Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: LePaul on June 13, 2008, 12:28:59 AM
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Sitting on an Ocean of Energy, Doing Nothing
By Daniel Henninger
Charles de Gaulle once wrote off the nation of Brazil in six words: "Brazil is not a serious country." How much time is left before someone says the same of the United States?
One thing Brazil and the U.S. have in common is the price of oil: It is priced in dollars, and everyone in the world now knows what the price is. Another commonality is that each country has vast oil reserves in waters off their coastlines.
Here we may draw a line in the waves between the serious and the unserious.
Brazil discovered only yesterday (November) that billions of barrels of oil sit in difficult water beneath a swath of the Santos Basin, 180 miles offshore from Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. The U.S. has known for decades that at least 8.5 billion proven barrels of oil sit off its Pacific, Atlantic and Gulf coasts, with the Interior Department estimating 86 billion barrels of undiscovered oil resources.
When Brazil made this find last November, did its legislature announce that, for fear of oil spills hitting Rio's beaches or altering the climate, it would forgo exploiting these fields?
Of course it didn't. Guilherme Estrella, director of exploration and production for the Brazilian oil company Petrobras, said, "It's an extraordinary position for Brazil to be in." Indeed it is.
At this point in time, is there another country on the face of the earth that would possess the oil and gas reserves held by the United States and refuse to exploit them? Only technical incompetence, as in Mexico, would hold anyone back.
But not us. We won't drill.
California won't drill for the estimated 1.3 billion barrels of recoverable oil off its coast because of bad memories of the Santa Barbara oil spill - in 1969.
We won't drill for the estimated 5.6 billion to 16 billion barrels of oil in the moonscape known as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) because of - the caribou.
In 1990, George H.W. Bush, calling himself "the environmental president," signed an order putting virtually all the U.S. outer continental shelf's oil and gas reserves in the deep freeze. Bill Clinton extended that lockup until 2013. A Clinton veto also threw away the key to ANWR's oil 13 years ago.
Our waters may hold 60 trillion untapped cubic feet of natural gas. As in Brazil, these are surely conservative estimates.
While Brazilians proudly embrace Petrobras, yelling "We're Going to Be No. 1," the U.S.'s Democratic nominee for president, Barack Obama, promises to impose an "excess profits tax" on American oil producers.
We live in a world in which Russia's Vladimir Putin and Venezuela's Hugo Chávez use their vast oil and gas reserves as instruments of state power. Here, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid use their control of Congress to spend a week debating a "climate-change" bill. This they did fresh off their subsidized (and bipartisan) ethanol fiasco.
One may assume that Mr. Putin and the Chinese have noticed the policy obsessions of our political class. While other nations use their oil reserves to attain world status, we give ours up. Why shouldn't they conclude that, long term, these people can be taken? Nikita Khrushchev said, "We will bury you." Forget that. We'll do it ourselves.
Putin intimidates Ukraine, Georgia, the Baltic states and Poland with oil and gas cutoffs, while Chávez uses petrodollars to bankroll Colombian terrorists. Cuba plans to exploit its Caribbean oil fields within a long tee shot of the Florida Keys with help from India, Spain, Venezuela, Canada, Norway, Malaysia, even Vietnam. But America won't drill. Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida said just last month he's afraid of an oil spill. Katrina wrecked the oil rigs in the Gulf with no significant damage from leaking oil.
Some portion of the current $4-per-gallon gasoline may be attributable to the Federal Reserve's inflationary monetary policy or even speculators. But we can wave goodbye to the $1.25/gallon gasoline that in 1990 allowed a President Bush to airily lock away the nation's oil and gas jewels. This isn't your father's world of energy. New world powers are coming online fast, and they need energy. We need to get back in the game.
The goal shouldn't be "energy independence," a ridiculous notion in an economically integrated world. It's about admitting the need to strike a balance between the energy and security realities of the here-and-now and the potentialities of the future. Some of our best and brightest want to pursue alternative energy technologies, and they should be encouraged to do so, inside market disciplines. But let's at least stop pretending the rest of the world is going to play along with our environmentalist moralisms.
