deleted AnninCa

          Here! Here! I’m not as environmentally conscientious, but I agree with you. My observation is that we have so much we could do to make this a reality. We’ve not restructured our services to promote good habits.

          I just back from travelling, and I can understand why. Man, we’ve got tons of wide-open land in this country. It’s impressive.

          It’s also misleading, resource-wise.

          • Dawnelle

            same here I try to be GREEN – we’ve replaced all of our bulbs (and WOW what a savings!! no kidding!)

            we try but nothing like your efforts and I commend you and agree.

            This is the ONLY planet we’ve got right now. Who knows in 10 yrs?
            About the same time those off shore rigs will be ready. Unless some hurricane knocks them down before then.

            We have to TRY. SUV’s are horrid but during the winter in the mountains I always wish I had one! I’d LOVE to have my own log cabin. How cool!

        • http://uppitywoman08.wordpress.com uppitywoman08

          Ah Silent Spring!

          One of the most awesome things I ever saw was a manatee and its kid came to our dock. No kidding. I will never forget it. Once in a lifetime. The poor thing was riddled with scars from propellers too.

    • tampagurl

      The next generation won’t need oil they will have something else. Do you know they can run cars on natural gas? There are many other alternatives the next generation can use. We need to stop buying foreign oil or there won’t be our country to leave to the next generation. Drill the oil now and the government can mandate the use of alternatives too.

      • alexei

        That little bit of oil and at a least a decade to get is not going to “save the country”. This is exactly the wrong step to take and plays into the oil companies hands. The right steps are to stop the criminal oil speculation, go big time into improving gas mileage vehicles (hybrids, electrics, hydrogen, etc and change the internal combustion engine, etc.) and do an Apollo project for alternative energy as Hillary proposed. Peak oil is real, we have to work on these projects now or our present let alone our children’s isn’t sustainable.

        • one eyed jack

          “Peak oil is real”. That is what the major oil companies were saying 40 years ago. However since then the majors have finally managed to put the small independent producers out of business. Now guesse what. We do not have any long gas lines because there are no more small independents left to hold the prices down on crude. Last week there was a program on LPB (Louisiana) showing a meeting of the researchers in bio fuels. OPEC sent representatives to that meeting and the word from OPEC to the researchers was “Be careful, because OPEC will drop the price of crude”. Meaning , if the bio fuels should become economically feasible (which it has at todays price of crude) OPEC will drop their oil prices to try and drive the bio fuel developement into oblivion in order to kill the competition. The same scenario that existed before the majors put the small independent oil producers out of business. PUMA is one thing–POMA is another–PEAK OIL MY ASS! I have been in the oil industry for 50 years. POMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Scare tactics still work.

          • clik212

            Yes, and this has happened before, whenever we try to develop alternative fuels, the OPEC countries bring the price down. We need to move forward and support (government) alternative fuel development. Let’s stop doing the tango with OPEC.

            • tampagurl

              What government alternative? Subsidized ethanol that we ship to the UK?

              You can’t keep saying we need to do this we need to do that. Maybe we all have a mouse in our pockets. The truth is we should of done this and that but we didn’t and here we are.

          • http://uppitywoman08.wordpress.com uppitywoman08

            We dropped the ball in the 70s. Went right back to our old ways. That includes GM, whom I feel sorry for NOT AT ALL.

          • TeakwoodKite

            In the 80′s in California, there was an initiative for “Tax Big Oil”, for investment in mass transit. I gathered signatures for it, It qualified but did not pass. The amount of Oil money that went to defeat it was stunning for the times.

            I ask this question; What do you do 30 years later, when oil company profits are the largest in history, with OPEC and non aligned oil producing nations in turmoil?
            What do you do when homeowner foreclosures, corporate bailouts, and the high price of porkpipe politics gets you coming AND going, with energy effecting EVERY aspect of ones life?

            BO’s got a plan…he got it from Cheney’s guy…If you don’t think Exelon was not a participant in those White House “energy” meetings and that BO is not tied at the hip to these folks, then good luck. Going to work just for the money to go to work is going now where fast.

            From the windmills of Holland, the coal of England, the oil of America…the oil of the Middle East.
            What ever the resource, it is finite.
            Energy output effects the fortunes of nations and their survival.
            What can be used for the next 200 years without choking the planet to death?

            Take a miniute and watch Carl’s little video. Go on, I Dare ya.

            Carl Sagan – Pale Blue Dot
            http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p86BPM1GV8M&feature=related

        • http://www.greensunshine.net jadwiga

          A little bit of oil in the next decade may just make the difference in the oil prices. The speculation should be curbed. But no amount of regulation will stop China and India from buying the oil.
          McCain promised a $300 mil. contest to get our cars on batteries and off gasoline. That will help to bring down the oil prices.

          The high oil prices are keeping the economy from recovering. The oil prices have to come down.
          Fifty years ago my grandma was teching me to respect the environment and make as little change as possible. That time there was no environmentalism, no terminus technicus she could use. Just common sense and respect for Nature.
          My gandpa was telling me that – while people believe it otherwise – oil or coal or gold or anything that is mined will run out one day. What then?
          We will HAVE to come off fossil fuel, and soon.

          But we have to save the economy too. If you want me to elaborate on the economy, just let me know.

        • hank48188

          We need to drill everywhere in this country. OUR COUNTRY is sending $700 Billion a year to people that don’t like us. How long can a country continue to spend that much money in other countries? This became a great country because people all over the world spent money on U.S. products, now it’s the other way around, we keep shipping our cash out to other countries. Lets build some nuke power plants and start running some cars on natural gas, we have lots of that here. The negative balance of payments is what is taking our country downhill, we need the Gov’t to help change that.

          • one eyed jack

            Even if we went all nuke, solar, and wind, it wouldn’t be too long before the greedy bastards would be saying–we are running out of uranium, we are running out of sunshine, we are running out of wind–or they would put meters and guages on all the above and charge sur-taxes so high it would be like we were still dependent on crude oil. LOL! we may never beat the greedy bastards, especially with thugs like Obama helping the greedy bastards because he is a wannabe greedy bastard himself.

            • Grail Guardian

              Not a wannabe…

            • http://deleted AnninCa

              I agree on that one. Again, until I see some real money invested in mass transit, I’m a bit skeptical about anything else.

              I’m tired of hearing how that’s not practical. None of us are that darned in love with our cars these days! We’d be happy to sit back and enjoy the ride if it were safe, cost-effective, and efficient for us.

              Either that or screw workplaces altogether for those who can avoid driving. Let us work from home entirely and buy putt-putt cars for chores.

              • don tufts

                only problem with mass transit especially here in the west is one we are to spread out,two our food our clothes,our every day essentials are delivered by truck,three the sales peolple that make this country go round like myself if you are a outside sales person cant use mass transit,four go luck with your plumbers,landscapers,computer repair etc without 4 wheeled cars and trucks.so to all of you that can sit at a keyboard and get paid more power to you but please engage your gray matter and think how much commerce has to have roads and vehicles to operate,drill now inc anwar and keep every dam drop in this country .

                • SBwa

                  for the immediate future, people in rural america will still need cars. farmers need them, their kids need them. if you all plan on eating food, you’re going to need them too.

                  there are two reasons to drill now.

                  #1 is that if we don’t china (and other countries) are going to drill on our land and a few miles from our shores. i’d rather it be us (if only for safety….when i think of the way china regulates food and sends poisons abroad, and the dirty coal plants they put up everyday, i have absolutely ZERO confidence they will avoid ecological disasters).

                  #2 is that we are importing 80% of our oil from foreign countries. even in the 1970s, we were only importing around 24% or so of our oil.

                  barcky and pelosi are off their rockers if they think this is a “scam.” should we find alternative fuels? of course. but in the meantime, we need to wean ourselves off of foreign oil. they are idiots if they cannot see that a problem of this magnitude requires a 3-prong approach: immediate actions, medium-term solutions, and long-term solutions. we should be using our reserves. we should be drilling (and it isn’t going to take as long as barcky and pelosi say…seems like everytime they talk they add on another 10 years). we need to use natural gas for our cars rather than for electricity production. and we need to STOP subsidizing ethanol, or at least corn-based ethanol.

            • Dawnelle

              ROFLOL @ sunshine

              but we MAY never SEE the SUNSHINE if our skies get too dark with pollution

          • lute

            NO WE DO NOT NEED TO DRILL EVERYWHERE IN THIS COUNTRY.
            WE NEED TO PUT THAT MONEY WASTED ON DESTRUCTIVE, FINITE FUELS INTO TAPPING ALTERNATIVE ENERGY.
            Sorry for screaming.

            • Grail Guardian

              It’s understandable – this is a very volatile subject. And you are correct – drilling everywhere is just a scare tactic (like WMD) to allow the richest to get even richer and the powerful to become even more impregnable. We need a plan, and we need to react responsibly (not with the knee-jerk reaction the corporate types are pushing for). Don’t panic – think! Long and hard. This cannot be undone.

            • tampagurl

              What wasted money? whose money is it?

          • uhh somehow this notion that I am qualified to be president is uhh uhh ridiculous

            You got right Hank,
            70%! It will soon become the largest transfer of money in history if we continue this way. Where the money goes, so goes the power. McCain’s got the right agenda drill here, drill now AND develop alternative energy resources.
            Get the facts about drilling here:

            http://www.americansolutions.com/General/?Page=9d64a628-d028-48c1-840d-330aea987841

    • http://uppitywoman08.wordpress.com uppitywoman08

      From what I’ve seen during this election season, the “next generation” wants the rest of us dead anyhow. Selfish little bloodsucking bastards aren’t you?

      • tampagurl

        I needed a little humor this morning LOL

        • http://uppitywoman08.wordpress.com uppitywoman08

          At your service.

          It’s true. This gen y would take all their parents money happily and be the same ones to vote to kill their social security besides.

      • one eyed jack

        If the next generation is any worse than this Obama generation — fuel will be the least of our problems because we-us-they-them or whoever will not even have the means to buy autos much less operate them. May not even have the right to own a car.

        • Grail Guardian

          Allelujiah, brother!

    • Chicago Joe

      Let the DNC know where you stand, and how this inexperienced presumptive nominee takes untenable positions that don’t reflect reality.

      Join the Penny Protest http://www.hillarysupporters.com/PennyProtest.pdf and show them how their bank account will run dry if they continue to foist Obama on the Democratic party.

    • NoBama

      Shut up and drill, Backtrack Obama!!

    • Robert

      Drill here Drill now and become energy independent through alternative ways is correct.Maybe the school system should follow your advice. Why start it- you don’t get results until at least 10 years! Clinton should not of vetoed the bill in 1997 we would have seen results now!President Bush speech is right.Congress wants to do nothing and we as a nation must start to find ways of becoming energy independent through drilling( before China who is drilling now with Cuba 72 miles from Florida & Canada is drilling under the lakes)Nuclear energy, solar, wind more fuel efficient cars(electric etc).
      This is the greatest nation on earth and we’re supposed to be held prisoner from other countries?
      Think long term solutions- obviously, doing nothing now does not help the next generation tommorrow!

  • http://www.greensunshine.net jadwiga

    I believe in reserving our natural resources for the future – many hundreds of years we wouldn’t want to have this country robbed bare – even if we are not around anymore.
    The purpose of the untapped reserves – in my view – is to use only in emergency. We have an emergency now.
    I would expect that the oil prices would start to go down right away as the oil companies get the green light.
    I am sure that the modern technology helps to keep these drillings safe.

    I don’t know much about economy or oil drilling. It seems Obama knows even less.

    • tampagurl

      I understand that oil is a finite resource. so what are we doing? running our nation into bankruptcy so we can be the last to have any?

      China is going to drill offshore for Cuba, it’s a good possibility that they will be taking oil from the US. We don’t need to save our resources for the future. In the future we won’t be using oil. We are close now to discovering something other than oil.

      Investors are putting money in oil futures because they are betting that there is going to be a problem that will cause an oil shortage. If the United States would start drilling they would stop putting money in futures and the price will go down.

      However, Getting the price down should not be our main goal. China and the Saudi’s own us. we need to be free of the foreign oil while this is the United States of America and not the United States of China. Please I beg all of you to call Pelosi #202-225-0100 and demand congress get off their hands and allow offshore drilling.

      • Hope Floats

        And our oil reserves are at 97%. We have billions of barrels of oil, so supply isn’t the problem.

