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Elite Pathogen
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| | Bush Calls for End to Ban on Offshore Oil Drilling This should be the Republican strategy for '08, at least for now. As environmentally friendly many Americans are, gas prices are really hurting. Show that the democrats don't want to do anything about it and we should be good.  Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic majority leader, reacted quickly to the president’s remarks on Wednesday. “This week’s flip-flop on offshore oil drilling by President Bush and Senator John McCain is nothing more than a cynical campaign ploy that will do nothing to lower energy prices, and represents another big giveaway to oil companies already making billions in profits,” Mr. Reid said in a statement. Okay, so this guy obviously has no idea of economic principals. I'd reckon most Dems don't either... and many Repubs too I'd reckon... but we'll leave that part out  . |
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-A government that is powerful enough to do anything for us is powerful enough to do anything to us. -Fred Thompson
-There are two races of people, the decent and the indecent. - Victor Frankel
-They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security. - Benjamin Franklin
Consequences
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First Lieutenant
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Lock n' Load!
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| | Harry Reid is right jerm, they WON'T do anything to lower gas prices, or they will do so little, over such an extended period of time, that no one will notice. While I have stated that I feel the moratorium on offshore drilling should be lifted, and I agree with McCain and Bush on this issue, I also recognize, like Reid, that it wont make a salt of difference. That is why Obama's opposition to lifting the ban doesn't bother me too much. While I feel that bans in general should be limited in use, there are bigger battles to be fought, including the source of the matter and that is our addiction to oil. Check out this article for more information: Will More Drilling Mean Cheaper Gas? Bush was sending an unsubtle election year message to the American public: I care about the economic toll of $4 a gallon gas, and Democrats in Congress, who have opposed such an expansion, don't. But there's a flaw in that logic: even if tomorrow we opened up every square mile of the outer Continental Shelf to offshore rigs, even if we drilled the entire state of Alaska and pulled new refineries out of thin air, the impact on gas prices would be minimal and delayed at best. A 2004 study by the government's Energy Information Administration (EIA) found that drilling in ANWR would trim the price of gas by 3.5 cents a gallon by 2027. (If oil prices continue to skyrocket, the savings would be greater, but not by much.) Opening up offshore areas to oil exploration — currently all coastal areas save a section of the Gulf of Mexico are off-limits, thanks to a Congressional ban enacted in 1982 and supplemented by an executive order from the first President Bush — might cut the price of gas by 3 to 4 cents a gallon at most, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council. And the relief at the pump, such as it is, wouldn't be immediate — it would take several years, at least, for the oil to begin to flow, which is time enough for increased demand from China, India and the rest of the world to outpace those relatively meager savings. "Right now the price of oil is set on the global market," says Kevin Lindemer, executive managing director of the energy markets group for the research firm Global Insight. President Bush's move "would not have an impact." The reason is simple: the U.S. has an estimated 3% of global petroleum reserves, but consumes 24% of the world's oil. Offshore territories and public lands like ANWR that don't allow drilling may contain up to 75 billion barrels of oil, according to the EIA. That may sound like a lot, but it's not enough to make a significant difference in a world where global oil demand is expected to rise 30% by 2030, to nearly 120 million barrels a day. At best, greatly expanding domestic drilling might eventually lower the proportion of oil the U.S. imports — currently about 60% of its total supply — but petroleum is a global commodity, and the world market would soak up any additional American production. "This is a drop in the bucket," says Gernot Wagner, an economist with the Environmental Defense Fund. There are some other points in the article I'd like to expand on, but for now we'll just leave it at this: Still, with Americans hurting at the pump, it may be difficult for environmentalists and other opponents of increased domestic drilling to resist the push for more oil, whatever the cost. You say people don't understand economics jerm, well people are getting very emotional about what they are paying at the pump, and we are seeing an increased call from certain politicians to end the moratorium, playing off peoples emotions related to the gas prices, but most of these people don't have the grasp on the economics of the situation to realize that there will be no immediate impact in such a reversal, and very little longterm effect on the price of gas in America.  |
