[quote]The Mage wrote:
Ren wrote:
The only way off-shore drilling will have a serious impact is if our total dependence on oil decreases.
Demand will continue to outpace supply, especially with the steady increase in industrialization in developing countries.
My stance is that an expansion of drilling will not have the magical result people expect, and will be a lot less beneficial without a policy that reduces total oil dependence.
This isn’t magic, this is math.
Demand will out pace supply only if we do not drill.
And why does everything have to be one or the other? If we look at an oil field, why do we suddenly ignore all the others?
Right now there is enough oil being produced to cover supply. I know, you heard we are using more then we are pumping, and while that was temporarily true, that is not true now.
Supplies are coming online fairly fast right now, and that will help push prices down. (And whoever is in the White house will take credit for it.) But there could be a problem if we do not open these places up for drilling.
You want to move off oil, fine. But we are still going to need oil until we find something else that will work.
There really is only one solution. Go New-Q-Ler. Start building plants now.
Once we have the cheap abundant and clean energy of New-Q-Ler, then electric cars will become viable. Right now if we went electric, the grid could not handle it. It is the next step in our technology, and we are 30 years behind because of ignorance and lies.
But until we make the change over, we are going to need oil in abundance.
And people just like you are standing in the way, as always. “Don’t drill here, don’t drill there, no refineries, no nuke plants. Oh gee why are energy prices so high? Must be Bush’s fault.”
Are you actually interested in solutions or just roadblocks? [/quote]
I’ll be honest and say there was a point when I was adamant against drilling, now I am open to it.
Sell leases at MARKET rate (which I am guessing would be higher now because oil is so profitable?) Let them start their exploration. I prefer just Alaska and the Gulf to be drilled, but that doesn’t mean you can’t explore the pacific and atlantic OCS. We have an estimate of how much oil and natural gas is in each, but we might get lucky and hit a big reserve. If they find anything, and I would hope most of it is economically recoverable (a tricky phrase if there ever was one), get the drilling platform in there, let’s get another refinery or 2 in place. Hold them accountable for environmental issues that might occur (essentially hit them hard if they cause spills and such).
So, now we can increase supply…in say 10 years. good start. The next thing to do is look for ways to MAXIMIZE the impact this will have. And you do this by decreasing total dependence on oil and natural gas.
Promote the production of hybrids (as a start, not an end), encourage alternative energy sources (a very promising one is the solar panels that heat water to steam to drive turbines and is super efficient, cost? damn cheap). Etc.
If we can give tax breaks to ppl buying hummers, we can give it to ppl doing things to reduce our use of fossil fuels.
dhickey wants to talk about how beneficial it is for the oil companies making records profits to increase their stocks (hell, most of their record profits are going into buying dividends and other measures to make their stock price go up in the first place). Even though the vast majority of Americans won’t actually see any benefits from that. I like to consider the MASSIVE market for alternative energy, which the US has a chance to become a world leader in. Now we are talking about some serious job creation and economic benefits.
So now that I have conceded, and said let’s drill. What are your thoughts on the BIG picture? (if drilling is your idea of the big picture then we’re screwed).