        Tampagurl makes an excellent point. We should drill, because it’s there and our competition is closing in on our resources.

        • http://uppitywoman08.wordpress.com uppitywoman08

          We have three choices. We drill. We freeze and starve due to the repeat of the ethanol scam. Or we take someobody else’s oil by force.

          You pick, because the rest of this politician babble is bullroar. It’s a repeat of the Carter years babble. In the end, nothing will come of the ethanol plans except guys like Tom Daschle will make a fortune and the cost of grains will bring us all to our knees and starve out a large portion of the world.

          • blobert

            Ever heard of non-destructive energy?

            • tampagurl

              I suppose it will magically appear and our cars will magically run on it.

              • http://uppitywoman08.wordpress.com uppitywoman08

                Obama followers want to take everyone over 40 and turn them into an alternative energy source.

                It’s just too bad we can’t harness all that wind eminating from Obama’s mouth.

                • Dawnelle

                  Solient Green?

                  ewwwwwwwwwwwwww

      • one eyed jack

        If the US doesn’t harvest their own resources, other nations will. We do not need to deplete those resources but use them in a responsibile way. Not the way the Alaska North Slope oil was used that went in large quanities to Japan because it brought the major oil companies more profit by selling to Japan. It isn’t our domestic use that is depleting our resources but rather it is the greed of corporate America that is cannabilizing our resources. We should be exploring new oil fields in America while working toward alternative fuels at the same time.

        • Hope Floats

          Very good points.

      • CheatedFLVoter

        Thanks Tampagirl. My feelings exactly. The Chinese will drill soon. If we don’t beat them to it, they will deplete the oil right out from under us. And I agree that they won’t care if oil spills into our waters. We are on the verge of new energy sources, but we can’t wean ourselves off of oil overnight. If congress can agree on a bill that will combine all available sources, I think that we would be wise to support it.

    • SBwa

      obama knows whatever his corporate ethanol sponsors want him to know.

  • sfhillary

    Offshore drilling is the stupidest idea of this political season, by far, and I’m glad to see that even some NQ folks understand that. The oil companies already have rights to drill on something like 80 million acres, right now, which they are not using. If Congress passes some idiotic offshore drilling bill, they won’t start actually getting oil for another decade, and the most you could expect from the additional oil might be a dime off the price of gas. It is beyond idiotic — it is criminally dishonest and manipulative — a political weapon, nothing more. So of course John McCain is for it. And of course Obama is correct on this issue. And of course the PUMAs will bash him for it. I’m watching this thread and really hoping for a burst of reason from most of us here.

    • dpvegas

      They don’t drill there because there isn’t oil there. Unlike ol’ Gee W., the oil companies don’t waste money on drilling for non-existent oil.

      And McCain isn’t for just arbitrarily drilling in any ol’ place. He’s actually for states rights on this, and thinks all alternatives need to be explored…unlike Barky. Barky’s just against it (for now) because someone told him he should be. Of course, since his “positions” shift faster than a dry leaf in a hurricane, who knows what he’ll “believe” in tomorrow?

      Me, I like common sense, and common sense dictates to me that exploring all alternatives is good. It’s smart, it’s what we should’ve been doing for years, and ignoring all these little, idiotic groups with their weirdo agendas screaming loudly about their theory of the moment!

      So, just shut up and let the grown ups handle this.

      • Hope Floats

        Heh. :) You tell her.

      • Diana

        http://prairiepundit.blogspot.com/2008/06/mccain-throwing-away-votes-to-protect.html

        Quote~

        He sounds, sometimes anyway, like a liberal Democrat or a lobbyist for the environmental movement.

        McCain favors increased domestic oil production, but not drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), the barren area with large (and recoverable) oil reserves. President Bush and most Republicans want to open ANWR for drilling and have for years. But McCain is adamant. His aides insist it’s a waste of time trying to persuade him to change his mind. He wouldn’t want oil companies to drill in ANWR, McCain says, “any more than I would want them to drill in the Grand Canyon or the Everglades.”

        As for exploration and drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and in the Gulf of Mexico off Florida, McCain says that’s fine. Only there’s a catch: States must decide.

        I think I’d still like to see him promising tougher legislation for those that have leased the land that has been set aside for drilling that aren’t using it, before we go drilling off the coasts. Compromise before go ahead. Although I also like his idea that it should be up for a vote within the state first. That at least gives the voters the right to decide.

        • dpvegas

          I like his positions on ANWR. We lived for 3 years in Alaska, and the pipes do leak. And it’s had a negative impact on the environment there. And I think Sen. McCain actually knows that.

          We should have alternatives. We should have had them already, since this is not a new discussion.

          And what a novel idea! Let the voters decide!

          • SBwa

            The governor of Alaska is in favor of drilling in ANWR. She has the highest popularity and approval rating of any current politician. About 85%. Compare that to the democratic congress, whose approval ratings are in the single digits

            • Andy

              No, that’s not true; Sarah Palin , the Gov. of alaska is against drilling in ANWR itself.

              • Hope Floats

                No, she’s not. Here is a letter she sent to Congress and a speech she gave on June 17 this year. Of course, she has high approval ratings. It’s Alaska; anyone could run it, as long as they don’t rob the place blind. She’s a former beauty queen; the Alaskans always brag about America’s Hottest Governor. And she promised them jobs and tons of money when they open up ANWR and drill. They’ve already run out of oil along the North Shore. It’s a terrible idea driven by greed.

                http://flapsblog.com/2008/06/23/sarah-palin-watch-drill-at-anwr/

      • wodiej

        haha, right on!!

        I am big on the environment too. I personally think it is a lost cause to drill for more oil. I firmly believe Wall St is manipulating the market and therefore prices. We have alot of alternative fuel choices readily available that just need to be implemented. But the powers that be won’t move on it because they are using oil to rob the American consumer. The money spent on drilling for oil could be used to get more wind turbines up, get all vehicles on hydrogen cell power, and whatever other resources we have. There is no reason why we still can’t use vehicles to get around and see this beautiful country-we just need to be smart about it. Recycling is another thing. I recycle every single thing that I can-cans, bottles, cardboard containers from food. The store now has paper towels and toilet paper from 100% recycled paper.

        Every time I am driving and see one of those huge SUV’s I say to myself “gas hog”. Someone has an SUV hybrid out. Gas mpg-14 mpg. Oooh, Prius Hybrid gets about 50.

        If we have an oil reserve now in the 10 years it will take to get any oil from offshore drilling, we could be far along on using alternative energy. Just my thoughts.

        • http://deleted AnninCa

          However, there are a lot of cars which get as good of gas mileage as hybrids.

          Plenty of research done by Car and Driver prove that, in large part, the hybrid is for show. The gas mileage isn’t what’s advertised in tests.

        • SBwa

          maybe the money can be used to distribute 2 million dollars per citizen so they can afford hydrogen cell cars.

          get a clue

      • http://uppitywoman08.wordpress.com uppitywoman08

        It costs 1.25 gallons of oil to make 1.0 gallons of ethanol….and a bunch of starved dead bodies along the way.

      • John

        Um, so when are the oil companies going to GIVE BACK those millions of acres that don’t contain oil?

        Answer: they aren’t. This is a total shell game, and you’ve fallen for it. “Give us this land, and we’ll reduce oil prices.” Land given, oil prices go up. “Now give us THIS land, and we’ll reduce oil prices.” Land given, oil prices go up. “Now give us THIS land….” land refused. “Well, that’s why oil prices are going up! You won’t give us this piece of land!”

        Because oil companies have SO MUCH INCENTIVE to reduce the price of gasoline. Weird.

        • Jim S

          Oil companies have leased about 71 million acres of land for oil and gas exploration from the government for a fixed number of years. They pay 10′s sometimes 100′s of millions for the leases. It’s a crap shoot, sometimes they win, sometimes they lose. Either way, they’ve paid the government for the privilege to search and development. At the end of the time agreed upon the oil companies are out. If they haven’t explored the area that’s their problem, not the government.

          It costs a US oil company less than $60 to pump a barrel of domestic oil out of the ground. If the world market is $140 a barrel, what company wouldn’t get every drop of domestic oil they could? Increased production of domestic oil would save the companies millions in transportation costs which would increase their profits even more. What I’m basically trying to say is that the oil companies make $0.08 per gallon (government makes $0.47 per gallon) and if they could make $0.09 per gallon and consumption remained the same they would make 12% more than they make now.

          If you find a widget on ebay for $20 you have to pay $10 for shipping and handling and the guy 3 miles away in the next town sells it for $21 with no shipping cost who do you buy it from?

    • tampagurl

      sfhillary…Not drilling and no plan is the stupidest idea of this political season. But you go ahead and continue sucking Obama, while he’s riding around in his limo and jetting around the country. You can walk or ride your bike.

      • dpvegas

        Yeah, and I’ll just bet that li’l ol’ mansion in Chicago is all green, too!

    • one eyed jack

      “The ‘stupidest’ idea this political season” was to ever allow someone like Obama to run for the presidency to begin with. Obama knows about as much about oil and oil exploration and oil production as my wife’s poodle dog and Ayers, Wright, or Axelrod or axelgrease or what ever the hell that asshole’s name is , can not teach him a damn thing about oil. Obama needs to just keep his dumbass ideas about oil to himself.

    • John

      I don’t like Obama and i’m not going to vote for him, but he’s dead right on the drilling issue. The Pro-Drilling crowd NEVER seems to get around to mentioning the points you make- that oil companies currently have control over millions of acres that they are NOT drilling because they have NO incentive to put more oil on the market and drive the price down. If I can get four bucks a gallon for the gas I sell, I want to invest billions to drill more so I can get the price down to three bucks a gallon? WHY?

      Not to mention another point you’ll never hear from the Pro-Drillers: that every drop of oil from ANWAR etc. will go right on to the world market, giving China, India, Russia, Japan etc. an equal opportunity to buy it up, jacking up it’s price.

      Every once in a while, someone calls a Pro-Driller on the radio and agrees with the pro-drilling philosophy, but adds “and we’ve got to keep that oil OURSELVES, DON’T put it on the world market”- and that point is inevitably ignored by the host. Because the only way you prevent ANWAR oil from hitting the world market is if you NATIONALIZE THE US OIL INDUSTRY– that’s called SOCIALISM and we all know (because we’ve been told, and we are good little sheep) that Socialism is Evil.

      Yeah, more drilling is the answer. Sure it is.

      • tampagurl

        oil companies currently have control over millions of acres that they are NOT drilling because they have NO incentive to put more oil on the market and drive the price down.

        If oil company’s don’t drill they lose the leases after 5 years. But you think the oil company’s want to sit on more leases, they don’t really want to drill for new oil? You do know American oil company’s actually buy oil off the world market, Right?

        • Grail Guardian

          And sell it on the world market…

          • tampagurl

            Well since we don’t produce enough for or needs they buy more than they sell.

            • SBwa

              we are 4% of the world market. we consume 25% of the available oil on the market. 80% of what we consume is from foreign sources.

        • one eyed jack

          They sure do buy from the world crude oil markets. WHY? Simply because oil is not like a lot of perishables, it doesn’t spoil in the ground and only increases in value. Do you know how many existing oil and gas wells are shut in today? Neither does anyone else, but there are a great number of new oil and gas wells that are being drilled and completed today that will not come on line for market production for years. I have helped in construction of gathering systems for oil and gas and know for a fact that there are a great number of wells (oil & gas) that have only been allowed to produce only enough to clean the well. When the price is right those wells will be opened and the product put on the world markets. POMA!!! IE PEAK OIL MY ASS!

          • Jim S

            Many of the wells you talk about are low pressure wells and the only way to remove the oil is by steam injection. The problem isn’t money, it’s equipment and the lack thereof that is the problem.

      • hank48188

        You’re right, there is a world market for oil, that’s not going to change. People buy oil that is closer to them if they can, that’s why we get so much oil from Canada, Mexico and Venezuela. Much of the oil from Alaska goes elsewhere, it is very far from most U.S. refineries. Oil is the most important product in the world and the high prices affect the entire world. 10 years ago not many people were drilling for oil because it was so cheap, about $12 a barrel. Now the price is 10 times higher and we need to start drilling and become self-sufficient for our energy needs instead of sending all of our money to countries that hate us. We are sending $700 billion a year to other countries for oil, how long can that continue before this country goes broke?

        • Grail Guardian

          Which just goes to the point – why drill in ANWR if the oil companies are just going to sell it on the world market rather than use it for the US?