The Democrats' climate-change bill collapsed last week under the weight of brutal cost realities. It was a wake-up call. This is the year Americans joined the real world of energy costs. Now someone needs to explain to them why we - and we alone - are sitting on an ocean of energy but won't drill for it.
You'd think the "national security" nominee, John McCain, would get this. He's clueless - a don't-drill zombie. We may mark this down as the year the U.S. tired of being a serious country.
Daniel Henninger is deputy editor of The Wall Street Journal's editorial page.
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Some portion of the current $4-per-gallon gasoline may be attributable to the Federal Reserve's inflationary monetary policy or even speculators. But we can wave goodbye to the $1.25/gallon gasoline that in 1990 allowed a President Bush to airily lock away the nation's oil and gas jewels. This isn't your father's world of energy. New world powers are coming online fast, and they need energy. We need to get back in the game.
Indeed.
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too late. We are living in the decline of the US. Done in from the inside, political correctness and liberalism run amock. Death from within, much like Rome. I'd venture to say that we will witness the US being a third rate country, second rate maybe, as far as political clout in the world, in our life time.
I can only hope I'm living in the part of the country that revolts and goes out on it's own, free of those who take our rights.
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we are consuming theirs.
it ultimately gives ours greater value.
but oil is not the answer either folks. it will never go away, but i think we can get rid of a great many combustion engines if we actually put our nogs to it.
lets get em out of our rumps and get creative.
we are a nation of inventors. or at least we could be if we werent suddenly always looking for the chicken exit.
my .02
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too late. We are living in the decline of the US. Done in from the inside, political correctness and liberalism run amock. Death from within, much like Rome. I'd venture to say that we will witness the US being a third rate country, second rate maybe, as far as political clout in the world, in our life time.
I can only hope I'm living in the part of the country that revolts and goes out on it's own, free of those who take our rights.
drama.
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edit
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spot on !!
RACK HIM!!!
some very smart cat said this here the other day:
When the worlds #1 Industrial Superpower capitulates to liberal causes that provide for:
* No Drilling for Oil in Anwar or the Gulf Of Mexico...
* No Building of new Nuclear Power Stations...
* No Building of new Hydro Electric Dams...
* No Building of new Petroleum Refineries...
* No Building of new Coal Burning Facilities...
it's pretty much a given that it's the beginning of the end for said industrial superpower..........
Glad we could save the spotted owl...and destroy ourselves in the process.
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When we do... and we will....
That Hummer and escalade and other hot rods that guys stashed in their garages cause they could buy em for a grand or so.... well.. they will be worth 100 times what you paid for em.
We will drill for oil. The soccer moms are getting pi...ed. the womenly men are crying like babies and begging for the government to "do something". either way.. the only real thing the government can do is to get the oil and build some nuclear power plants and damn..
The ponytailed "environmentalists" and algore alarmists will be used for traction to get to the pumps by the soccer moms who used to sympathize with em.
The pendulum will swing. They have shown us a glimpse of the socialist utopia and we are beginning to see just how bad it will be for our freedom and way of life.
It will all work out. Much as I would love to see algore and his doomandgloomers all hanging from lamposts everywhere in America... It won't come to that.
"hope and change" will ring pretty hollow when the pumps are empty or you can't afford a fillup.
lazs
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I may be wrong here........but isn't the primary risk in oil spills, that of shipping......and not of drilling?
I live on the gulf of mexico.......I fish it.......I swim in it.....I'm amazed by it's beauty......and I am all for putting up as many oil rigs as possible......and even a land based refinery to two.
China is building on average 4 coal burning plants a day....... us? none in 40 years. almost the same with dams and nuke plants......we need to wake up and establish priorities. Anwar is an ice field....it's not a forrest....... drill it.
