Should the US drill for more oil?

[Lakryte]

I personally think so. I believe that if we truly want to be energy independent, we must first start drilling for oil and cut ties with OPEC and other nations that we import petroleum from. Our cars still run on gasoline, and I don't see that changing in the near future. Thoughts? Provide sources/evidence if you make any factual arguments.

 

[Cephus]

Absolutely, drill wherever there is oil to rid ourselves of foreign dependence. Also, work on alternative fuel sources that can replace oil, not which are a pale shadow of what oil can do like most alternative fuels currently do.

 

[Just Plain Jim]

John Kerry, during his campaign against Bush talked of weening ourselves off of foreign oil by starting a Manhattan type project. That message never got to the people because the press was focusing on non issues, such as the Swifties, even issues that had long since been discredited.

The press is the only business that is constitutionally protected. While they have always been somewhat of a tabloid nature to get their circulation up, in the last few decades it seems to have gotten worse to the point where policy is not being decided by real issues, but rather who can scream the loudest to get on page one.

I worked in the Business of News for a decade, from when Clinton was in office thru most of Bush's presidency. I went in with lofty dreams that I was doing something worthwhile and left ashamed that we are no better then a mouthpiece for government and big business.

The problem today is our press is owned by 6 or 7 big enterprises. There is little in the way of independent news, it's mostly stuff from AP and the like.

As far as drilling for more oil, I am not sure that is the answer considering that it takes years to develope and then I go back to Kerry and think to myself, if only we chose to get on the fast track instead of the war track to secure oil. Where would we be today? I think in better shape.

We still have a choice of putting together a Manhattan type project, but our leadership is stuck in propetual OPEC.

Jim



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[Orion]

The idea of self-reliance and independence is a myth. We live in a complex-interdependent world now. The U.S. will never ween itself off of foreign oil because virtually all of its sources are foreign. At least your biggest supplier is Canada, who is an ally. But I guess if you'd rather Canada sell your oil to OPEC instead of give it to you, that could probably be arranged...

 

[apdst]

We should do it to create jobs, if nothing else.

 

[Realist1]

I personally think so. I believe that if we truly want to be energy independent, we must first start drilling for oil and cut ties with OPEC and other nations that we import petroleum from. Our cars still run on gasoline, and I don't see that changing in the near future. Thoughts? Provide sources/evidence if you make any factual arguments.

That makes sense to me. Therefore,,,you'll have the likes of "Al Gore" attacking you.:lol: The mentally disabled, with a pronounced stutter, when "challenged" to answer a direct question.

Typical Liberals.:lol:

 

[Lakryte]

The idea of self-reliance and independence is a myth. We live in a complex-interdependent world now. The U.S. will never ween itself off of foreign oil because virtually all of its sources are foreign. At least your biggest supplier is Canada, who is an ally. But I guess if you'd rather Canada sell your oil to OPEC instead of give it to you, that could probably be arranged...

Read that again. That's the whole point. If we drill more oil here at home, most of our sources wont be foreign anymore....:doh

 

[obvious Child]

Read that again. That's the whole point. If we drill more oil here at home, most of our sources wont be foreign anymore....:doh

Except we'd still be beholden to them through the pricing mechanism of oil. Doesn't sound like a good plan for America.

Should we drill? Sure.

But we should be perfectly aware that drilling is nothing more than buying time to get off oil and off the commodity exchange system that favors OPEC, Russia and other diametrically opposed countries and blocs.

 

[Ockham]

The question is why WOULDN'T the U.S. drill and become more energy independent?

 

[Grim17]

Should we?
YES

Will we?
NO

Drilling for our own oil makes sense in far too many ways for the democrats to ever go for it.

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[Just Plain Jim]

Should we?


Drilling for our own oil makes sense in far too many ways for the democrats to ever go for it.

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I do believe I pointed out where a democrat wanted to do something about our oil situation, but was drowned out by partisan BS.

I don't think either party has the corner on the market of stupidity.

 

[jackalope]

Can Offshore Drilling Save the Climate Bill?
by Nate Silver @ 6:43 AM
Bookmark and Share Share This Content

The timing is a bit odd, considering that the full Senate is finally about to take up the Democrats' health care bill. But a somewhat surprising editorial in this Sunday's New York Times by Sens. John Kerry and Lindsay Graham has given hope to some very smart climate-policy watchers that a substantive climate bill may indeed pass the Senate this year.

(snip ... )But the bill that Kerry and Graham are promoting is a different bill than the Waxman-Markey bill that the House approved. Although not yet fully formed, it appears to include support for both offshore drilling and nuclear energy, which the Waxman bill did not. It is really quite similar, actually, to the "all-of-the-above" approach advanced by John McCain on the campaign trail last year.

more ...

FiveThirtyEight: Politics Done Right: Can Offshore Drilling Save the Climate Bill?

I thought this was an interesting post. It seems to fit in this thread.

 

[obvious Child]

The question is why WOULDN'T the U.S. drill and become more energy independent?

Explain to me how we become more energy independent when the large producers of oil currently have a pricing system that allows them to manipulate prices to suit their needs.

Or are you for nationalization of US oil assets and isolation from the world commodity oil markets?

 

[apdst]

Explain to me how we become more energy independent when the large producers of oil currently have a pricing system that allows them to manipulate prices to suit their needs.

Or are you for nationalization of US oil assets and isolation from the world commodity oil markets?

Pricing has nothing to do with energy independence.

 

[drz-400]

Yes we should continie to drill for oil.

I am no expert in this field but I don't understand what is so political about it, why are companies not drilling for oil in the U.S.? Probobly because it is not profitable to do here.

Here is my opinion of why:

Becuase of federally protected lands? maybe
However, I like national parks and wilderness areas, they can drill on the other 75% of the U.S.