          • http://deleted AnninCa

            Because they can? Capitalism. And we’re not special. We’re just another global consumer.

            I think the only way to change this for people is to use the political process as only one avenue for improving our lives.

            The other ways include negotiating to work from home more, being proactive with our own purchase power, etc.

            Nobody made us buy gas-guzzlers.

          • tampagurl

            Which just goes to the point – why drill in ANWR if the oil companies are just going to sell it on the world market rather than use it for the US?

            Our government makes a lot money from royalties and from leases which benefits us.

            • Grail Guardian

              Sorry tampagurl, I can support offshore drilling (if the states approve it), but ANWR is just another corporate money grab. If we sell the oil from Alaska on the world market, it doesn’t reduce our dependency on foreign oil one bit. Your security argument is good to a point, but so is the first-hand testimony to the pollution in Alaska from the Valdize spill. I’d need to see some strong evidence that the ANWR oil is going to support American consumption, not Japan or India.

              • tampagurl

                You have the risk of a Valdez spill from tankers bringing oil to this country. They claim they can drill in ANWR without any effect on the environment. Also, if there were an oil crisis say the terrorist blew up some Saudi’s oil fields, I don’t think we would be selling our oil to Japan.

          • Hope Floats

            It’s not worth it to drill in ANWR. We’d never see the oil or the money from it. The survival of this planet demands that some natural habitats remain federally protected. Eisenhower declared ANWR a sanctuary. That’s good enough for me. Leave it alone.

      • uhh somehow this notion that I am qualified to be president is uhh uhh ridiculous

        What do you not understand about importing 70% of our oil? Our economy cannot sustain itself indefinitely by purchasing a necessary consumable product from our enemies. If we have the option to be self sufficient then we should WHILE we continue to develop other sources. Don’t worry, no latte services will be rendered useless because we use our own oil, as other countries will be drilling for our oil anyway.
        And even if your gloom and doom projection comes true..putting an American commodity in high demand into the world market only helps our economy. Also as said upthread in regard to why we are not already drilling on land that is already leased by the oil companies- there is no oil there.

        • tampagurl

          uhh somehow this notion, could you pick up this argument for me I’m getting tired?

          • http://home.comcast.net/~vincep312 VinceP1974

            tampa: Isn’t it exhausting?

            Beyond that I get more worried about the future as there seem to be more and more irrational people amongst us.

  • jb

    I believe in taking responsibility for our future and not taking the future away from people across the world. We need to get over the oil crisis; get back to self-sufficiency which is the American Dream; and, invent the future technology now.

  • splashy

    Nope, don’t need offshore drilling. What we need is a big push toward solar, wind, and other alternatives, not drilling for oil, stepping up coal use, or nuclear.

    Just take away the subsidies for oil, coal and nuclear, and give them to solar, wind and other alternatives such as geothermal. Help average homeowners and landlords install solar panels, then get plug in hybrids going so that we can use the electricity generated for our transportation.

    Put solar panels on all the buildings in the cities, and bring trolley cars back, along with adding electric trucks to run on the same electric lines the trolleys run on.

    Be creative, we know how to do that if we try!

    • sfhillary

      Offshore drilling is insane. It’s just another way for the corrupt Republican Party to pump another ten or twenty billion dollars into the oil companies and related services companies like Halliburton to build some hideous, polluting blighted infrastructure that will destroy the California and Florida coastlines. Utter madness. But hey, let’s vote for John McCain and ruin the country a little bit more!

      • tampagurl

        sfhillary…of course you are against it Obama is against it. I’m sure some of Obama’s money is coming from the Middle East. You people would sell your souls.

      • AliasJohnDoe

        I’m against off-shore drilling too. Solar and wind need to be implemented quicker, especially solar on houses.

        • dpvegas

          I take it you’re not a homeowner, eh? I live in the desert, and so have wanted solar for my home. Guess what? I’ve RESEARCHED it. And like all things, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. And neither is wind. They’re not the alpha and omega solutions that the little, special interest groups keep screaming about. Actually, I was very disappointed with what I learned about them. Very disappointed.

          • http://uppitywoman08.wordpress.com uppitywoman08

            All these ideas are this generation’s Bomb Shelters.

            • Grail Guardian

              You’re on a roll this morning, Uppity

            • http://deleted AnninCa

              lol*……I love to read those magazines about green houses. Course, you’d have to be so darn rich to build one!

      • Hope Floats

        The technology is improved significantly since the moratorium was imposed. As Tampagurl pointed out, China, Russia and Mexico are beginning to drill just outside of our coastal borders. Their environmental standards are more lax than ours. It makes sense for us to look into beating them to our resources and undertaking the endeavor more responsibly.

    • SueB.

      A big investment in public transportation would help. Especially in the smaller cities and outlying areas. I live 15 miles outside of the city, but there is no way to get there instead of driving.
      I looked at the vehicles heading out of town toward my locale and there were many trucks and suvs and almost all with only the driver.

      • dpvegas

        This issue keeps coming up a lot.

        I live in Las Vegas (hence my screen name) and there’s been a proposal on the books for years, and years, for a train to S. California, since 30% of our tourists on the weekend come from there. Well, now, with this dramatic increase in gas prices, tourism is down and the casinos are hurting for cash.

        The train? Still waiting….

        And a p.s. to this–we’re supposed to be getting trains to run within the city, and again…still waiting…

        • http://deleted AnninCa

          yep…..trains and equal pay for women. *haha

          • http://uppitywoman08.wordpress.com uppitywoman08

            ROFL!

        • hank48188

          The airport is Vegas sits right across the street from the Hotel I stayed in, the Mandalay Bay. Instead of taking a train or trolly to the hotels on the strip you have to take a cab ride of at least 5 miles, maybe more. I guess they like the jobs the cabs create though.

          • Grail Guardian

            Vegas is a sink hole of energy in every possible manner (including being a major portion of the sub-prime mortgage crisis). We could conserve a ton of cash by just closing it down entirely.

            • tampagurl

              Gee Grail, you think we should close down Vegas? Maybe we should close down Disney World, Universal Studios and any other energy sucking hog out there. I’m just saying :)

            • Hope Floats

              Isn’t Vegas powered by Hoover Dam? There’s nothing else around there, either. It doesn’t seem like it takes more than what is available.

          • Jim S

            5 Miles , maybe more? Sounds like the cabbie took you for a ride.

      • kenoshaMarge

        I live in a town in SE Wisconsin that has a positively crappy public transportation system.

        I use it frequently, although we do have an old Ford Tempo that still gets 35 miles to the gallon.

        Problem is that you can get a bus every 30 minutes during Peak use hours and then only once an hour the rest of the day. And believe it or not the service stops completely after 7pm. Which means you can take a bus to work if you work second shift, but you have to get a cab to get home. If you can get a cab, cause our cab service sucks even worse than our Buses.

        Oh and buses stop running at 6 on Saturday and don’t run at all on Sundays or Holidays.

        How on earth can people who actually would use public transportation do so with hours and days like that?

    • tampagurl

      Gas could easily be 12 dollars a gallon by next year. At what price are you willing to drill. Right now the greatest transfer of wealth in history is happening before our eyes. Why don’t we drill and do all of those things that you suggest? Someone please tell me why you want to see all of our money going to foreign country’s?

    • tampagurl

      Right now we’re subsidizing ethanol and it’s being shipped to the UK. So how do you like subsidizing gas for the UK?

    • wodiej

      excellent ideas-trolly cars, ever see all the nasty black smoke spewing out of the back of buses? Trolly cars would be great. Some countries like Japan and France have high speed rail that runs on electricity and magnets. I seen it on the Travel channel. It was amazing. Something about the technology generated it’s own electricity. If other countries already have things like this we can do it too.

      • http://slb1113 Leigh

        I used to work for the Metropolitan Transit Authority in NYC and most busses now run on compressed natural gas, clean and NO black smoke.
        The high price of oil is not the result of supply and demand economics; it is the result of unregulated oil speculation on the mercantile exchange which is covertly condoned by the oil companies. Regulate speculation and stop the gambling with the prices of oil. If drilling would drive down the speculation pricing I would be all for it.

        • tampagurl

          It won’t do any good to regulate American markets. Oil futures are sold in markets around the world. The speculators are betting there won’t be enough oil in the future.

  • bluejag

    DRILL NOW!

  • candymarl

    I’m against off shore drilling. The money spent on that would be better spent finding alternative energy sources. The science is out there.

    What I do find fascinating is that Democratic heavy-hitters now dare disagree with Obama. That’s never happened before. Interesting.

    • Hope Floats

      Every time funding for alternative energy sources is proposed, OPEC magically lowers the price of oil. But I see no reason why we can’t invest in alternative energy and allow domestic drilling. But I’m opposed to ethanol as a substitute for oil. The subsidies should be done away with, and we should lower the tariff for Brazilian sugar cane ethanol. I’m opposed to drilling in ANWR, also. In other words, I’m very in line with McCain’s energy policy.

      • tampagurl

        I agree hope, the ethanol subsidies should be done away with. as I stated in an up post our subsidized ethanol is being shipped to the UK and we subsidize there gas. With our gas nearing 5 dollars a gallon it doesn’t make since to me why our government does such stupid things. Makes me want to kick all of their asses out.

        • tampagurl

          forgive my errors above, I should have proof read it first.

          • Hope Floats

            I’m no grammar / spelling nazi. It made sense to me. Keep hitting away at them with the facts. If even Obama’s fellow Democrats are coming around to this, there must be something to it. Strange turn of events, but I’m all for it.

  • Jeff Dahmer

    Think of a world without having to bow down to the middle east and those American hating muslims.

    DRILL NOW and help prevent WW3.

    • candymarl

      Jeffrey is that you? Why do you care about oil? I would think you’d be too busy eating your victims.

      I thought you died? Hey, is this a Ghost Hunters episode?

      So what’s life like in the flames of perdition?

      Just asking.

  • hmmm

    Mccain just lost his credibility with the environmentalist. He’s no environmentalist.Most politicians do not know enough about the oil business to comment on it. But, they know what lots of people want to hear and telling it to them may just keep them from losing an election or two… Off-shore drilling is going to help us…

    • tampagurl

      Well Obama sells us out to the Middle East. He has no plan. He just says no to everything!

      • dpvegas

        He says no today. Tomorrow? Who knows? Not even Barky knows!

        • JudyA.

          One of my many new names for him is “The Flipper” instead of The Gipper.

    • Hope Floats

      How is McCain’s proposal to allow states to oversee their own drilling costing him credibility with the environmentalists? He also supports Clean Car Tax Credits that will encourage a reduction of carbon emissions. McCain supports Flex-Fuel Vehicles (FFVs) and believes they should play a bigger role in our transportation sector. As for environmental hysteria surrounding off-shore drilling, almost all oil spills resulted from the transportation of oil – not from the extraction of oil.

      The Outer Continental Shelf holds an estimated 115 billion barrels of oil and 633 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. There is no way that supply will be left alone while worldwide demand for oil ratchets ever and ever upward. We should move now toward tapping into these reserves and preventing these foreign autocrats from drilling and moving oil and risking spills.

      Read up on the Rigs to Reef program, a cooperative effort by oil companies, the feds and the state of Louisiana. This program literally pays the oil companies to keep old oil rigging platforms in the Gulf. Now some platforms are simply cut off at the bottom and toppled over as artificial reefs; over 60 have been toppled thus far. Marine life had exploded around these huge artificial reefs. Australia wants to implement similar programs, the country with the Great Barrier Reef, a top diving destination. It sounds like we’re doing something right, even if it wasn’t by design.

      America desperately needs more domestic oil. In the process of producing it, we’d also be improving our fishing industry, diving would be a draw for tourism and our coasts would be protected from spills.

      • http://deleted AnninCa

        There are good arguments, such as what you presented, to off-shore drilling. They have more stability it seems than the pipeline from Alaska has.

      • uhh somehow this notion that I am qualified to be president is uhh uhh ridiculous

        Thank you for once again making a strong and detailed argument.

  • Jeff Dahmer

    DRILL NOW Candyass!

    -700,000 new high paying jobs
    -Independence from the middle east
    -$2.00 a gallon gasoline

    • candymarl

      Oh why do you want to drill? Could it be that you want to use a power drill on the skulls of your victims? How is that altar thing going? How hot is hell?

      Just asking.

    • AMERICAN SAWBUCK

      Yes,,Drill now and drill often the oil will come and the new ideas and jobs will be right behind,
      NoBama he’s a fool.

