I urge anyone who agrees with this concept to sign the petition at www.americansolutions.com

 

We also need to pull back the restrictions on building and upgrading refineries in this country. It does little good to drill for oil here and still have to ship the majority of it overseas to be refined and a huge cost. Keep the process at home as much as possible reducing both cost and dependence.

Oh and the people need to reduce use. Simple economics. Supply and demand.. We are going to continue to pay more and more as long as the demand is so high. Cut demand.. cut cost.

 

Sounds like an ad for a discount dentist.

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

Drill here? ...... there are thousands of producing wells that are CAPPED already!

Drill now? ...... the results won't be available for 10 years! :shock:

Pay less? There are MANY ways to do this!

1) Reduce the "instability" in the Middle East.

2) Restrict sales of military equipment and financial aid to "friendly" OPEC nations who don't IMMEDIATELY lower their prices! (additional production is NOT necessary!) [Where DID Teddy hide his BIG STICK?]

3) Regulate the "futures" market relative to "necessary items" like oil!

4) Stop stockpiling to the "reserves." (hopefully only a moratorium.)

5) Threaten to (if not actually) release a 6 month supply of oil FROM the reserves into the American (ONLY) market.

6) Make a decision and PASS a friggin BILL..... ANY bill..... that shows we are serious about controlling gasoline prices!

7) Pass a "moratorium" on "alternatives research" funded by taxpayers dollars entrusted to the OIL COMPANIES, and make them spend their huge tax benefits (and some of their profits and CEO payouts) on REFINING!

8: Quit accepting the NIMBY excuse, and build refineries on the BILLIONS of acres of BLM (government) lands that are so far from civilization that most people don't even KNOW they exist! :roll:

9) Enact a "moratorium" on EPA restrictions on gasoline refining that are designed to fight "global warming / greenhouse gasses" that this administration denies even EXISTS! :roll:

10) Replace federal gasoline taxes that apply to everyone (even those driving a YUGO) with a "USER" tax on those who insist on buying gas guzzling SUV's!!

11) Remove the Federal exemptions from federal gas taxes for all federal vehicles! Make the government pay 4 bucks a gallon.... and see how fast the price comes down! :roll:

12) RATION gasoline to the Federal government FIRST! Conservation starts at HOME! :roll:

13) Give Bush a vacation that lasts until next January! :roll:

14) Invade Mexico and Venezuela while our best divisions are "home" on a two week "pass" and NATIONALIZE their oil industry like the Arabs did to US! :roll: [they want a North American Union?? Perhaps, it is time to EXPAND our borders rather than secure them!] :roll:

[ Yeah, I KNOW.... Venezuela is considered to be in South America. But, check your Atlas (or globe.) If I'm not mistaken, the equator is JUST a bit south of the oilfields in and off the coast of Venezuela!] :lol:

15) Elect Windwalker as President (providing he chooses ME as V.P..... and I'll FIX this problem!!!! Just give me a good Shotgun! :lol: :lol:

 

I agree with some of your proposals. I don't like anything that involves further regulation or added taxes.

But it has to start here. We need to allow a free market for exploration and extraction. We may not see a drop of oil for 10 years but those evil speculators will know that the supply will be increasing in the future, thus lowering the price on the speculation side and once the oil does start flowing prices will lower due to increased supply.

 

Hand me that club so I can get some of these baby seals out of the way.

 

My "Useless" Thoughts On The Matter:

1.) The answer is not going to be found by drilling for more oil. This is a long term problem that has been festering for a couple of decades now. We should have been developing an energy policy and developing alternative fuels over two decades ago. What we have here is the equivalent of the old story about the man whose roof leaked. He was too lazy to fix it when it was clear and dry, and he couldn't fix it after it started raining. Now, here we are in the same position.

2.) The Gulf of Mexico holds a very large reserve, but it is down deep, and drilling for it will be very expensive, so that really isn't going to reduce the price of gasoline. Contrary to what many people believe, the Outer Continental Shelf is not the most expensive place in the world to drill for oil; the Gulf of Mexico is.

