Pulling a Train

[ScottC]

Originally Posted by spence

Another knock on the absurd Cuba policy this country has embraced for all these years

And before anyone starts bashing environmentalists for the oil restrictions in the Gulf...they were passed under a GOP controlled Senate under Reagan and made stronger under Bush 41! Clinton extended the restrictions...

-spence

Yup, we need to do somthing or we will be the only country in the world NOT drilling.

[spence]

Good point, the USA doesn't do any actual drilling

Problem is, a lot of the independent oil companies don't want to invest in exploration, they're using profits for stock buy backs and dividends instead.

The Government controlled producers are where the action is these days, but they are less efficient and more political.

That's the situation in a nutshell...the free market forces are being driven by geo-political influence.

Allowing free market producers access to ANWR or the Gulf of Mexico isn't going to change the equation of the Global Market, unless you want to Federalize the oil exploration.

-spence

[ScottC]

Originally Posted by spence

Good point, the USA doesn't do any actual drilling

Problem is, a lot of the independent oil companies don't want to invest in exploration, they're using profits for stock buy backs and dividends instead.

The Government controlled producers are where the action is these days, but they are less efficient and more political.

That's the situation in a nutshell...the free market forces are being driven by geo-political influence.

Allowing free market producers access to ANWR or the Gulf of Mexico isn't going to change the equation of the Global Market, unless you want to Federalize the oil exploration.

-spence

Couldn't agree more. We need to form an energy specific panel of elected officials that we can put under a magnifying glass. This way it is thier ass on the line if we do not see improvments.

[Skitterpop]

We are in a crisis situation and have been. Wish we could appropriate 1/2 the billions in profits from BIG OIL and get some feasible viable safe alternative fuel/energy sources active in our day to day systems....NOW.

[Pete_G]

Originally Posted by Indanite

We are in a crisis situation and have been. Wish we could appropriate 1/2 the billions in profits from BIG OIL and get some feasible viable safe alternative fuel/energy sources active in our day to day systems....NOW.

There was a great piece about Brazil and ethanol on Dateline. This past Sunday I think. Not sure if anyone caught it or not.

An impressive % of the fuel they use these days is ethanol. But the change has been decades in the making, taking place while we debate tapping the somewhat pointless ANWR...

http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/display.article?id=6817

[Pete_G]

Originally Posted by ScottC

Yup, we need to do somthing or we will be the only country in the world NOT drilling.

Unfortunately we really don't have enough oil in our country to really put a dent in our consumption. Best case numbers show that.

ANWR is relative drop in the bucket. Most estimates say at the very best it would be 5 cents or so a gallon at the pump and on top of that feeling the effects of it would be years away.

I'm on the ethanol bandwagon currently... Long term indepenence from the Middle East needs to come from within this country but it won't be from dino juice.