  • Diana

    Why can’t we force these people to drill on the land that is just stagnating? Or turn it over to a company that is willing to do the work. Since they’re already set up, seems to me they would help in the immediate? Then work on alternative means while they’re using what they have. Sour crude is still just 67 a barrel. Tough luck it cuts into those record profits. Do what needs to be done with the sour crude.

    • Jeff Dahmer

      There is no oil under the leased land.

      Sour crude maybe $67 dollars a barrel but it costs more to refine it. Those costs get passed onto the consumer.

      • http://uppitywoman08.wordpress.com uppitywoman08

        I truly cannot for the life of me understand what kind of mind would select Jeff Dahmer as a screen name. Truly.

        Just saying.

  • tampagurl

    Why can’t we force these people to drill on the land that is just stagnating?

    If they don’t drill they lose their leases after 5 years. Do you think there is Oil everywhere they have leases? Now, I ask you why would the oil company’s refuse to drill where they have the leases but be willing to drill elsewhere. Also, if it’s ok for China to drill offshore here in Florida; Why isn’t it ok for American company’s?

    • LarryBlowsGoats

      Also, if it’s ok for China to drill offshore here in Florida; Why isn’t it ok for American company’s? [sic]

      That lie was debunked weeks ago. Try to keep up, will you?

      Giuliani Repeats Debunked Myth: China Is ‘Drilling For American Oil’ Off The Coast Of Cuba

      • tampagurl

        Will has since corrected his original assertion, saying: “While Cuba has partnered with Chinese companies to drill in the Florida Straits, no Chinese company has been involved in Cuba’s oil exploration that close to the United States.”

        Not that I believe anything that comes from the Washington Post, but how far do you think Cuba is from Florida? And is your problem with they’re drilling or going to drill?

        • BluDawg

          Florida Straits Rigs?

          China will drink our milkshake if we don’t.

          Believe what you want, but China is quietly working around the globe to find fuel for all those new factories. China is in Sudan, and other African countries pumping away.

          Just count your blessings that currently they mostly use coal. But Cuba needs the money, so you can bet China will be there soon.

          It takes about 2 years to find and prepare an offshore site, another 1 to 2 years to develop, build, and deploy a rig.

          There may be no rigs there today, but it’s only a matter of “when”.

      • Hope Floats

        The blog you linked had an interesting comment that’s worth posting here.

        China is drilling on-shore in Cuba. Brazil and Norway have plans to drill off-shore in the Gulf of Mexico.

        The Republican ‘Drill Now’ campaign has been a success. More and more people want to drill in the OCS. Of course, they are also buying the Republican sales job that this drilling will actually lower prices tomorrow.

        According to the DoI’s MMS, of over 30 million acres were available for leasing recently, only 4 million or so were leased. In Alaska, there was a court battle recently over Point Thomson, where Exxon and other companies have held leases for over 30 years and produced zero oil or natural gas. Bush 43 extended the moratorium on the Eastern Gulf area in 2002 to help Jeb get re-elected.

        In the GoM, there is at least one new rig that went on line last month which, at peak production, is capable of 250,000 bpd.

        And here is a link for factcheck.org that says how “debunked” this “myth” is is rather tenuous. The technicalities are worth reviewing. And WaPo didn’t mention any of that, of course. Just went on insisting this had been “debunked.”

        http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/are_the_chinese_drilling_off_the_coast.html

    • Diana

      I didn’t realize they were drilling off the coast of Florida and if so then American companies should also be allowed.

      I just worry about oil spills. I’ve cleaned up animals that have been caught in them. It’s heartbreaking.

      Jeff~So why then are we still buying a lot of oil from Mexico and Venezuela when all they produce is sour? I’m trying to understand this. I looked at the graphs and up until the past couple years we brought most of our oil from Venezuala(which is still selling to us at 67 a barrel), then Canada(sweet crude), Mexico(sour) etc. 35% For the past couple years it has been Canada and Mexico in the leade with 80% of that coming from Canada. We’ve brought the same amount of oil from Africa as we’ve brought from the middle east. And if as they’re claiming the biggest percentage was sour crude? Seems to me that would mean they’re selling sour crude back to us at the same rate as what they’re paying for sweet which is why they’re having these record profits. No?

      http://peakoildebunked.blogspot.com/2005/10/130-heavy-crude-refining-capacity.html
      Quote~

      When the price gap widened between sweet and sour crude, US refineries were better able than most to take advantage of the gap. Refineries along the Gulf Coast, which account for about half of the country’s refinery capacity, are considered the most sophisticated in the world. Venezuela, which is a major producer of heavy sour oil

      The wide difference between sweet and sour crude prices is important to most US refineries. Valero Energy, the country’s third-largest refining company, in a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, said a “significant” percentage of the oil it used was sour crude, and the difference between sweet and sour crude prices affected its profitability.
      Premcor, another US refining company, reported third-quarter earnings of $145 mm, dwarfing the $60 mm it made in the same quarter a year ago. Premcor singled out the use of sour crude for its contribution to those profits.
      “Margins have been enhanced by what appears to be a longer-term widening of the differential between light low-sulphur crude oil and heavy high-sulphur crude oil,” Thomas O’Malley, the company’s CEO, said.

  • JoseyJ

    Obama will lose if Clintonites don’t ‘get over it’ -

    ugh!

    http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1821662,00.html

    • JudyA.

      Isn’t it funny how he praised Reagan, trying to get the Reagan democrats, but it was Hillary that won them over?

      • Hope Floats

        Reagan Democrats can tell the difference between Reagan and Nixon.

      • http://deleted AnninCa

        No kidding, Judy. That was the biggest joke of all.

        However, what I really think is funny is that his supporters thought he was progressive. He gave that speech and spelled it out to them. They thought he was speaking metaphorically?

        Idiots.

    • http://uppitywoman08.wordpress.com uppitywoman08

      Well isn’t that just awful….

  • Briar

    It’s people who don’t realise that scrabbling for more oil to stave off the inevitable who are out of touch. What do you love more – your SUV or your planet? The money and effort must go into finding alternative energy resources. Clean ones. Not that Obama’s is making that argument either, of course.

    • tampagurl

      Well your not going to get rid of the SUV’s tomorrow so we will still be buying oil from the middle east. We can do everything you mentioned and drill for our own oil.

    • BluDawg

      You can’t change instantly.
      Energy policy is not like a big mac from a McDonalds drive thru.

      We need at least 10 years to convert to alternate sources.

      This Country went through this in the Jimmy Carter years. Problem was all that investment money was spent to develop new technology, then the Arabs turned the spickets wide open again…people forgot, and lots of investors lost.

      Oil will be a bedrock comodity for at least 10 more years.

  • LarryBlowsGoats

    If Obama says that he’s against off-shore drilling, then my instinct — which is driven by my irrational, blinding hatred of all things even vaguely Obama-esque — tells me that we must begin lining all of our beaches on both coasts with oil rigs as far as the eye can see, pronto. I figure that the inevitable environmental damage and oil-slicked beaches will be the perfect comeuppance for Obama as payback for stealing the nomination away from the only person who can possibly win the presidency, Hillary Clinton.

    I understand that Obama is also concerned about global warming, so I recommend that we dramatically increase the number of coal-burning energy plants around the country, pumping even more greenhouse gas into the atmosphere. That’ll teach Obama that he can’t just cheat his way to the nomination by winning the most states and getting the most delegates. If he really wanted clean air and clean beaches so badly, he should have dropped out of the race right after he won the Iowa caucuses.

    • tampagurl

      I think you blow Obama!!! I won’t even bother with a comment on your stupid post.

    • Hope Floats

      Hey, your name wouldn’t happen to be Larry, too?

      • tampagurl

        ROFLMAO

    • http://deleted AnninCa

      We know. He’s going to run the world on corn. *haha

  • JudyA.

    I thought we tapped into our reserves in the 90s and it helped. I live in texas, and I don’t want to see drilling all over the place. I think we need an alternative – yesterday. The thing that bothers me, is that we’re using up everyone else’s oil…and if their’s run out and we have a big reserve…what’s going to become of us? are we lined up to be the next saudi arabia? we’ll be charging huge amounts. do you think the rest of the world would let us get away with that? isn’t the real reason japan hit pearl harbor because we kept oil from them?

    I don’t like the thought of drilling and using up our reserves either, but if we’re using 25% of it, we should contribute more. Isn’t the Oblivator the one talking about taking more responsibility?

    We need to quit thinking fuel…we need to move in the direction of Tesla’s thinking.

  • cowgirlblues

    come up for air folks-the oil companies will drill offshore and in alaska and sell that oil to the highest bidder–china-we will never see a drop of it-it will not make us energy independant–this is the republicans playbook–drive up the cost of oil by speculating in the markets and the american people will soil themselves in the rush to open up those areas–and yes–you are dumb enough to swallow it. you bought it hook line and sinker There is no oil shortage…like Obama-it is a mirage, you have been punked–thelong term solutin is to get OFF oil–then watch the price fall with electric cars flooding the market

    • Hope Floats

      That John McCain’s website addresses the role speculation is playing in our soaring energy prices reassures me that he is aware of the problem. His record as a reformer indicates that he can be trusted to address this issue. I certainly trust him more than Obama here.

    • tampagurl

      Well how long will it take for the automakers to make all of those electric cars and what do we do with the vehicles we have now? You do know electricity doesn’t magically appear right?

      • dpvegas

        Good point. I’m not a believer in electric cars. I think that has a host of problems of its own, and it’s just not the alpha and omega solution that the true believers keep insisting it is.

        I like public transportation, but it’s so hard to get the public funding for that. And I would like to see other proposals, not just electric cars. Every time this comes up (with such regularity anymore) I hear the same ol’, same ol’ push for electric cars. We’ve already overloaded our system here in Las Vegas (believe it or not) and it’d be interesting to see what 1 million electric cars would do to it! And I get cranky when the power goes out in the afternoon when the temp gets over 115 degrees!

        • Concerned Independent

          Sorry dp – you guys need to turn out a few lights there before I’ll pay attention to the Vegas perspctive. Save the electricity for your air conditioning – you’re going to need it more and more, and the casinos are dying off anyway.

  • Obama is a bum

    All of the politicians are getting on the bandwagon because people are tired of paying over $4 for gas and want to drill. Those opposed to drilling risk getting voted out.

    We need more oil, if we don’t drill then it is that much more we need to buy from others at a higher price. The US is dumb enough to let the Chinese suck the oil out off our coast and buy it from them.

    The US also has the technology to drill while minimizing environmental damage better than any country. Is anyone worried about the environmental impacts to Nigeria for example when they buy their oil?

    This is an issue McCain could have an advantage over Obama on if he advocates drilling and makes it an issue.

  • Anonymous

    The irony of this is the price of oil is going to crash. Not yet. But soon. It still has some upward momentum to play out but there is no supply/demand situation driving the price upward. It’s going up purely because speculation in oil futures is driving it up. Until recently, large banks and other major players in the market have been driving the price up, preparing to make a killing shorting the market. These institutions have such unimaginable wealth that they MAKE the market. Their buying and selling decisions are so large, it drives the market with them and they are able to use this to profit. For now, they’ve stopped. If the other players in the market show enough interest, they could start up again, temporarily to make a few extra bucks…..pushing oil as high as $160 a barrel, max, I’d say. But, if the market falls. Maybe, if it breaks $130, they’ll start cashing in their chips. Taking profit on their investment in oil futures. The more profit they take, the more it will drive the price down. They own so much, it will force oil down into the low 90′s or even further before all is said and done.

    The only question I have, is if this event will take place before or after the election. I would love for it to wait until after the election. Because, it has the potential to force the democrats to stop being obstructionist with regard to domestic oil production. If we can force them to allow drilling, especially in the colorado shale fields (500 year supply of oil here, by the way…cough) then it will keep oil down low permanently.

    That’s important because the US is on the cusp of new energy technologies that will, within a decade, make oil obsolete. And I don’t mean bullshit like biofuels and wind (lol). I mean nuclear fusion….which currently has a WORKING reactor proving the technology works….just not at net output yet. Luckily, the bigger these reactors are made, the higher the output relative to the input of energy needed to drive the reaction. A small, 100 megawatt reactor will be the first commercially viable unit. That unit will likely be built within 3 years. Once it is up and running, there will be a feeding frenzy of development of this technology. Unlimited, nearly free energy, that does not pollute in any way. An environmentalists wet dream. G8 wants to reduce carbon by 50% by the next generation? HA! Try 90%……99%. Whatever the truth about global warming (it’s a lie, btw, but who cares) it’s sooo handled.

