Why Not?
Everyday Americans are demanding that something gets done about energy prices. We hear from our elected leaders and the people on the street that we need energy independence. It doesn't matter what party you affiliate yourself the call is clear, America needs to be meeting its own energy needs. I can't count the number of times people have pointed to the fact that we are buying oil from those who seek our destruction. We are literally buying the bombs being used against us.
Incredible leaps and energies are being focused on finding alternatives to meet our needs. Currently almost 90% of our energy needs are being served by oil. Yet America only supplies a small percentage of what it uses.
We have so much more available but we are not allowed to access it. Why do we choose to buy what we have? Our elected leaders, in their infinite wisdom, have refused to bend to the will of their constituents. Americans are screaming "Drill Here, Drill Now", and congress refuses to bend. 76% of America recognizes that drilling our own oil is the first step to energy independence.
That's right the entire congress is to blame, but one person has the greatest portion of this blame. Nancy Pelosi has single handedly kept this issue from receiving an up or down vote. She flatly refuses to let Americans use what they own. She says crazy things like "You can't drill your way out of this."
Drilling for oil right here, right now will change the price of oil almost immediately. Within six months of congress passing a law that would allow us to drill, oil prices would fall like a rock. The world knows that viable energy and oil drilling costs money and that figure that makes doing our own thing not worth the cost is $80 dollars a barrel. Once oil falls below $95 a barrel various sources become unworthy of the cost to produce. Once we reach $80 a barrel the worlds oil becomes too cheap not to buy. The oil supplying nations will be only too happy to keep our money flowing to their sand box. They simply can't afford for America to stop buying their oil.
If we want Energy Independence we are going to have to resist this temptation and continue drilling and recovering our own oil. We might have to pay a little more at the pumps in order to put the infrastructure in place to make independence possible. The cost would still be less than what we are paying now. Prices would be around $3 a gallon for us to put the system in place and start supplying our own. The cost of independence will be about fifty cents a gallon. I'm willing to pay the extra to bring Independence to America. Are you willing to do what it takes? When the price falls will you continue to demand independence?
Alternative energies will still need support and development. We need to broaden our energy possibilities. Are Americans willing to do what it takes?
Incredible leaps and energies are being focused on finding alternatives to meet our needs. Currently almost 90% of our energy needs are being served by oil. Yet America only supplies a small percentage of what it uses.
We have so much more available but we are not allowed to access it. Why do we choose to buy what we have? Our elected leaders, in their infinite wisdom, have refused to bend to the will of their constituents. Americans are screaming "Drill Here, Drill Now", and congress refuses to bend. 76% of America recognizes that drilling our own oil is the first step to energy independence.
That's right the entire congress is to blame, but one person has the greatest portion of this blame. Nancy Pelosi has single handedly kept this issue from receiving an up or down vote. She flatly refuses to let Americans use what they own. She says crazy things like "You can't drill your way out of this."
Drilling for oil right here, right now will change the price of oil almost immediately. Within six months of congress passing a law that would allow us to drill, oil prices would fall like a rock. The world knows that viable energy and oil drilling costs money and that figure that makes doing our own thing not worth the cost is $80 dollars a barrel. Once oil falls below $95 a barrel various sources become unworthy of the cost to produce. Once we reach $80 a barrel the worlds oil becomes too cheap not to buy. The oil supplying nations will be only too happy to keep our money flowing to their sand box. They simply can't afford for America to stop buying their oil.
If we want Energy Independence we are going to have to resist this temptation and continue drilling and recovering our own oil. We might have to pay a little more at the pumps in order to put the infrastructure in place to make independence possible. The cost would still be less than what we are paying now. Prices would be around $3 a gallon for us to put the system in place and start supplying our own. The cost of independence will be about fifty cents a gallon. I'm willing to pay the extra to bring Independence to America. Are you willing to do what it takes? When the price falls will you continue to demand independence?
Alternative energies will still need support and development. We need to broaden our energy possibilities. Are Americans willing to do what it takes?
posted by ablur at 8/04/2008 08:26:00 AM
3 Comments:
First I'm going to see if my old passwords work. Just lost one post.
Okay, goggle is happy with me again. So I will repost.
In answer to your question, "Are Americans willing to do what it takes.". I have to say no, no they're not. I remember 1973 too clearly. In June of that year my children and I were sitting in our car at a closed truck stop in Missouri waiting for the gas truck to show up. And even gas stations that had gas would limit each driver to 10 gallons. Everyone was screaming that something had to be done. That we were too dependent on oil. That we needed to develop alternate energy souces. Sound familiar? Then the embargo ended, the price of gas dropped and there was plenty for everyone. Both our government and the average citizen forgot that there had ever been a crisis.
Fast forward 35 years and where are we at? High priced energy and we still need to develop alternate forms of energy. Only if the price of gas stays high will we do anything.
I agree that we have a lame democratic leadership in Congress but before we blame congress lets get some answers from the oil companies to the following questions.
Why did Cheney hold a secret energy summit eight years ago that is still secret and that the oil companies were invited to but the citizen consumer wasn't. What decisions were made at that meeting?
Why are the oil companies shutting down and mothballing producing wells. I took a thirty minute drive in the country the other day and counted 13 out of 15 wells that have been mothballed. My son, who lives in western Kansas, says that it is even worse out there. That the oil companies are shutting down entire fields and refusing to say why.
Why are the oil ocmpanies refusing to build more refinerys? The tree huggers aren't keeping them from building because the oil companies haven't filed for any permits to build. And in the meantime they still have mothballed refinerys that they shut down years ago.
Why do the oil companies have off shore leases that they are not even surveying let alone drilling. Same question for the leases that they have throughout the United States. Instead they are using their massive profits to buy back their own stock.
And sadly enough I don't think that either one of our presidental canditates will have the guts to ask these questions out loud and in public.
My question is, if Congress does vote for more drilling, what will the oil companies then do?
I'm afraid you are right Pandora39. Americans are only for immediate gratification. Once the crisis passes and their thirst or lust is satisfied they will forget.
We have done some development of Alternative energy. Nuclear has been advanced dramatically. At OSU in the early 80's they created a way to reduce the deadly radiation and storage of spent fuel to about 100 years as opposed to thousands of years. No one talks about it and no one is using it.
Solar energy has come a very long way but still has a long way to go. It is twenty times more effective then it was in the 80's but still to costly per kW.
Wind has been advanced dramatically. Here in the Pacific NW Windmills are going up. Over 10% of our energy will soon be provided by these giants.
I am watching the refinery showdown in South Dakota. If they manage to pull this off there is yet hope.
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