The reserve in the Arctic Tundra in Alaska would also be expensive to drill, and at current demand rates, the entire reserve would produce enough oil to carry us for less than six months, so that is not going to lower the price of oil, either.

As far as drilling for oil inland, what most people do not realize is that while we do have some inland reserves, many of the formations which hold those reserves are terttiarried in such a way that vertical drilling would not be economically feasible; in order to be economically viable, exploration companies would have to employ directional and horizontal drilling. The drilling process is very slow, and very expensive; consequently, while our supply could be augmented to some degree, there would be no cost saving benefit to the consumer.

3.) An adequate oil supply is only part of the issue.... refining is another matter. The fact is that gasoline is one of the least profitable products a refinery can produce. Without an economic incentive, (as in a price for the product that would encourage companies to build refineries) there is no incentive to build new refineries. For those who grumble about excessive government regulation, I would invite you to consider the explosions at the BP refinery here in Texas. Shoddy maintenance, combined with lack of regulatory compliance and oversight was what contributed to two separate explosions that crippled our nations refining capacity.

4.) For those who whine about government oversight and regulation, I would remind you that while refineries can have extremely deleterious consequences to the environment, the danger to human life is even greater. Refineries can explode when things go wrong, and a lot of people can die.... end of story. So, without higher gasoline prices and tax incentives, there will be no incentive to construct new refineries.

5.) Even in a best case scenario, oil is dirty, it is nonrenewable, and it is becoming increasingly expensive to drill for it. These circumstances are not going to change. Unless we prepare for the future, we will be left at the mercy of the wills and whims of OPEC, and we will be left to pay for our foreign policy failures.

So, What Is The Answer??

Alternative Fuel Sources. I have long been an advocate of hempoline, which is derived from hemp oil. It is clean, it is abundant ,it is replenishable, and it grows in abundance in may parts of the world, including the U.S.. This is not a matter of developing new technologies; it is simply a matter of reviving old technology. The Ford Model T was designed to run on hempoline.

Hemp production would alleviate the need to cut down trees to make paper. Paper, BTW, requires a lot of energy to produce, and producing it is comes with environmental consequences as well. So, instead of cutting down trees to manufacture paper, we could instead be making parer from hemp fiber. Don't believe me?? Take a look at our nation's Constitution. It was WRITTEN on hemp paper. Clothes?? William Levi invented "blue jeans" for those who were drawn to the California Gold Rush. Prospectors wore them because hemp clothing doesn't wear out the way most conventional clothes do today.

The truth is that we will not completely alieviate our need for oil, at least not within the foreseeable future; but we CAN significantly reduce our need and demand for it, tell OPEC to "stick it where the sun don't shine", preserve our environment, increase our air quality, provide "green collar jobs" that can't be sent overseas, and we could save a ton of money doing it.

 

give me one to and i will help ya.

 

Golfhobo, 1 and 3 of your proposal would most likely do the most good. Your thoughts on halting the additions to the national reserves would have little to no effect as they count for such a tiny amount of oil that this country buys.

Part of the problem is that we have not looked to the future very well. We should have been increasing our self reliance for energy 20-30 years ago and after 9/11 we should have tripled out efforts beyond what should have been done in the late 1970's.

Not only are there major oil reserves in our grasp but huge stock piles of coal that could be easily converted into liquid fuel using 1930's technologies and with modern advances the pollustion factor would not be any more than it is right now.

Stop giving tax breaks to oil companies for merely exploring. Give them the breaks after they have a new refinery up and operational, after they have started producing oil from new platforms.

 

I think part of the problem is with the automotive industry too. They were unwilling to change. It's only recently that they are now starting to manufacture cars that use alternative power sources. Had they done this decades ago, we would have lessened our oil dependency somewhat. I'm pretty sure we had the technology then. You are always seeing these cars of the future in the auto shows. Why not make them a reality.

Just my 2 cents...