However, if we drill what there is domestically, fully exploit wind, encourage synfuel coal, build nuclear, natural gas, residential solar, and otherwise diversify our energy supply, we could reduce our foreign oil dependence massively to where a cut in supply from any one region or country would only effect the mix by a few percent.
Wind, coal, nuclear and solar will not displace much oil consumption.
More than two thirds of all oil in the US is used for transport. Most of the rest goes for plastics, lubricant etc.
About the only oil that could be easily displaced is that used for home heating, and that's a few percent of the total.
The problem with oil is that it's becoming too expensive. You can't solve that problem by proposing even more expensive alternatives like electric cars, cng cars etc.
In Europe we have very high fuel taxes, taking the price of gasoline and diesel to over $8 a gallon. Do you know what powers cars in Europe? Diesel and gasoline. Even at $8 or more a gallon, the alternatives are still more expensive.
There is one thing the US could do to eliminate its dependence on foreign oil, but it's unpalatable to most Americans. Tax fuel more. Get diesel and gasoline up to $8 a gallon in the US and you will use about as much per capita as western Europe, which is not much more than half what you use now. Do that and the US would need about 12 million barrels a day, nearly all of which would come from the US, Canada and Mexico.
I think it's safe to assume she knows more about her own state than you or I do.
She's a politician. You know, one of those people who lie for a living.
What exploration needs to be done in ANWR?
They have to explore to find where to drill. They know there is oil in the area, but not how much, or exactly where. From the EIA report, 2008:
There is little direct knowledge regarding the petroleum geology of the ANWR region. The USGS oil resource estimates are based largely on the oil productivity of geologic formations that exist in the neighboring State lands and which continue into ANWR. Consequently, there is considerable uncertainty regarding both the size and quality of the oil resources that exist in ANWR. Thus, the potential ultimate oil recovery and potential yearly production are highly uncertain.
They already know exactly where to drill, it's a 2000 acre section of the coastal plain.
I think you are a bit confused about this "2000 acres" thing.
The north coastal plain of ANWR where they want to explore and drill is 1.5 million acres. The figure of 2000 acres comes from a senate proposal that the total surface area of all the oil installations would not not exceed 2,000 acres. So that's, for example, 200 10 acre bases each containing a well head, helipad, couple of buildings etc (of course it would consist of lots of different sized facilities, that's just an example)
So no, there's isn't a 2000 acre plot where they know to drill, there's 1.5 million acres that have to be explored, because all they know at the moment is the basic geology of the area.
