Thread: Drill here, drill now, pay less!

Originally Posted by Kantian Pragmatist

I came upon an analogy to this issue that I think is quite apropos.

I also have an apropos analogy (where's my dictionary?):

I'm looking for an alternative energy source regardless of the price of oil. I'd rather pay less at the pump than more while I search for that alternative energy.

Or:

Let's just stop buying oil immediately and sell what we have to other countries and see what happens

That pain's coming, now or later, to be felt by us or by our grandchildren. When you have a bitter pill to swallow, it's usually best to swallow it now and get it done with, rather than putting it off.

Paying a higher price than is necessary for oil isn't a pill to swallow. Pills are swallowed in order to alleviate symptoms. How does keeping ourselves from using our own oil equate to swallowing a pill?

First of all it was just announced that the oil companies have 68,000,000 acres of oil lease land that they already have access to drill and they are not doing so. They don't need more land. I believe that as long as they get top dollar for doing less work they will continue to do so. Greed for them out weighs any harm to the American economy or its people.
Add to that, we supply 2% of the oil and consume 25% of the world production even if we quadrupled our production, something I don't believe the oil companies even want to do, we would not reach our needs. Only 17% of the oil imported comes from th middle east. Most from Canada and Mexico and I don't feel that we are at war with them certainly not as threatened by them as we are by the limitless grred of our own oil companies.
Kurt

Originally Posted by kmag

First of all it was just announced that the oil companies have 68,000,000 acres of oil lease land that they already have access to drill and they are not doing so. They don't need more land. I believe that as long as they get top dollar for doing less work they will continue to do so. Greed for them out weighs any harm to the American economy or its people.
Add to that, we supply 2% of the oil and consume 25% of the world production even if we quadrupled our production, something I don't believe the oil companies even want to do, we would not reach our needs. Only 17% of the oil imported comes from th middle east. Most from Canada and Mexico and I don't feel that we are at war with them certainly not as threatened by them as we are by the limitless grred of our own oil companies.
Kurt

I'd like to add that the department of the interior has conservatively projected that drilling that lease land that's not currently being worked (I read 33 million in that report) would provide nearly 5 million barrels/day and about 45 million cubic feet of natural gas/day. Why if we are so desperate for "homegrown" oil aren't we drilling there? They've already paid for the rights to drill there, why not do so?

[my guess with no basis in fact] it's too far from current pipelines and the oil companies don't want to have to build the infrastructure[/my guess with no basis in fact]

They dont care what you pay for oil, the more the better. Why shouldnt they use mid east oil now and conserve their oil(not yours,even if it is on federal land) for later. After all what would it profit them. They've been playing the oil shortage card since ww1, there is no(not enough) profit in a glut.

I wonder what restrictions or environmental/other things are also in place to hinder drilling in those locations(?)
Also I believe there are political treaties at work with the Saudis that somehow come into play here.

Meanwhile, I'm converting my truck to nuclear. One fill up every 20 years.

John P.

Where do I sign up for that!?

To my knowledge once the land is leased for drilling there are very few limitations aside from those osha sets forth. But I think the thums islands in california are a great model for how offshore drilling can be safe, profitable and not an eyesore.

Edit: at any rate I can't see the new locations being less restrictive than the current ones.

Originally Posted by Kantian Pragmatist

That pain's coming, now or later, to be felt by us or by our grandchildren. When you have a bitter pill to swallow, it's usually best to swallow it now and get it done with, rather than putting it off.

Besides just saying a heartfelt "Amen, Brother," I'd only add that you can't drill fast enough in the current climate. Demand will always rise to exceed supply. We need a new paradigm, and we need it now.

Thanks for the post.

j

If the oil companies have the option to drill and are not drilling, then why are they pushing to open to open the refuge in Alaska for drilling? I am slow, I don't get it...

(another question I ask hoping someone does not have to take the burden to research, just if you already happen to know is fine )

Originally Posted by hoglahoo

If the oil companies have the option to drill and are not drilling, then why are they pushing to open to open the refuge in Alaska for drilling? I am slow, I don't get it...

(another question I ask hoping someone does not have to take the burden to research, just if you already happen to know is fine )

I wonder what good a political red herring is when a lot of people want to raise your taxes? Think about the political context here. People are mad about paying $4.00 a gallon for gas. They're mad that politicians don't seem to be doing anything about it. And when they learn that the big oil companies are the most profitable industries in human history, they get even madder. Makes people want to hurt the oil companies in return for all the pain they're putting up with to finance those profits. The only thing oil companies can do is shift the blame. "The reason gas prices are so high is because that's what the market will bear," they claim. "There's not enough supply to meet demand, so we should do something that will take over a decade to make any difference, and that provokes the typical environmental concerns that will further delay anything meaningful. Pay no attention to our profit margins that are larger than three quarter's of the world's nation's gross domestic products. Tens of billions of dollars of profit per quarter, per company, have nothing to do with the high price of gasoline."

Originally Posted by hoglahoo

I also have an apropos analogy (where's my dictionary?):

I'm looking for an alternative energy source regardless of the price of oil. I'd rather pay less at the pump than more while I search for that alternative energy.

Or:

Let's just stop buying oil immediately and sell what we have to other countries and see what happens



Paying a higher price than is necessary for oil isn't a pill to swallow. Pills are swallowed in order to alleviate symptoms. How does keeping ourselves from using our own oil equate to swallowing a pill?

Do I really have to walk you through what an analogy is? Paying a higher price is like swallowing a bitter pill because both are unpleasant, yet that unpleasantness is needed in order to get better. The "better" that results from higher prices of gasoline is higher motivation to develop viable alternatives. That's what an analogy does, it says thing A is like thing B in certain ways.

What you present is not an analogy, but rather a false dichotomy. It is false because neither of the options you present are plausible or what anybody thinks will happen. If you pay less at the pump, you won't search for the alternative. And nobody's suggested we stop buying oil immediately and sell off what we have to other countries, so I don't know where you're getting that.

You can get your dander up all you want about "those darn liberals" putting things like the environment and our moral and financial future ahead of private profit, but being hyperbolic like that doesn't help your case.

Originally Posted by Kantian Pragmatist

I wonder what good a political red herring is when a lot of people want to raise your taxes? Think about the political context here. People are mad about paying $4.00 a gallon for gas. They're mad that politicians don't seem to be doing anything about it. And when they learn that the big oil companies are the most profitable industries in human history, they get even madder. Makes people want to hurt the oil companies in return for all the pain they're putting up with to finance those profits. The only thing oil companies can do is shift the blame. "The reason gas prices are so high is because that's what the market will bear," they claim. "There's not enough supply to meet demand, so we should do something that will take over a decade to make any difference, and that provokes the typical environmental concerns that will further delay anything meaningful. Pay no attention to our profit margins that are larger than three quarter's of the world's nation's gross domestic products. Tens of billions of dollars of profit per quarter, per company, have nothing to do with the high price of gasoline."



.

Politicians pull these tricks too! I wonder if that is what the politician was up to when he made the claim about the oil companies, which begs the question that if the politicians knew this information why didn't they bring it forth earlier to get something done instead of waiting until the blame was laid at their feet? are they complicit or are they lying? either way it makes them look foolish!