    Did I mention the technology can be used to destroy the waste from nuclear fission reactors?

    Bonus.

    • wodiej

      and its free? it all works for me.

    • CheatedFLVoter

      Amen

  • tampagurl

    Oh I so agree with you Anonymous.

  • Kevin

    For decades Americans have been paying below market rates for gasoline, and these below market rates made gas guzzling SUVs and cars less expensive to run. Now that we are paying prices at the pump that are on par with what Europeans were paying a decade ago, we’re screaming about it. If fuel prices had rose in America along with the rate of inflation, we would have adjusted to it, but the recent spike has hit us hard.
    What I disagree with regarding the moratorium on new offshore drilling, is that it degrades American security, making us more dependant upon imported oil, and vulnerable to disruptions in that supply chain.
    The approach to increased energy independance needs to be one of several tactics, increased conservation, development of newer and better technologies, and an increase in domestic fuel production.
    Quite frankly, I would rather see a wind farm off the coast than oil platforms. Obie’s benefactor, Teddy, doesn’t want his view spoiled by Cape wind, and Kerry is afraid his kite will get stuck in the propellers. These two senators, alleged environmentalists, have done much to block this project in MA, because of the NIMBY principle and the fact that the developer of this project is not a contributor to their campaigns.
    If you look at McCain’s energy proposals, there is an intelligent mix of incentives for newer cleaner technology, increased domestic capacity and increased security.
    The fact is that by being dependant upon mideast oil, we have to be concerned with that area, and with less dependance upon that volatile region, the better off we’ll be.

    • http://deleted AnninCa

      Interesting…..I didn’t realize they blocked wind power projects.

      • Kevin

        Teddy has been blocking capewind since the initial proposal, funny that he would be able to see the tops from Hyannis. He couches his position in typical politicospeak.
        http://www.tedkennedy.com/journal/835/cape-wind Kerry has come out against it, again for the same reason
        http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976945957

        • http://deleted AnninCa

          I just was there, so I’m curious. Are his objections valid? There IS a lot of traffic in that area.

          On the other hand, gas prices on Martha’s Vineyard were up to $4.80.

        • http://uppitywoman08.wordpress.com uppitywoman08

          BINGO KEVIN.

          Ted Kennedy is nothing but a rich hypocrit. He found out he might have to see those windmills in a distance from his palatial estate and that was the end of that.

          Ted Kennedy cares about the poor just so long as they don’t live too close to him.

    • wodiej

      I knew Kennedy and Kerry blocked the wind power projects and the reason stated-it would hamper their “view”. I agree a combination of things need to be done but I don’t think offshore drilling is going to make much difference for any length of time. We are being held hostage by the Middle East and it’s sickening. I live in Indiana. They gouge us on gas prices terribly. I can see where there may be fluctuation in the prices from state to state. But when the price is .25 cents difference a gallon only 25 miles away in a smaller towns we’re being gouged. Unless someone can give me a proven reason drilling for more oil will help, I’m against it. If people know they are drilling for more oil guess what they’ll do? Keep driving like they are.

  • DAB

    Although I have been against drilling off the coast in the past, I feel that as a minor part of a larger plan, a commitment to drill could help to tamp down the rampant speculation that is occurring and help the economy recover a bit. Floridians are now 61% for the drilling provided that it is done in a way that is safe for the environment. I think it would also provide a psychological boost that we’re at least doing something to address the issue.

    By all means, continue to advance all alternatives at the same time. We have to be careful but let’s not be open to necessity either. Obama is put into the position of just saying no a pressing problem regarding tax holidays, drilling etc.

  • lizpolaris

    Offshore drilling is a very bad idea. ‘Most Americans’ support it – really? Do you have a link to a poll on that? And if so, what a shame. Likely, misinformation is the cause of that support.

    We don’t need offshore drilling to solve our energy problem. We need to force the car manufacturers to drastically increase their fuel efficiency – using the technologies they and the oil companies have purchased and hidden for years. And we need to start using alternative fuels and energy sources. Excellent programs to encourage that were initiated by President Carter. All of those were scrapped by the Teflon president and the era of SUVs began.

    Obama is on the right side of this issue. Of course, that may change if offshore drilling ever comes up for an actual vote.

    • tampagurl

      lizpolaris,Yes, all those things you said need to be done but they won’t happen over night. In the mean time we need to drill for the security of our country.

      • lizpolaris

        Oil drilling has absolutely nothing to do with the security of our country.

        It’s true that Republican efforts to prop up US oil companies by destroying countries in the Middle East IS a threat to our national security. My advice would be to stop bombing innocent Muslims so that US oil companies can take their oil from them and sell it to us at inflated prices. Rethugs pursue this strategy so that we don’t have to buy oil from those countries legitimately – like we do with Saudi Arabia. Gee what happened to their ideas of the free market? And guess what, it would cost us less to buy oil from them than to wage war with mercenaries paid with funds from no-bid contracts.

        Offshore oil drilling? is a fig leaf for Republicans.

        • tampagurl

          Oil drilling has absolutely nothing to do with the security of our country.

          I knew you would say that but it most certainly does. Opec has us by the throat. All it would take is for something to happen over there and we would be in trouble. Now before you give the tired argument how long it would take to get the oil I’d like to remind you how fast America retooled during WWII.

          • lizpolaris

            I think if you check, you’ll see that it’s US oil companies who are raking in multibillion dollar profits right now. They don’t seem to be suffering from anyone holding them by the throat. Rather, they seem to be the ones holding the rest of the American people by the throat.

    • http://deleted AnninCa

      76% recently. No, but it was on CNN, etc.

      The change of heart is due to the price of oil, of course.

    • HARP
      • http://deleted AnninCa

        oops….my memory had a dyslexic moment!

  • DAB

    Regarding Obama being left out to dry by his colleagues, much was made of the fact that Hillary didn’t give him any cover on the FISA bill.
    Apprently, Dodd, Biden, and even ultimate BO supporter Durbin also voted against the bill. Kinda embarrassing for the cool dude, don’t you think?

  • JudyA.

    RIP Tony Snow…

    • Kevin

      only 53

    • lizpolaris

      Tony Snow – Most effective propagandist for war criminals in US history.

    • Hope Floats

      That’s terrible news. I had more respect for Tony Snow than Tim Russert. Snow did his job with professionalism and dignity – a rarity in the Bush administration. God rest his soul.

  • tampagurl

    That’s very sad, he was my age.

  • bmc
  • tampagurl

    Obama regrets everything LOL. Here’s something that wasn’t in the ajc list.

    Asked in last night’s debate to name a regret, Sen. Barack Obama said he would like to take back his vote authorizing Congress to intervene to save the life of the brain-injured Florida woman Terri Schiavo.

    • wodiej

      oh nice…I didn’t know he voted for that. Another stupid thing he did.

    • JudyA.

      i have always been a democrat, but they really pissed me off with the Terri Shiavo case. her “husband” was scum and didn’t come up with the story that Terri wouldn’t want to live like that until AFTER he already had a new girlfriend and kids. he told the court he was going to do whatever it took to get Terri well, and did nothing. then treated her family the way he did….i really don’t want to get started on that subject!!!

      Obama pisses me off. so now he wishes he could take back the vote? that disgusts me even more! I had to look that one up and saw this quote from him: It wasn’t something I was comfortable with, but it was not something that I stood on the floor and stopped,” he said.

      his gut feeling told him it was wrong to NOT murder someone (whose mother and father would have taken care of her).

  • kenoshaMarge

    As oil prices skyrocket and gas prices escalate people want the “government” to do something. They want them to do something now.

    The fact that drilling off shore will not ease their pain in the foreseeable future is beside the point. The fact that much of the problem is our own fault for squandering energy is immaterial. Mr. and Mrs. John Doe are never going to admit that they are part and parcel of the problem. Like spoiled children they want to have their cake and eat it to. Most don’t bother to research to find out what the hell is going on. Just let some loud mouthed politician promise something and most will raise hell if they don’t get it.

    Fact: We cannot maintain the energy lifestyle we are accustomed to. We can’t. Not with drilling. Not with solar. Not with nuclear. We are energy using pigs and we are a large part of the problem. Unless and until the public wakes up to that fact, nothing will work and nothing will solve the problem.

    Granted that our government is lead by a bunch of blathering morons on both sides of the aisle. But they know their audience. Promise, promise, promise. Lie, lie, lie. Obfuscate, obfuscate, Obfuscate. and finally, Pander, pander, pander. Whoever gets the dimwitted, uninformed albeit hurting public’s ear last, wins. And be damned to the environment and/or common sense.

    • wodiej

      you’re absolutely right, people could save alot of energy just by doing small things like turning down the heat and AC, recycling, driving slower etc. Spoiled is right. Try to tell someone w a huge vehicle that and they will say “I have a right to drive whatever I want”….no care or concern of the overall impact just what they want.

      • tampagurl

        Try to tell that to a single mother of 5 that drives a used SUV. She can’t afford to buy something else, she has the dilemma of paying for gas to go to work or putting food on the table.

  • http://deleted AnninCa

    I see now why Pelosi tabled the discussion. Thanks for the article.

    She’s making sure it’s not obvious that Obama might not be convincing within his own party.

    As for the topic itself, I am opposed and agree with Obama. However, the public likes the idea.

  • Chuck

    I’m for drilling, but my main concern – aside from the environment – is that when we let oil companies drill on public land (or sea) is that we taxpayers get a fair return. I can’t help but think that the oil slicks now in power would give the oil to their pals free of royalties. Publicly owned oil should be generating plenty of revenue to pay down the debt this band of thieves has run up.

  • http://commonsensegram.wordpress.com ProudMilitaryMom

    Pagan- thanks for this article. I am not so into drilling more oil- my feeling is that as long as the oil companies are allowed to rape us, they will. No profit for them in alternatives.
    That said, I do agree that oil IS a national security issue. We are beholden to some folks that really don’t much like the U.S. We can not continue this way. And speculation needs to end, now.

  • Grail Guardian

    lizpolaris – I wondered how long it was going to be before someone finally referenced the fact that there have been patents for automobile engines that get over 100 mpg for years.The Detroit automakers bought up the patents as early as the 50′s and 60′s because they felt it would be too expensive to retool their factories; not worth the return on investment. Of course, they were supported and assisted by the oil companies. But the basic point that many of you are missing here is that it’s all about the money, nothing more or less.

    There is no one that currently has more money than you do that wouldn’t lose money if oil prices went down, if alternative energy sources were developed, or is nuclear fusion was accomplished safely. Now why would they want to do that? For the good of the planet or humanity? Puhleeze! That’s like expecting Pelosi & Co. to pass election reform. There is virtually nothing that happens in this world without there being a big payoff for those with enough money to finance it.

    The only reason slavery was ended was because businessmen in the north realized that they and the economy would do better with all those thousands of slaves freed and on their own buying things from their stores, using their railroads and banks and coal, and buying or renting their own housing rather than belonging to a handful of rich plantation owners who were getting all the benefits.

    There will never be motivation for these people as long as we continue to buy into their game. Kenoshamarge is right – we are to blame. We are too lazy to do what’s right, and we expect corporations or government to do it for us. The problem with that is we’re also too lazy to bother paying attention to what they’re really doing. We watch the MSM in 00:30 soundbites and digest that as the full story. When there’s actual programming that goes in depth on a topic and reports a full story, we stay away in droves. We are fed fast food because that’s what we eat (both in restaurants and in the media).

    That being said, I must say that John McCain appears to have a pretty good platform on this issue. No drilling in ANWR and let the states decide on offshore. I do support the “Use it or Lose it” proposal for drilling leases; if the oil companies think there’s nothing there, give someone else the shot. Obama is against it and has no plan for 1 reason alone: it benefits his Arab handlers/relatives. They want us to remain oil dependent, and so does he. E85 is a joke, and has served no purpose but to drive world food prices through the roof and hurt small farmers in the US. It needs to be abandoned as quickly as the rest of W’s hare-brained ideas.

    At this point, the only hope we have if that some wealthy type (Bill Gates, perhaps?) sees the opportunity to take the billion$ in quarterly profits away from Exxon/Mobil, BP and friends by developing alternative energy sources or staring a new auto company that is designed to build hydrogen-fueled vehicles. It’s all about the money.

