Current cries to open ANWAR and offshore drilling are only the environmental counterpart to yesterday's shrieks about waging war on Iraq to fight terrorism. The presnit is using fear to further his own and his cronies' financial interests rather than using common sense to think America out of our paralyzing dependence on petroleum. This is just the most recent reason why he ought to be in prison, IMHO.
Nothing we do today will ease today's gas prices.
ANWAR's estimated supply will provide only 3 months' worth of US demand.
It would take 10 years for oil pumped from ANWAR to reach your gas tank.
Besides, oil companies already have numerous offshore leases just waiting to be drilled using lateral drilling technologies that are now feasible. It's merely a matter of new drilling permits, not of new leases.
But the last thing we need, or deserve, is more offshore leases and more drilling permits. Allowing the petrol giants more access now, especially without windfall profit taxes and mandatory investments in alternative fuels, simply creates more profits for Bush, Cheney and their ilk, provides the illusion that the US is doing something about the oil crisis, and undermines Congress' already shaky interest in investing in alternative fuels. It's dumb, short-sighted, and it's a been-there-done-that "up yours, America" that we ought to be tipped to by now.
We have billions of barrels of oil already stored, not only in the vast Naval Petroleum Reserve next door to ANWAR, but also in underground storage across Louisiana and Texas, among other places. These and the national reserves can be tapped immediately. If they were, theoretically we might feel a price reduction at the pumps in the imaginable future. If they aren't, on the other hand, we can know that the oil giants are banking it, reluctant to sell today at $4/gallon what they can sell tomorrow at $6/gallon.
I hope Congress won't let itself be intimidated by partisan rhetoric and fear, but having seen it cave so many times lately, won't we be amazed if it holds the line!
Monday, June 23, 2008
Isn't it Treason to Sell Out Your Own Country for Money?
Labels:
ANWAR,
energy crisis,
offshore drilling
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AND all of this assumes that the price at the pump is based merely on a supply issue. My skeptical gut suggests there is more at play here than a squeeze on supply, and even more than speculators having a field day (is there such a thing as windfall profits taxes on oil speculators?). Can't put my finger on it, but it's there...
Hello, hope all is well.
I don't know if you've heard of the recent campaign to send in drill bits to congress to get them to drill in ANWAR, but apparently some people think that having the same companies that overcharge us from overseas will somehow give us better prices if they drill domestically. Of course these are probably the same people that championed the war with Iraq as a way to get cheaper oil. Oops!
Keep up the good work.
Symsess--Good point! "Why yes, we've come all this way to drill so that we can express our apologies for price gouging!" NOT.
And thank YOU for the good work.
Phred--I hear half of it has to do with the +/- 50% drop in the value of the dollar related to the Euro.
I heard on Air America the other day that if we paid in Euros, we'd be paying $2.50/gallon. Made sense to me, anyway.
??? Why would we pay for oil that comes from Central/South America or the Middle East in Euros? I get that it is just a reality check, but what if we do that with pesos or whatever the Iraqi (or Egyptian or ??) currency is?
Not sure I follow.
We wouldn't, don't, and couldn't pay with anything but dollars. The point was that Bush has allowed the value of our currency to decline significantly. Therefore, anything we buy from abroad costs significantly more. The Bushies don't want us to put that together, of course. It might really tick us off.
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