Because of environmental laws? maybe
But I like clean drinking water.

Because there is not enough of it here and its harder to get out of the ground here? yes

 

[obvious Child]

Pricing has nothing to do with energy independence.

Really?

Okay, explain this to me. If we drill oil here, and OPEC/Russia and the others jack prices up on global commodity markets to the point where we cannot afford to even purchase our own oil for our own use in any real manner, have we achieved energy independence? (or you could just flee from hard questions as you normally do and keep pretending you actually have a clue)

Pricing has everything to do with energy independence.

 

[American]

The idea of self-reliance and independence is a myth. We live in a complex-interdependent world now. The U.S. will never ween itself off of foreign oil because virtually all of its sources are foreign. At least your biggest supplier is Canada, who is an ally. But I guess if you'd rather Canada sell your oil to OPEC instead of give it to you, that could probably be arranged...

Why all the hate?

 

[apdst]

Really?

Okay, explain this to me. If we drill oil here, and OPEC/Russia and the others jack prices up on global commodity markets to the point where we cannot afford to even purchase our own oil for our own use in any real manner, have we achieved energy independence? (or you could just flee from hard questions as you normally do and keep pretending you actually have a clue)

Pricing has everything to do with energy independence.

Oil is a commodity. Supply and demand determine the price. Russia and OPEC aren't stupid enough to jack the price up on oil so that no one can afford it. They would be shooting themselves in the foot. Think about it.

We should flood the market with as many barrels of oil as we can. More jobs will be created and it's not like doing so is going to make prices go up.

 

[apdst]

Yes we should continie to drill for oil.

I am no expert in this field but I don't understand what is so political about it, why are companies not drilling for oil in the U.S.? Probobly because it is not profitable to do here.

Here is my opinion of why:

Becuase of federally protected lands? maybe
However, I like national parks and wilderness areas, they can drill on the other 75% of the U.S.

Because of environmental laws? maybe
But I like clean drinking water.

Because there is not enough of it here and its harder to get out of the ground here? yes

If there wasn't enough and it was too hard to get to, then the oil companies wouldn't be chomping at the bit to drill for it.

 

[Cephus]

Oil is a commodity. Supply and demand determine the price. Russia and OPEC aren't stupid enough to jack the price up on oil so that no one can afford it. They would be shooting themselves in the foot. Think about it.

We should flood the market with as many barrels of oil as we can. More jobs will be created and it's not like doing so is going to make prices go up.

Precisely. If we were producing most or all of our own oil, why would we pay any attention to OPEC prices? We could charge whatever we wanted. Look at Argentina. They produce a huge percentage of their own oil and pay about .61 a liter for gas. Yes, some of that is government subsidized, but it's still a lot better than paying $3 a gallon or more.

When we produce the product, we set the prices and if OPEC doesn't like it, they can pound sand.

 

[apdst]

Precisely. If we were producing most or all of our own oil, why would we pay any attention to OPEC prices? We could charge whatever we wanted. Look at Argentina. They produce a huge percentage of their own oil and pay about .61 a liter for gas. Yes, some of that is government subsidized, but it's still a lot better than paying $3 a gallon or more.

When we produce the product, we set the prices and if OPEC doesn't like it, they can pound sand.

You said it better than I did, brother. Along with that, when we flood the market with domestic oil and stop importing the billions of barrels that we do, OPEC will match our pricing so fast it'll make a tree-hugger's head spin. It's called, "business". It's that whole, "competition", thing that Libbos are so fond of.

 

[Orion]

Read that again. That's the whole point. If we drill more oil here at home, most of our sources wont be foreign anymore....:doh

The U.S. doesn't have the oil fields to replace or compete with foreign-bought oil. The long term benefit does not outweigh the long term cost. Okay, so you can drill for domestic oil, and then what? Once the pockets you find are depleted after 15-20 years, you still have to revert to the global market.

While domestic projects are invested in, the government is still paying double: to the foreign oil in the mean time, and to the domestic projects.

Not to mention, why would you cut off Canada and Mexico, which are right next door? Under NAFTA, oil is cheaper from them, and Canada is already your biggest supplier. Why would you shoot yourself in the foot by severing such an effective resource partner? It doesn't make sense.

The idea that the U.S. will ever be self-sufficient in ANYTHING is a delusion. We all depend on the global market to lower our domestic costs and to allow for specialization.

 

[Orion]

Why all the hate?

Why all the assumptions?

 

[drz-400]

If there wasn't enough and it was too hard to get to, then the oil companies wouldn't be chomping at the bit to drill for it.

Then why aren't they producing enough for us? Nothings really stopping them.

Even if we opened up all of our land to drilling their would not be enough oil to satisfy the U.S. demands. Also remember, just because oil is in the ground does not mean it would be profitable to get.

If we attempted to produce only our own oil prices would sore because we could not produce enough and companies would be forced to use marginal oil fields.

 

[Just Plain Jim]

Why not save our oil for a rainy day and put a manhattan type project together to help weene ourselves off of our high dependence of oil?

Michael Moore said in an email that Detroit needs to get away from producing cars with internal cumbustion engines, and to concentrate on green cars and mass transit.

One of the things he pointed out, dispite our talk over the last few decades of putting together a high speed rail system, it is all talk and little action. I have ridden the high speed rail system in China and it is very nice. I have ridden Amtrak in the USA and while it is nice, it has a lot of problems, from being slow to not serving the real needs of the people, especially at an affordable price. For instance, in China I can take the train, from a crowded non air conditioned one for $12 from the central part of China to the coast, to the high speed bullit train in luxury for $50. Buses are the same thing. In the USA we have cars, buses, trains and planes, but of those we don't have many "class" choices to help make it affordable for most everyone.

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