An article I read today seems to confirm what my last post stated. Off shore drilling currently accounts for 25% of domestic oil production. Oil companies hold leases to vast reserves of oil in both off shore areas and land based areas. They have chosen NOT to drill in these areas so that they can hold on to that oil speculating that the price will continue to rise and they will reap better profits in the future. Meanwhile, they pump where they're at at maximum capacity and make record profits selling every drop of oil they can get. So why are politicians tying o "open up" off shore drilling? So that oil companies can obtain more leases in areas they have been restricted from getting leases. Understand, they won't be drilling there anytime soon, they just want the option to do so, so that when oil hits $200/brl they might want to increase production.
Another question we might be wanting to ask the oil companies is why they have fewer refineries now than they did ten years ago? You see, ten years ago they had something like 250 refineries producing gasoline in the USA. Today there are around 150. Huh? Like, WTF?
They claim they can't build new refineries because the enviros have made to too costly for them to do so. Bullshit. They're building refineries to the same specs in other places. They simply want enviro regs slashed so that they can build cheap, operate cheap and fuck the environment. Don't fall for their bullshit. Think about what the Earth would be like todayh if the environmental regulations of the 60s and 70s hadn't been enacted. What would your city, state or town look like?
The only solution to our energy problems is alternative methods of fueling our world. Solar, wind, wave and other sustainable non-polluting methods of energy production is the only real alternative. Anything else is just a band-aide fix.
And again, if oil comapnies don't want to invest their profits in alternative fuels research, we nee to take their profits from them and invest in those types of research.
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You're damned right, Sagacious, and I'm damned mad about it.
They're playing us for suckers. And the Republicans have been helping them out big time. A few democrats too. Whoever is not pissed should be.
sagacious: I found this in Real History blog.
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More oil is NOT the solution
I woke up and was immediately disgusted by watching my so-called President shill for the oil industry again today.
He's telling Congress to open up the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge again - ANWR.
Do you know how much -- or rather, how little -- oil there is in ANWR?
According to this MSNBC article, 10.4 billion barrels. That sounds like a lot, until you realize how much oil Americans consume. According to NationMaster.com, we consume approximately 20,730,000 barrels of oil A DAY.
Multiply that by 365 days and we consume about 7,566,450,000 a year.
So how long would ANWR last us if we used it for our sole oil source? Just a little over ONE YEAR. Outrageous. We'd destroy an ecosystem that is hundreds of thousands of years old for a little more than ONE YEAR's worth of oil? Absolute insanity.
Of course, we won't even get that oil all at once. It will only be a trickle until it reaches maturity. So that 1.4 year's worth of oil will be spread out over other years, hardly reducing our reliance on foreign oil, and hardly putting a dent in the price.
So why is Bush pushing this? Because he's about to leave office, and his oil buddies want to grab all the oil they can while they can. Because they know an Obama administration would not sacrifice this land and its animals to the greed of a few.
The same holds true re our offshore oil supplies. We'd be willing to risk polluting entire beach communities for those insanely small droplets, relative to our vast need, and we'd be doing it to feather the pockets of private investors.
No. Just say no. This is insane.
What we need is a comprehensive energy policy that invests money in renewable energy sources -- wind power, solar, geothermal, and others -- and if I were President, I'd insist that any investments in research by government be repaid in royalties once the private businesses starting showing a profit.
I'm also a big believer in publicly owned utilities. We have a publicly owned police force, and it works just fine. Can you imagine if we had to pay Halliburton for our internal security? Why should we have to pay a private corporation the profits of something we all need so desperately -- energy? Ditto health care, for that matter. I'm all for private restaurants, private entertainment outlets, private businesses on any number of levels. But there are five things that absolutely should not be under private control, as they are essentiall to the wellbeing of every person in the country:
* Water
* Energy
* Healthcare
* Education (through high school, at least)
* Security (military and police forces, intelligence agencies, etc.)
No one should be allowed private profit from these basic necessities. I don't put food there because there are many sources of food, and so many options. But basic nutrition is, in my opinion, a healthcare issue, and no one should be denied basic nutrition, even if they are homeless. No one should be allowed to starve who is born in America. It's unconscionable.
Call your congressional representative and Senate members at any of these toll-free numbers below. If you don't know who your senators are, go to the Senate Web site and look them up. If you don't know who your congressional representative is, go to the House Web site.
Then call. It takes less than 30 seconds. Just say "I oppose offshore drilling and drilling in Alaska. Please support renewable energy proposals instead." Call any of these and ask to be transferred to the appropriate office. Your children and their offspring will be forever grateful.
Toll free to Capitol Hill:
800-828-0498
800-459-1887
877-851-6437
866-338-1015
866-340-9281
They play us for suckers becauae it's easy to do.
Yes...they play us for suckers because lots of us have "sucker" tattooed on our foreheads.
We don't read critically.
We don't think critically.
And we are raising a generation of children with attention spans the size of a tick on a goats behind.
Just yesterday, as I was driving through P.A on my way to NJ, I marveled at how many SUV's and Mini-vans had TV's on playing damn sponge bob.
How about a book. Or are those not trendy enough?
But I digress.
Good point. Those back seat TVs are absurd in my book. When I traveled with my kids, if they were bored, they read books, but most of the time they were watching the world pass by around them. There is so much to see outside a car window. Doesn't matter if it's the same path you've followed every day of your life.
But it's not just TVs in cars, it's the whole act of keeping kids busy 24/7 that blows me away. When they're not in front of a video display they're being shuffled from one activity to the next.
Artificial activity.
You are so right.
Yep, they are fucked
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