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"“Remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible but in the end, they always fall -- think of it, ALWAYS.” - Mahatma Gandhi
The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' but 'That's funny...' -Isaac Asimov
There is only one time when it is essential to awaken. That Time Is Now! - Buddha
"You have to get busy living or get busy dying" - Tim Robbins (in Shawshank Redemption)
"There are many things worth living for, there are a few things worth dying for, but there is nothing worth killing for."- Tom Robbins (not to be confused with Tim Robbins)
“operare non meno l’ongiegno che la forza” (Exercise intellect, as much as force) - Cosimo de Medici
Edited: 6/19/2008 1:18 PM by Locus Coeruleus | | | |
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Elite Pathogen
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| | While the oil companies are profiting from higher gas prices, they are not causing it. Demand for oil and not enough supply is the cause. Adding to the supply will necessarilly lower gas prices. How much depends on the demand. Mind you, we are talking about several years before these things would be online but the mere mention of opening up oil supply will drop it to a degree. Personally I don't care what kind of a windfall the oil companies get, I care about the dramatic inflation we are experiencing as a result of the higher gas prices. If it took a decade to go from $2.00 gas to $4.50 gas, we could cope, but a year? That's damaging. Call me paranoid, but doesn't this whole gas pricing thing just fall into the hands of oil companies, who have been lobbying hard for opening restrictions on new drilling for years? Have they been (could you site something please)? If so, isn't restricting drilling just giving them what they want? I don't care who lobbies for what, it's still the government's fault for actually making the restrictions. Oil companies are looking out for their own interests, the government is supposed to look out for our interests. |
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-A government that is powerful enough to do anything for us is powerful enough to do anything to us. -Fred Thompson
-There are two races of people, the decent and the indecent. - Victor Frankel
-They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security. - Benjamin Franklin
Consequences
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First Lieutenant
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Culture-Monger
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First Lieutenant
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Elite Pathogen
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| | Locus, add to that the Shale deposits in the U.S. and I think it becomes a bit more significant. You are right that we need to get off "our addiction to oil" but until we do, we need it. Oil is what runs the world economy at the moment. Hey, let's start by getting Nuclear Plants up and running! It's something we could do right now. It'd probably lower gas prices too if we went nuke. Okay. Granted. If the oil companies were so short sighted I'd agree, and retract my question. But what is the one thing they have desired after for many years? A cheaper source(tho not likely) of supply. And what is the one thing they don't want?
Oil companies want a profitable supply. Cheaper is better but not always possible. If they can make money, they'll do it before someone else can. First they want Alaska, and have wanted Alaska. Let it go to $5.00 p/gal. and it will be more than just off shore drilling. Remember how the Alaskan Pipeline was pushed through in the days of Gasoline rationing? Creating artificial shortages some years ago, and now actually having shortages to cry "not our fault about". Hasn't been enough to sway public opinion in their direction. $4.00+ at the pump is doing that. I can just imagine the CEO of EXXON smiling in his high rise office, toking on a fat cigar, musing to himself "Now we got 'em.'.
I thought shortages were a result of Arab countries not exporting to countries which backed Israel in '73 and because of a panic when Iran had their revolution in '79. Now, why didn't the CEO of EXXON just limit the supply years ago so he could "get us"? Second. The one thing they don't want is to have the strategic oil reserve opened. My God what a disaster! What a set back that would be to digging into an already strategic supply that lyes under the sea and in a Wildlife Preserve. It's nonsense. I actually don't know what you're on about here . Cleo, will you join with me and Locus in pushing for Nuclear Power? I'm all for recycling but it's a drop in the bucket. Plastic, styrofoam, vinyl products, paint, are not going away soon... |
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-A government that is powerful enough to do anything for us is powerful enough to do anything to us. -Fred Thompson
-There are two races of people, the decent and the indecent. - Victor Frankel
-They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security. - Benjamin Franklin
Consequences
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