    • lizpolaris

      Good points. I haven’t forgotten it’s all about the money. That’s the reason it’s so hard to dismantle this gas-guzzling infrastructure. But I’m not so quick to blame the populace. There are laws which have been passed and regulations stripped making it easier for large corporations to contiue profiting at the expense of the people and the environment.

      I’m with you – it’s going to take someone with money to decide they will make a whole lot more by undercutting the oil industry and putting up the new technology.

      But a great short term fix would be for the government to flush out the existing hidden technology through industry regulation and mandates – if only we could find a way to accomplish that. When pigs fly…

  • Ellis

    The federal government estimates that 89 billion barrels of oil could be off the East, West and Gulf coasts. The U.S. consumes 20 million barrels of oil every day.

    I will never vote for Obama but every once in a while he gets in the neighborhood of a good idea.
    Offshore drilling comes with a lot of immediate and major environmental hazards. If history provides any answer, the damage from offshore drilling will be paid for by other species and by American and foreign taxpayers, not by the corporations profiting from the drilling.

    If the US currently consumes 20 million barrels of oil per day, that translates into 7.3 billion barrels per year, so at today’s rate of consumption that 89 billion barrels of oil that is estimated to be available would last less than 13 years. And that doesn’t into account the amount of oil consumed in the processes of finding, drilling, and extracting that offshore oil.

    The money that the federal government will invest in offshore drilling in the form of subsidies and bargain basement leases to the energy corporations would be much more effectively spent on promoting alternative energy sources and reducing current consumption rates.

    • blobert

      Absolutely.

  • eleana

    NYT..Michael Janofsky…WASHINGTON:
    In 1977, the United States and Cuba signed a treaty that evenly divided the Florida Strait to preserve each country’s economic rights. They included access to vast underwater oil and gas fields on both sides of the line.
    With only modest energy needs and no ability of its own to drill, Cuba has negotiated lease agreements with China and other energy-hungry countries to extract resources for themselves and for Cuba.

    Cuba’s drilling plans have been in place for several years, but now China, India Spain and Canada are involved. Cuba has divided its side of the Florida Strait into 59 lease areas. As of the end of February, foreign countries had secured the rights or were negotiating the rights to 16 of them, according to Cuban government documents provided by the Cuban Interests Section in Washington.

    The Interior Department estimates that the Outer Continental Shelf has more than 115 billion barrels of oil and 633 trillion cubic feet of natural gas available for extraction. At current levels of consumption, that would satisfy U.S. oil needs for about 16 years and its natural gas needs for about 25 years.

  • open mind
    • tampagurl

      I don’t know why you picked open mind for your name when you obviously don’t have an opened mind. You probably agree with, no to everything but no plan of my own Obama.

    • http://uppitywoman08.wordpress.com uppitywoman08

      Bug off idiot. You just don’t get it yet. McCain could be on Weekend At Bernie’s life support and we will vote for him before we allow that pig, liar and hoax Obama to become president.

      You think we’re insignificant eh? Watch. I’ve been in this movie before and we are going to take our party back from you radicals and children, just like last time.

      • tampagurl

        Uppity, you crack me up!!! I enjoy your post :)

  • http://deleted AnninCa

    *sigh*

    I miss Hillary. Hillary had a comprehensive energy plan. She was so on the right track. It has to be a little of this, a little of that, a smidge here, a smidge there. There is no one grand solution, obviously. There are solutions, but they require thought and a concerted effort.

    I’m personally opposed to investment in off-shore drilling while we do NOT invest in good, clean, secure mass transit. That’s ripping us off, frankly.

    Of course, I’m from LA, where I have to freaking live in my car and hate it.

  • Grail Guardian

    OT – I just made a rare visit to CNN to check out Tony Snow’s passing and saw a link in the Ticker suggesting that Obama is considering Republican Chuck Hagel for the VP slot. Couldn’t resist sharing one of the comments:

    Chris Spring, TX July 11th, 2008 6:48 pm ET

    If Obama Puts Hagel on the ticket, he will look more conservative than John McCain. Then alot of conservatives would back this ticket because of their frustration of McCain.

    • http://deleted AnninCa

      Well, could happen. Obama admired Reagan.

      The Democratic Party sure looked Republican this week with FISA.

      • Grail Guardian

        Is it starting to look a bit less ridiculous that Obama really was a Karl Rove creation? He’s showing that he really is more conservative than McCain, and was the only way to defeat Hillary Clinton.

        • sfhillary

          He’s more conservative than McCain? On what issues, pray tell? Name one, please.

          Until last week, I thought Obama was a Communist? His triangulation is even more effective among PUMAs than among mainstream voters. The average American just sees him as more centrist and is marginally more likely to vote for him. You folks have gone from “Communist” to “Reagan/Rove” in just a few short days!

          LOL.

          • http://deleted AnninCa

            Communist in tactics, SF. Rovian in policy.

            FISA……grab power for the comrade.

            Get the distinction?

          • tampagurl

            Don’t blame us, we’re just trying to keep up with Obama.

      • http://uppitywoman08.wordpress.com uppitywoman08

        Obama has no personna. The only thing he knows how to do is channel other people and pretend to be them.

  • HARP

    I would like to see McCain announce drilling in the gulf, at the same time mention a massive alternative energy initiative to free us from much of the worlds claim on natural oil. If proposed like JFK did in the 60`S it would send a message to the world that we are still a “can do” nation and oil prices would drop overnight. China is already drilling in the gulf but without the environmental safeguards we are concerned about.SEE STORY:

    While Washington dithers over exploiting oil and gas reserves off the coast of Florida, China has seized the opportunity to gobble up these deposits, which run throughout Latin America, the Caribbean and along the U.S. Gulf coast.

    The Chinese have forged a deal with Cuban leader Fidel Castro to explore and tap into massive oil reserves almost within sight of Key West, Florida. At the same time, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who controls the largest oil reserves in the Western Hemisphere, is making deals to sell his country�s oil to China, oil that is currently coming to the United States.

    Meanwhile, a new left-wing populist regime in Bolivia has nationalized the natural gas industry, threatening to cut off supplies to the United States.

    The irony is that Chinese drilling could be even more of an environmental hazard since China is not as concerned about or equipped to deal with any potential ecological disaster as a result of a spill, said Craig.

    http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f15_1213012255

    • http://mccaindemocrats.wordpress.com/ 30yrdem-not any more

      I believe they(China) will be drilling closer to our shores than we allow US companies to dill….

      • Grail Guardian

        And if they do, who do you want sitting with their finger on the button (read Cuban Missile Crisis)? Obama? ROFLMFAO! McCain? Not so sure. Clinton? Yep. Calm, cool, collected, and thinking it through before acting (or regretting her actions).

        • tampagurl

          Yep I want Hillary.

      • HARP

        here are new reports out circulating that Chinese firms are planning to slant drill off the Cuban coast near the Florida Straits, tapping into U.S. oil reserves that are estimated at 4.6 billion to 9.3 billion barrels. This compares with 4 billion to 10 billion barrels believed to be beneath the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge, where drilling is held up in Congress due to the objections of environmental groups which warn of endangering caribou. Permission to drill in the refuge, which experts are certain will not present any environmental hazard, has failed by just two votes in the Senate.

        • http://mccaindemocrats.wordpress.com/ 30yrdem-not any more

          This started back in 2006..

          • HARP

            And we sit here and let them suck the oil out from under us to drive their economy, to sell crap at Walmart, which provides the Chinese more money to buy more of our infrastructure. Yep, sounds like Backtrack will love it.

  • http://mccaindemocrats.wordpress.com/ 30yrdem-not any more

    Last year the Bush administration approved over seven thousand-one hundred drilling permits, a new record.Here is a good piece to read…
    Oil and Gas Drilling on Public Lands Reaches New High
    http://www.democracynow.org/2008/7/1/oil_and_gas_drilling_on_public

    Not that you want it but my opinion…if we had not slowed the drilling here in the US…that started over 30 years ago..we would not be in this fix now…I know what it did to some people when they slowed down the drilling here in the US because I am one of those people who were affected…many jobs were lost, places that built rigs closed down…it didn’t pay to drill because oil was so cheap to buy from places we don’t want to buy from now…yes we did it to ourselves….I wouldn’t want them drilling in my back yard but we do need to drill and stop buying from our enemies as much as we possibly can…. with Bush giving out so many permits I think he knows this also…just MO..

  • open mind

    1. The oil companies hold leases on over 50 million acres of land in the US already on which they are NOT currently drilling. They do not need to drill in ANWR nor off-shore.

    2. The benefits of of-shore drilling will not begin for 15-20 years – even McCain referred to them as “psychological benefits.” That has only been disputed by pundits, not by any actual economists unrelated to the oil companies. Plus, economists claim once oil was actually extracted, it would only bring down the price by a few cents a gallon.

    3. The “off-shore drilling is safe” lie has been told consistently for the past 2 or 3 weeks by using drilling in Louisiana as an example. Even the new governor who hopes to be McCain’s running mate said there were no spills from Katrina. That is BS. See ThinkProgress.org. The cite will link you to the source. Katrina caused over 5000 barrels of oil to spill into the gulf.

    4. The China is drilling just off the coast of Cuba. Why shouldn’t we?” lie has been consistently told by Cheney, Giuliani, etc over he past month. See thinkprogress again. Total BS!

    5. There are no true economists that have stated drilling in ANWR would provide us with more than 1 year’s supply of oil, not to mention what it would do to the eocosystem. People are still turning over rocks now and finding oil from Valdez 20 years ago. Do you really think a hold can be made without affecting anything around it?

    It is a PR push to make it look like the Democratic-led Congress is doing nothing about gas prices when they “could easily be doing more.” Not as simple as all that.

    • http://mccaindemocrats.wordpress.com/ 30yrdem-not any more

      in answer to #1:

      First, a company may lease property, but never have the funds to properly explore it or drill an exploratory well. Second, after paying for further tests (such as seismic), they often decide the lease isn’t worth the high, high costs of drilling after all. Or they may hold onto the lease for years until either higher oil prices or new technology makes it feasible to drill. Third, a company may lease property but drill on another tract (which drains a “pool” that covers multiple leased tracts), so perhaps they’re counting it as “not used” if no well is sunk on that particular piece of property. Fourth, they may try to drill and be blocked by government bureaucrats, environmental lawsuits, etc.

      Finally, not all acres are alike. Some have lots of oil. Others have virtually none. Saying they’re not drilling for oil everywhere is like faulting them for not digging a gold mine on every acre.

  • http://deleted AnninCa

    Perhaps the real solution on drilling lies in careful planning rather than an all-or-nothing proposal.

    • Grail Guardian

      You mean like a certain Senator from the state of New York had proposed?

      • http://deleted AnninCa

        I can’t help it. I NEVER deliberately read any of the campaign memo points, but I always was right on the same page with her. The ONLY time she surprised me was on Iran. LOL* (That really was a doozy!)

        You know, I still am thrilled to have been able to support someone whom I so agree with in politics. That was a once-in-a-lifetime deal.

    • http://uppitywoman08.wordpress.com uppitywoman08

      Urban sprawl has gone a long way toward increasing oil usage too. The urban days were the days when you didn’t need to travel so far to get somewhere. You didn’t have to travel many miles to your jobs. We will see a resurgance of urban areas begin again. Sometimes good things come from bad and what goes around, comes around. I know of a major company right now that is losing employees because their specialized skill base spans a fifty mile radius. People who can are opting to change jobs because of the cost of traveling nearly an hour to get to their jobs.

      There are many things that have contributed to our problem that we do not think about. Big Box stores took away downtowns in urban areas. People within the radius have to travel to shop. Same thing goes for hyper supermarkets. No more “grocery stores” and specialty stores close to home. It all seems kind of small till you mulitply it across the country. We have created a lifestyle that requires use of more gasoline just to perform everyday tasks. This is why we are seeing resurgance of strip malls in urban areas.

      • Grail Guardian

        Good points, all, Uppity!

      • http://mccaindemocrats.wordpress.com/ 30yrdem-not any more

        Yes it took time for these things to happen as it will take time for the solution to our problems to come about now…if we just sit on our hands and don’t plan for the future now our grandchildren will really have it hard.

