Climate Links
User login
To Drill or Not to Drill?
That is the question of my blog this week. Watching Rudy Giuliani speak at the Republican Nation Convention last Wednesday and listening to thousands of people chant, "Drill, baby, drill," I realized how confused our country is on this, well, confusing issue. Somehow we arrived at a place where Republicans and Democrats are more divided than ever, and over issues like offshore drilling, which had once been off limits by both parties. I believe people are misinformed, because if the facts were understood, the choice would be clear, no matter what your party affiliation.
The major misconception I've observed is that offshore drilling will lower high gas prices. The fact is that if these projects were to start today, it would take years before new refineries would affect the market...if ever. Not to mention the amount of oil that could be produced is tiny in comparison with the amount that is produced worldwide. And let's face it-these refineries really can't start producing today, because realistically it would take years to build a new refinery and.... large amounts of money.
Since there seems to be a consensus with both parties that we have a problem with our oil addiction, why not get over that addiction by investing that money into developing alternative fuel infrastructures and converting more cars to run on alternative fuels? Terry Tamminen, Executive Director of the Climate Policy Program of the New America Foundation, says that just 20% of the cost of the current war in Iraq could have completed an alternative fuel infrastructure in our country and converted the majority of cars to run on alternative fuel. Even former president of Shell's U.S. operation, John Hofmeister, said, "The internal combustion is a great invention that has served us well for a century, but it is time for us to move on" (www.newsweek.com/id/142130).
I believe the majority of the population wants this to happen. A recent event illustrates this shift. Last week my husband and I were in an accident which totaled our car. This dumped us into the car market, which I learned is a very strange market at the moment: Priuses are in the "luxury" car price range, the Kelly bluebook value for a Honda Civic has actually increased, and the fun new 2009 Honda Fits are so hot that no dealer can hold them through a weekend (and the asking price is $4,000 over the regular price!). Meanwhile, I had an exchange with someone today who said that he wants to buy a Suburban because "they're so cheap right now and the money [he] will save will just go towards gas" (he'll still find he loses out big time with those gas bills!). Who would have thought 10 years ago that a tiny hatchback would be a hot commodity and that one could hardly give a Suburban away? There was also an article in the LA Times yesterday that called the '94 Geo Metro a "dream machine" because of its fuel efficiency, and stated that "the '92 Civic hatchback gets 60 mpg." Interestingly enough, the Geo Metro was made by the now struggling General Motors-if only they had realized what was good for the environment was good for them.
The car market is reflecting what people want and need: fuel efficient, reliable cars. If we begin offshore drilling, we will be backtracking and only fueling our problem (pardon the pun). In Senator Obama's acceptance speech for the Democratic Presidential Nomination he claimed that in 10 years our country will no longer be dependant on foreign oil. I agree this dependence needs to end, but I would like to take it a step further and ask that in 10 years our cars no longer be dependent on oil. Period. I would like to believe that saving money, preserving our health by eliminating cancer and asthma causing toxins, and protecting the planet so our children can survive are issues both Democrats and Republicans can agree on.
Environmentalists should back drilling
First, there is a whole lot of oil in ANWR in OCS, almost assurdly over ten billion barrels. And a lot of natural gas as well. Production is estimated to run at around a million barrels per day if these are opened, increasing world supply by ~1% for over twenty years. This won't cause oil prices to fall like a rock, but even a few percent would make a lot of people happy.
But this is the wrong thing to think about...rather, what is the value of all that oil and gas? Trillions of dollars. And the federal and state governments would capture on the order of a trillion dollars in revenue via royalties and taxes over this time. I am sorry, but keeping ANWR just a tad more "pristine" is not worth a trillion bucks. Not even remotely in the ballpark.
Rather than leaving this money of ours buried under the tundra and the ocean, and instead borrowing from China so we can buy from the Arabs, we should use this oil and the profits we generate it to build the renewable future we all need. We are broke. We need money. We can't leave a trillion bucks buried in the ground.
The Republicans really want to drill. Make them pay for it! So they want more areas of OCS opened? Ok. But only if 100% of the taxes and royalties go to renewables, and we participate in an internation cap-and-trade for carbon. So they want to drill in ANWR? Ok. But 100% of the revenues go to mass transit and land conservation.
There are plenty of win-win trades out there. Don't stick your head in the sand.
AA for the USA: Enough is Enough!
Oil is a drug and America is addicted!!!
The solution is clear: Expand the alternative fuel infrastructures, and put an end to our addiction.
Let's get addicted to slower cars, clear skies, candlelit evenings, long walks, fresh produce, and world peace!
How could environmentalists back drilling when 35 years of energy development in Alaska has already damaged the region's environment and culture? Where would we draw the line? Surely, our own backyard...
The endless consumption of fossil fuels is killing our planet, our economy is in the tank because of the rising cost of gasoline and diesel while the oil companies are announcing the biggest profits in the history of the planet.
How can we open the oceans, our biggest source of both oxygen and food, to further offshore drilling?
There are many things that frighten me in our world today, and an American chanting "drill baby drill" is most certainly up at the top of the list along side of terrorist attacks, natural disasters and Sarah Palin.
"Drill baby drill" seems like a death chant for mother earth, who gives each of us the breath of life. Not to mention the thousands upon thousands of innocent human beings affected by wars that have been fought in the name of Oil.
Please stop... drilling, killing, fighting, hating, lying...
...no matter how many dollars and cents we may save along the way.
The Frightful Equation
Drilling offshore is the W Administration's next to last theft of American taxpayers'$$. It guarantees U.S. subsidies for oil exploration that is totally unnecessary! It's more $$ for the oil industry for another ten years! By the way, what guarantees that the oil mega-corps will sell the oil to the U.S anyway?? It seems to me that in a global economy they will sell to the highest bidder ... maybe China who holds our Treasury bills? (and soon our economy)
The only industry that will outpace the oil industry's talons on our necks is the weapons' industry that has already guaranteed themselves 20 years of American taxpayers' $$ to re-build our strategic reserve of defense weapons. Doesn't anybody see this? Bush=Oil and Cheney=Weapons. Add them together and you get the solution to the equation .... Iraq.
'BRILLIANT!' .... How could a nation be so duped?
Post new comment