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Well, recent developments have demonstrated the idiocy of the policy of "burning up someone else's oil while we save our own...yuk, yuk." After decades of that type of thinking, and environmentalist polcies that left our own energy resources largely untapped, we find ourselves at the mercy of international energy policies and economic forces largely beyond our control.
Even if we begin drilling in ANWAR and along the continental shelf, build new nuclear plants, develop bio-diesel fuels, pass legislation mandating smaller cars, and build new hydroelectric generating dams, it will be a minimum of five years before those actions would have any measurable impact on the current situation.
As someone said in another thread about this topic; "Its great to be self-righteous and stupid...."
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Even if we begin drilling in ANWAR and along the continental shelf, build new nuclear plants, develop bio-diesel fuels, pass legislation mandating smaller cars, and build new hydroelectric generating dams, it will be a minimum of five years before those actions would have any measurable impact on the current situation.
the problem with this is........I heard it ten years ago.....
Let's get working on it NOW...take the pain now........reap the rewards in the future.
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LePaul, I consider this to be a public service message.
I know "we -will- be- drilling".
but you won't see it until after the pres. election. partisan politics won't allow common sense b/4 then, But it won't be long thereafter.
its just sad that neither of the presidential hopefulls have the balls to take the bull by the horns.
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Here's an article on WHY?...
our prices are soooooo high!
http://www.kusi.com/weather/colemanscorner/19842304.html
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What an amazing fraud; what a scam.
Amen
I believe if drilling were to begin, the true driver of gasoline prices (the futures market) will drastically change in this county and we will begin to see the fall of gas prices up to and including, a drastic decline at the pump.
Osama Obama is going to tax the oil companies which, in turn, will force gas prices even higher. Gee Thanks you twit.
The solution is the threat of the Good Ol' USA becoming self reliant on oil by domestic drilling, production and sale. Period.
:aok
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Okay I'm only askin this for a friend....
Which stovetop stuffing goes well with Spotted Owl...the Original or Chicken?
Mac
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Original. The subtle flavor of Spotted Owl can easily be lost in the overbearing artificial chicken flavoring.
Oh, and remember... Spotted Owl will dry out on you in a heartbeat. Best to go rare or at most medium rare on it.
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Thanx Toad.
There's nothin worse than a mouth full of dried out Spotted Owl.
Red Wine with it right?
Reason I'm askin is I have to prepare a dish for our Local Green Peace meeting Sunday.
Mac
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Definitely a fruity red whine if you're going to share with Green Peace.
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no matter what you do to em... spotted owls taste terrible.
They have a use tho... when the forests were not allowed to be cut and there was a shortage of toilet paper... it was found that a properly fluffed up spotted owl made an excellent butt wipe.
lazs
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Well, out of the last six I had, I smoked 2 of those, roasted two and fried two.
The smoked ones were really not that good; even in a water smoker they tended towards the dry side.
The fried ones.. well, fried food is fried food. Nothing special.
But the ones roasted rare with the brandy cream sauce and mushrooms were pretty decent.
Your mileage may vary.
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I just hope none of you guys cook any of the spotted owls I have used for personal hygene.
lazs
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We are living in the decline of the US. Done in from the inside, political correctness and liberalism run amock.
Yup...damn Republicants.
"In 1990, George H.W. Bush, calling himself "the environmental president," signed an order putting virtually all the U.S. outer continental shelf's oil and gas reserves in the deep freeze."
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Yup...damn Republicants.
"In 1990, George H.W. Bush, calling himself "the environmental president," signed an order putting virtually all the U.S. outer continental shelf's oil and gas reserves in the deep freeze."
1990 — President George Herbert Walker Bush, Sr. used his power under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to withdraw areas offshore California, southern Florida, the North Atlantic states, Washington and Oregon from leasing consideration until after 2000. (Source: U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy Final Report, July 22, 2004. Page 354.)
Hey! It's after 2000! For a while now...