        So many small towns have basically just closed down..They put one of these Box Stores as you called it just on the out skirts of a town then in a few years when the town is dead they go a little farther out and build a bigger Box with a grocery store included…then the grocery store in town closes down…people have no where else to go…plus farther to drive…

      • educatedwhitewoman

        You are so right, Uppity. But even at the local level it’s extremely hard to get the state legislature to pass the most minimal legislation tying land-use planning to transportation and the largest source of greenhouse gases – vehicle emissions. Even in 2008! The business lobbyists come in and get both the D’s and R’s to back down and “study” the issue rather than take meaningful action.

  • educatedwhitewoman

    There are cost-effective, environmentally safe alternatives to oil, but if we start drilling (including shale oil in the West), start spending large amounts of money developing alternative fuels and technologies (hydrogen/electric/nuclear) NOW, and Congress takes action to curb the speculation in oil, the price of oil would drop immediately. There is no reason that it’s at the price when demand worldwide had dropped dramatically.

    http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-greencrude29-2008may29,0,1053218.story

    P.S. Obama was involved in helping speculators gain some sort of loophole/advantage so that they could game/speculate the oil market; his buddies and big donors Goldman Sachs are involved in this, and for some reason the trip to Russia with Lugar comes to mind. These friends of Obama have made a ton of money speculating on the price of oil. If anyone has the link to this informative article, please provide it. Bottom line, its not in Obama’s backers interests for the price of oil to go down, and explains his weak response to this crisis. He’s in their pockets.

    • educatedwhitewoman

      oops “there’s no reason that it’s at THIS price”

      • blobert

        Oil is old, destructive technology.
        Time to retire it and get on to solar.

        Ethanol is a dumb idea.

        • Grail Guardian

          How about geothermal and seismic energy? Much-ignored energy sources that will not be going away any time soon.

          • one eyed jack

            Geothermal has been used on a small scale since at least as far back as 1965 (that I know of). I am sure it is older technology than what I personally know about.

        • http://deleted AnninCa

          That would work in parts of the Southwest, for sure, and is coming down in price as far as the technology goes. It could sure help alleviate the burden on electricity, and in CA, anyway, we’ve got major problems just on our delivery systems alone keeping up with demand.

      • http://deleted AnninCa

        I think they could close the loopholes regarding speculation easily.

        The will of the people is certainly behind it. Even the Republicans would not fight that one too hard.

        The money men need to lose here.

        • Grail Guardian

          Nice thought, but not going to happen quietly. These people will not go gently into that good night…

          • Hope Floats

            I hope McCain picks a trustworthy VP. My favorite is Olympia Snowe.

            • tampagurl

              My favorite is My governor Charlie Crist or Bobby Jindal

    • http://deleted AnninCa

      Yes, I agree. He supported all major bills, frankly, that are part of our problem right now.

      The finance bill was another Obama travesty. The energy bill alone should sink him.

      I still cannot believe those nitwits think he’s progressive. I assumed I was a moderate-to-conservative Democrat always until this season.

      Methinks I’m more liberal than I realize!

    • tampagurl

      Right and all those speculators fueling the market are supporting Obama’s campaign. Some of his biggest campaign contributers are from the stock market.

  • Malisam

    There is plenty of oil just not enough storage. I would not allow more drilling until they start builing more refineries and storage. How many times have we heard that the price has gone up because the refineries are not able to keep up with demand? I would make oil companies address the issues that they use for excuses and then go on about passing laws for offshore drilling.

  • BluDawg

    Wind power can help.

    This approach shows promise, and with such strong financial backing, it looks as if it will be more than a flash in the pan idea.

    PickensPlan video tutorial:

    http://tinyurl.com/6a7sbk

    • tampagurl

      I’ve seen his commercials BluDawg, I’m very interested in what his plan is. God knows someone needs a plan, we can’t just wish we had all these new technologies everyone keeps talking about.

  • Linda

    It’s not so GREEN in Sherrod’s forest now, is it?

  • Linda C.

    There is no such thing as “American Oil or a domestic oil market”. The oil market is international and not local. The oil companies have not done anything with the leases they already possess. This is a ploy by big oil to get more access for their own potential profits..nothing more.

    Obama is right on this one..let’s see if he sticks to his guns.

    • http://mccaindemocrats.wordpress.com/ 30yrdem-not any more

      Believe me, with oil at $130 per barrel, they would drill on those lands if it made sense to do so! No, not all oil and gas leases are “being used”, because not all of them have production-worthy quantities of oil or gas. Lots of people have property that is not being used, but government doesn’t use it as an excuse to take it away, or to forbid the owners from buying other property.

      Once again…

      First, a company may lease property, but never have the funds to properly explore it or drill an exploratory well. Second, after paying for further tests (such as seismic), they often decide the lease isn’t worth the high, high costs of drilling after all. Or they may hold onto the lease for years until either higher oil prices or new technology makes it feasible to drill. Third, a company may lease property but drill on another tract (which drains a “pool” that covers multiple leased tracts), so perhaps they’re counting it as “not used” if no well is sunk on that particular piece of property. Fourth, they may try to drill and be blocked by government bureaucrats, environmental lawsuits, etc.

      Finally, not all acres are alike. Some have lots of oil. Others have virtually known. Saying they’re not drilling for oil everywhere is like faulting them for not digging a gold mine on every acre.

  • http://www.sugarnspice.typepad.com Sugar

    I’m with you Pagan. We need to explore all options. Mark my humble words, Obama will flip even after offering scathing remarks to John McCain’s decision to be more open-minded about drilling. Mark my words. The whole, “we can’t drill our way out of this” mantra will cease real fast by the time November rolls around. I’m all for our exploring alternative energy sources. ALL for it, but this is a vast nation built around traveling some distances. I drive to Northern Virginia for work and it is 30 miles one way, but I don’t really think anything of it. It’s the norm here in the D.C. metro area. But, there are some parts of the country that would it insane to drive so far to a job.

    As I said, I’m all for preserving nature and all of that goodness, but enough is enough of these rising oil prices. I started driving in 1991 or 1992 I think, just as the Big Dog was taking office and if we all take a moment to remember this, gas prices went up every.single.year during his time in office as well. It just didn’t seem quite as bad then because it went from about .89 to about 1.67 by the time he left office. Oil has been steadily on the rise for the past 15 years. This is not some strange occurrence. We need stop these speculators dead in their tracks and get our own oil. That’s just my two cents.

  • dotcommodity

    I am no friend of Obama’s. His coal to liquids bills are unbelievably shortsighted for someone who claims to understand climate change risk, but he is absolutely correct on no US drilling. And I think Hillary would vote the same way. She had far the best clean enery policy, to get us to a carbonfree future.

    Theres only about enough supply here to bring the global market price down about 14 cents in ten years. I’d like no scraping oil shale too, as its 3X worse for carbon emissions: its tragic that there is no pushback against scraping up Canada and Colorado.

    There are many indications that Hubberts Peak is happening. he predicted the US peak accurately (1970′s), and he predicted the world oil supply would peak around 2005, and decline from there.

    There are many models of electric vehicles coming in 2010 from major automakers. We have enough spare night time grid capacity to operate the first decade of EVs with no grid change, and the possibility of greening the grid.

    – and the prices would possibly be subsidised if we can get a decent majority in the Senate: Hillary offered a $10,000 EV and Plug in hybrid EV subsidy to jumpstart this in her clean energy plan. I list the many models that are coming here, with speeds, range, and pricing

    Cars After The Age Of Oil
    http://dotcommodity.dailykos.com/

    • Hope Floats

      You linked to the Orange Sewer and then said Obama and Hillary are the same… BZZZT!

  • http://mccaindemocrats.wordpress.com/ 30yrdem-not any more

    A little Oklahoma Oil History

    The arrival of the Five Civilized Tribes brings written accounts of oil seeps in Oklahoma. The Plains Indians, already had been using the oil springs for centuries to treat rheumatism and other chronic illness.

    April 15,1897 – Oklahoma’s first commercial oil well, Nellie Johnston No. 1 blows in Bartlesville.

    June 25, 1901 – Drillers strike oil at Red Fork. Headlines proclaim “Geyser of Oil Spouts at Red Fork” and “Oil Well Gusher Fifteen Feet High,” setting off a stampede to Oklahoma.

    Nov. 22, 1905 – Oil discovered on Ida E. Glenn’s farm, 10 miles south of Tulsa, ushering in the state’s first major oil field and launching Oklahoma’s petroleum industry.

    1912-1928 – Discoveries of major oil fields in Cushing, Healdton, Seminole and Oklahoma City.

    August 1931 – Gov. William “Alfalfa Bill” Murray attempts to raise the price of crude by declaring martial law and calling out the National Guard to state oil fields to enforce a cutback in production.

    1940s – The demands of World War 11 bring recovery as Oklahoma oil producers contribute to the war effort. Drilling declines in the 1950s when federal price controls are placed on natural gas.

    1973 – Arab oil embargo and associated energy crisis bring a new oil boom. Drilling rigs reach an all-time peak in early 1982.

    1982 – Oil prices decline, bringing a bust that forces many producers out of business. Rural towns are hit particularly hard by the downturn, and throughout the decade many small town Main Streets struggle for survival.

    1999 – The state Legislature convenes a special session to grant oil producers tax relief after prices dropped to as low as $8 per barrel.

  • Brodie

    One of the places where there is an oil drilling boom going on in the US is in Arkansas. We are sitting on top of the “Fayetteville Shale”- estimated to be one of the biggest concentrations of oil & natural gas in the US. Surprise! Due to new technology and ways of locating & processing the oil, a huge amount of oil & gas is being harvested daily. Just a few years ago, this area was considered not worthwhile for oil exploration and had been ignored by the major oil companies. There is oil and gas here that can be harvested right now.
    The real problem is how we use our resources, as others have pointed out. Hillary’s plan addressed these concerns brilliantly because she understands the complex issues involved and the fact that no one path or method will get us where we need to be.
    I have never owned a car which got less than 25 mpg. Even the old Jag XKE I once had got that mileage. I think our problem is that as a nation we don’t have the will or the foresight to do what we know we need to do. Hillary is the only one I see who is capable of framing the issue in a realistic & sensible manner and simultaneously twisting the right arms in order to get the job done. All of our problems require a FEARLESS leader with the intellectual capacity and heart to frame solutions that can and will work- and to get people from BOTH sides of the aisle to come together to move forward. Nobama is an inexperienced ass who is simply incapable of doing what needs to be done- holding firm to a position and fighting for it. It isn’t too late to turn this energy issue or the election around. WE also need to stop the speculation in oil futures that has caused the prices to skyrocket. If the OPEC nations want to reduce the price of oil when we come up w/alternatives- let them. WE just need to do what is right for our country, its citizens & environment. The solution is in a multi-disciplinary approach as Hillary understands. Here’s to the “vacant one” flim-flamming his way to disgrace before the convention and the subsequent rise of the superior candidate so we can get a President with the brains, energy and proven ability to get people working together on these problems which threaten all of us.

    • http://deleted AnninCa

      Your post reminds me why I never disagreed with Penn on how he framed Hillary. You are so right, and her strengths were notable from Day 1.

      I disagreed with Penn on how he handled the press, but not on his core message. It resonated strongly with those of us who are tired of batting around problems and never arriving at a workable plan.

      We’re not babies. It is possible to resolve a lot of problems, but we cannot do that without effective leadership.

      Pelosi’s FISA boondoggle is the tip of the iceberg with how ineffectual she and her insider crew really is. They simply do not have the political savvy to run this nation anywhere but in the ground.

      They MUST be neutered so that true leadership can emerge.

      One thing I’ve noticed about myself is that when I hear Obama speak on issues, I tighten up. I feel the tension. He’s so defensive. When I hear McCain speak, even if it’s about a gaffe his advisor makes, I breathe. He at least makes sense to me, perspective-wise. Obama does not.

  • yttik

    Even if you don’t like the idea of offshore drilling, the majority of Americans do. People are desperate for some solutions. We want to see some action. For Obama to hold out against this is not democratic, it doesn’t honor the will of the people.

    That’s one of my biggest problems with Obama, this is politics, it’s about serving the people. It’s about listening to the majority. It’s not about dictating your views onto everybody else. There has to be teamwork within congress and presidency. Obama is all about Obama.

    • http://mccaindemocrats.wordpress.com/ 30yrdem-not any more

      I will agree to disagree…I don’t know what will fix our problems but I do know we have to get to work to fix them or they will only get worse.

      • tampagurl

        That’s right 30yrdem, My mother used to say…I can’t…never did anything.

      • Lee12

        I agree with you, I am not sure what the answers are but I do know it doesn’t involve quick, fadish fixes that are narrow-minded and short-sighted, brought to us by people who think they have “the truth”.

        Please no more band-aid solutions!

        • http://home.comcast.net/~vincep312 VinceP1974

          Quick fadish fixes like using the Supply/Demand curve to bring prices down is clearly absurd. Why would anyone think that alleviating the supply crunch would do any good at all!

          You’re right. Betting on unicorns because theyr’e just so cute looking is the way this problem will be solved.

  • Peggy Sue

    Energy independence is crucial to our national security and future. I’m all for conservation and alternate energy sources, but we need a bridge to get there. Obama said his plan will make us energy independent by 2032. Frankly, I think his plan will mean another delay in doing anything at all. We can’t talk our way out of this.

    We need a full frontal attack, drawing on everything–off-shore drilling, oil shale, coal, nuclear–while dedicating money and brain power to viable alternate sources and energy efficient transport. And yes, of course, we need to be environmentally conscious in our pursuit. But I’m not ready to exchange the security of this country and its future for pristine forest land.

    If we don’t drill off-shore, the Chinese will. And they’ll be laughing the whole time they do it. And if we don’t come up with a real independence plan, we’ll continue to be shackled to every energy-rich despot in the world.

    So, the Dems are jumping ship [like a bunch of rats] on Obama’s plan? The question is “why?” It’s because he has no plan, just empty words. And you needn’t be a rodent to see that.

    PUMApac.org

  • Andy

    The price of oil skyrocketed when oil become a commodity. That was the problem. Hence the speculation with its price.
    When all the big oil companies went to Congree recently they were asked
    “how much should the barrel cost” ( if it were not b/c of speculators).
    Answer: anywhere between $30 and $70. It has jumped to $147 a barrel !!
    That is CRAZY. Oil was NOT a commodity until recently.

    • Andy

      I should add that all of this has been made worse by the huge deficit which favors a weak dollar: Oil rises when the tumbling value of the dollar attracts investors to the crude market. A weak dollar draws investors to oil as commodities become cheaper for buyers using other currencies.

  • Mandelay

    Can we nationalize the production of oil that will come from these as yet untouched sources? Can we have another branch of service — an Energy Corps — that would handle a combined drilling/environmental stewardship that would leave the oil companies out of the picture?

    • http://home.comcast.net/~vincep312 VinceP1974

      LOL.. I cant stop laughing.

      HAHAHAA

      The Federal Govt is going to handle oil production better than the oil companies themselves!

      HAHAHAHAHAHHHAHQAAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA

      Who are these people and where do they come from..Where is the imbecile template at ,it needs to be broken.

      • Mandelay

        Don’t be so quick to giggle. I know it sounds absurd. But think of the TVA in the time of Roosevelt and still operating right up to this day. Lessons, good and bad, can be drawn from the history of that’s project’s organization and implementation. You can build the operation — draw from other agencies and even “contract out” the drilling or staff with experienced oil producers, but… but…but … the Treasury retains the profits, or as they say in the gov’t, the “revenue.” The head of the agency won’t be receiving a $12 million salary for openers. As for staffing, you ask: Who are these people? Where do they come from? We should not have to look very far. America is filled with talent and needs encouragement to take up the task of innovation again. So I hope you will stop laughing. Take a look at the New Deal. A time of failures and successes. But time of leadership and a time of drawing Americans into solving their own problems. Of course the Federal Government cannot handle oil production better than the oil companies, at least not now, not yet, but the Federal Government should be able to find ways to generate revenues from the harvesting of the nation’s resources and put those revenues to the good of the nation. We should not be in a position to be blackmailed, year after year, by an oil cartel in the mideast as well as speculators as the people struggle under the burdens of trying to make ends meet. Under my question is another question: How do we maintain control over the revenues from our resources and ensure that the people benefit? Instead of laughing, my questions prompted me to read up on the “Oil shale industry” as described in wikipedia. While the politicians are throwing around words like nuclear, solar, wind, and even shale, as well as drilling in the Arctic and elsewhere, it’s a good time to question, learn, and, yes, even laugh. Thanks PaganPower for an inspiring post.

  • calindi

    Obama is not a flip flopper. First, that’s soooo 2004, and to me, a flip flopper is an annoying but rather benign creature. Barack Obama is a Flim Flammer, much further up the food chain from a flip flopper. Flip floppers are somehow sadly inept, not the sharpest tool in the shed. A true Flim Flammer, coupled with a cultish, bullying, mob, is a dangerous creature. He’s the Elmer Gantry of modern American politics (though i have no idea if he’s a womanizer like Gantry–but the fraud is definitely there). Barack Obama is Elmer Gantry on steriods, and what really makes him dangerous, is, Obama is not a fictional character, he’s a narcisstic fraud, and fraud or not, he may actually flim flam his way into the most powerful position on the planet.

    • http://home.comcast.net/~vincep312 VinceP1974

      Obama is not a Flim Flammer.. he’s a Bamboozeler.

  • open mind

    gregpalast.com to get the real info on oil.

  • Linda

    Glow Fading?

    The latest NEWSWEEK Poll shows Barack Obama leading John McCain by only 3 points. What a difference a few weeks can make.

    A month after emerging victorious from the bruising Democratic nominating contest, some of Barack Obama’s glow may be fading. In the latest NEWSWEEK Poll, the Illinois senator leads Republican nominee John McCain by just 3 percentage points, 44 percent to 41 percent. The statistical dead heat is a marked change from last month’s NEWSWEEK Poll, where Obama led McCain by 15 points, 51 percent to 36 percent.

    http://www.newsweek.com/id/145737

    WAIT, and all the news of his latest didn’t reach the polls yet. There’s that one latest comment of Obama telling Rally goers, that we should be learning Spanish, instead of worrying about the Spanish learning English. I’m sure that will go over REAL big for a majority of Americans…oh wait, did the media even cover that one?

  • http://IthinkIfeel... Tricia Spiegel

    Well-done post illustrating a dilemma for Obama. But if he flips on this one, it will just be one more in a long series. We have no idea about what he actually believes or what he would actually do.

  • Florence

    Americans have always loved cheap gas. It’s our addiction and it’s destroying the world with global warming. If you live in a Caribbean Island, global warming could destory your island.

    We need to give up cheap gas. Drilling for oil is not the solution. Energy conservation, funding for pubic transportation, and renewable energy are the solution.

    Check out how much Europeans pay for gas:

    Highest gas prices in Europe
    Prices converted into $/gallon

    Netherlands $6.77
    Norway $6.56
    Denmark $6.29
    Belgium $6.02
    UK $6.02

    • Hope Floats

      Oh, well if Europeans can afford to pay that much for gas, I guess we can, too… NOT.

  • mimi

    “There will never be motivation for these people as long as we continue to buy into their game. Kenoshamarge is right – we are to blame. We are too lazy to do what’s right, and we expect corporations or government to do it for us. The problem with that is we’re also too lazy to bother paying attention to what they’re really doing. We watch the MSM in 00:30 soundbites and digest that as the full story. When there’s actual programming that goes in depth on a topic and reports a full story, we stay away in droves. We are fed fast food because that’s what we eat (both in restaurants and in the media).”

    I read this entire thread with interest and an open mind. I don’t own a car since I live in the mass transit capital of the world, NYC. But I definitely feel for those who live in places where having a car is a necessity. It was short-sighted of our politicians back then, to create such lifestyles. Everything runs out eventually.

    I agree with the above statement and with kenoshamarge’s comments upthread. We have to change. And I say this as someone who hates to be cold in the winter.

    But enforcing change on spoiled children is an herculian task. Just ask any parent of a temper-tantrum throwing willful toddler. I suspect that those who are on the side for drilling will win this argument because politicians pander and have no backbone. It also doesn’t help that we have no concrete alternatives right now that Americans can sink our teeth into thereby feeling more secure.

    It bothers me that we don’t know the whole truth and given the way politicians lie and pander, coupled with the insatiable greed of corporations, it’s hard to feel absolutely right taking any position. Especially on the pro-drilling side. Facts like there would only be 13 years worth of oil, truly scare me. That’s not a long time. And my personal orientation is always on the side of preserving.

    It all boils down to changing our lifestyles and no it won’t happen over night, but if we begin now at least with a plan, it will happen. And yes, even single SUV-driving moms with 5 children are going to have to adapt.

    BTW, I’m not a fan of SUVs. Here in NYC especially in the community I live in, everyone has one. I always see them with one person in the car, talking on cell phones. Makes no sense. And certainly in our free country, citizens have the right to drive what they choose. But it’s precisely this attitude that is the problem.

    And I am not for Obama. And I agree, his position is suspect given his supporters, not to mention he’ll probably Baracktrack on this as well.

  • Johnny

    I am not very impressed with Obama’s Energy Plan – If you can even call it a plan>>?? I like the boon pickens plan, I signed a petition asking Obama to at least give his plan serious consideration. You can sign the petition at http://www.theobamaplan.com

    I had never heard of tboon pickens till about a week ago. I think I like the plan, I just seen it and It seems pretty solid. I dont know though? He is a billionaire after all. Can he be trusted? His complete plan is at http://www.tboonpickens.com

    I wonder if either candidate will embrace his plan. Wonder what every one else thinks

  • tampagurl

    Well you won’t conserve your way out of this mess. Should we all move to the city so we can get rid of our cars and use mass transit? That won’t even work. Farmers need fuel to grow food, it then has to be processed and transported. Many of your products are made from oil. Maybe it will take a depression before we do something. Someone said there was only 13 years of fossil fuel and suddenly that’s gospel. I read there was a lifetime of fossil fuel. I suggest we do everything including drilling. I don’t understand the hording of the oil. I guess if we don’t drill and all that new technology doesn’t magically appear I’ll see you all in the soup lines.:)

  • Johnny

    lol soup lines. I feel that.

    • tampagurl

      Of course you know that was snark, right?

  • Jackson Pearson

    The more Obama blathers, the bigger his foot gets, and the smaller mouth is.

  • Alien

    Get this -the price f petrol in the USA is extremely cheap by world standards. It has been over $# per litre in Britain for any years. In Australia it has been over $1.50 fora decade .this translats to well over $6 a US gallon.

    Tose countries are not only surviving but with very trong economies.

  • Alien

    Typos – make that very Strong economies.

  • Indiana Dem

    T. Boone Pickens tells us this:

    “Building wind facilities in the corridor that stretches from the Texas panhandle to North Dakota could produce 20% of the electricity for the United States at a cost of $1 trillion. It would take another $200 billion to build the capacity to transmit that energy to cities and towns.

    “That’s a lot of money, but it’s a one-time cost. And compared to the $700 billion we spend on foreign oil every year, it’s a bargain.”

    http://www.pickensplan.com/theplan/

    We could actually do that more quickly than we would begin producing increased supplies of domestic oil if all drilling restrictions were lifted first thing Monday morning.

    Another thing about the idea that new drilling would lower domestic pump prices. It’s a scam.

    First off, it would be a minimum of ten years before you’d actually see additional oil supplies result from a lifting of drilling restriction. All experts agree on this point.

    Secondly, a question: Do you think that new domestic oil would go stricktly to the U.S. market, to bring down prices? Dream on! The new oil would go on the world market. Consequently–with world demand already running ahead of supply, and the Chinese and Indian demands rapidly growing–we would see little or no resultant drop in U.S. pump prices. The estimate is that it might drop a few cents off each gallon. In 10 or 20 years. From whatever level the price has reached at that point.

    The reason big oil is pushing for a lifting of restrictions has to do with their own future profits, not with easing U.S. gasoline prices. Equating the two things is basically just a lie. Here’s the sad truth we’ve all got to deal with: There is absolutely nothing that can be done that will significantly reduce the price of gasoline or diesel fuel anytime in the near future. In the long term–a decade or so–there is a solution. It’s not to get more. It’s to not need it.

    T. Boone Pickens has a serious plan, and it seems like a damn good one. It’s a plan that would produce very good, permanent results. There are other avenues out there as well. Things we should begin now. Solar power, for example, could provide everything else we need. The technology already exists.

    Ten years from now our energy problems could be nothing more than a dim memory. We could have more cheap energy than we know what to do with, and could have simultaneously cut greenhouse gas emissions drastically as a side-effect.

    All it takes is the will to change, and the determination to make our politicans do it.

    This isn’t a partisan political statement. Whoever becomes president must be made to make a permanent solution to the energy crisis our number one goal.

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