HERE & NOW!
If you haven't already seen it, check out the following article from the Sacramento Union newspaper last month. Some very poignant remarks in the later half of the column.
http://www.sacunion.com/pages/columns/print/9951/
I say, “Drill Here, Drill Now”. If the estimates are even close to accurate for the amounts of natural resources available to us within our own territory, the USA could become a net exporter in 6 to 7 years once ANWR drilling, continental shelf oil and natural gas drilling, and shale-oil recovery are fully online. If the liberal knuckleheads will wake up to reality.
What about alternative fuels you ask?
Does ethanol cost less at the pump that standard gasoline/petrol? Nope. The stations I've purchased it at charge exactly the same price for each.
We need electric and hybrid cars you say... Great! :-) I've been to my local dealers... they don't have any to sell. :-( They are all going to the big 8 emissions control states like California. So I'm stuck with good 'ol fossil fuels.
The money the oil companies would spend to develop those drilling and recovery sites should be put into development of alternative power you say? Great. Build more nuclear power plants. "OH NO! We couldn't do that!" the tree hugger cries out in reply. "They aren't safe! What about 3 mile island?!?" Dude, Three Mile Island happened in 1979. That's almost 30 years ago! The Commodore-64 didn't even exist then. Technology has changed and improved. We have safe nuclear power operating in the USA already, why not build more?
What about wind-power and hydro-electric you ask? Wind-power isn't cost effective. The cost of the amount of land needed to build enough windmill operations to provide any significant power output, combined with the cost to maintain the giant machines far outweighs any benefit. The studies have been done... it just doesn't add up to an effective use of resources.
And hydro? We've got it where we can... but again, tree huggers prevent the building of additional dams for power generation. Because the resevoirs created behind the dams disrupt the natural surroundings. So what can we do?
Only by fully utilizing our available natural resources can we supplement alternative power and fuel methods and become independent of foreign interests! It's that word "supplement" that's the key. We need to drill now! The Democrats say 'it will take 6+ years to realize the benefit if we start drilling now'...? Okay. And your point is??? Doesn't that mean we should START NOW!?!
And what about the Democrat's poster child for ecological affairs, the inventor of the internet, Mr. Al Gore? Did you know, in his 2000 book “Earth in the Balance,” former Vice President Al Gore advocated increasing energy taxes on consumers to decrease the incentive to pollute. Seven years earlier, in 1993, Gore cast the tie-breaking vote in the Senate to increase the federal gas tax to 18.4 cents, where it stands today.
Good ‘ol Al is laughing all the way to the bank… As seen on CapitalResearch.Org, Noel Sheppard of NewsBusters reports that Al Gore’s investment firm, Generation Investment Management (GIM) has acquired a significant stake in a firm that deals in carbon credits, confirming once again that Al Gore is a global warming profiteer. According to Thomson Financial, GIM acquired a 9.5% interest in Camco International Ltd., a carbon asset developer.
Can you spell "Hypocrite"??? I know you can.
I think I'll vote for a Republican and take my chances.
Labels: Al Gore, Alternative Fuel, ANWR, Democrats, Ethanol, Hypocrisy, Oil
posted by Suthnuh at 12:08 AM
5 Comments:
Oh...I LOVE you.
And I love ya :) Two different reasons.
7:26 AM
Cool. I was worried maybe I was a little over the top, but the more I read it, the more I think I got the tone just right. :-D
The first "LOVE" I understand. The second... took me a minute to catch on... and the feeling is mutual.
I takes good lovin' where ever I finds it. :-)
9:51 AM
I gotta say you are missing the point as is this 'SacUnion' paper. If you want to quote on something so complex as energy policies, I would do it from a more reputable source.
First: Ethanol is not an alternative fuel. Its a dirt eating crop that takes more energy to grow than it yields and it mixes with GASOLINE anyway...
Second: A shortage of hybrid cars is temporary and is not a real solution either. It takes more 'fuel' to make a hybrid than most people will save over the life of driving one instead of a 'normal' car.
Third: How is discussing fuel/cars related to 'oil companies' getting into electric generation instead of their core business? Building Nuclear power plants will not help offset the need for oil. America uses far more coal for electric generation than anything else.
By the way - Chernobyl happened in 1986. We already had MACs by that time. That isn't a comment that Nuclear is not an option, I personally think its the best for electric generation - but to my first point, this helps us with the GLOBAL oil shortage how?
Fourth: Asking folks to change behavior doesn't work alone. Incentivizing them to do so (taxes) does help. 'Give a Hoot, Don't Pollute' as cute as it the slogan was, acid rain came after this little gem hit the popular culture.
Our Federal gasoline tax is one of the lowest in the world and needs to be increased much higher to capture the true cost of operating highways. Here in California, our state tax on gas is on top of the Federal, is 45.5 cents for a total of 63.9 (highest in the nation) and we also have the largest amount of roads, highways etc etc. Seems fair to me.
Just a tiny bit of research I found this little gem for you to digest:
"The federal gas tax was last raised in 1993, from 14.1 cents a gallon to the current 18.4 cents. Adjusted for inflation, that makes our current tax the equivalent of only 12.4 cents a gallon in 1993 dollars. It is interesting to note that if in 1959, the year Congress established the National Highway Trust Fund, the then 4 cent tax was pegged to inflation, consumers would now be paying about 29.4 cents a gallon." (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-goldstein/the-falling-federal-gas-t_b_100379.html)
Or in other words, the tax set in 1993 is extremely LOW. Next you are telling me you think that the CAFE standards shouldn't be raised either....? (Again, forces a change in behavior at the Manufacturer level which forces the consumer to comply through purchase choice)
Fifth: After raising the tax on gasoline, seven years later Gore suggested 'charging polluters' and then turned around and invested in a free market idea that allows companies that can't/won't change their pollution output to be able to legally comply by 'trading' carbon credits. How is this hypocritical? It enforces exactly what he proposed: TAX/CHARGE/FEE the polluters.
Are you seriously ignoring the Republican party's ignorance of environmental issues, EXTREMELY POOR RECORD on Energy Policy (and ignoring the fact that these oil companies are being tax subsidized by American income Tax paying people to the tune of BILLIONS OF DOLLARS EVERY YEAR, all the while they are making profits never heard of in the history of commerce, why are we giving them tax breaks again? This is above and beyond the Federal Subsidies these same companies receive for exploration and renewable energy research for many more BILLIONS.
While I am a leftist liberal (after all I am a Californian now) I don't think TAXING record profits of a successful company is correct either, but end the tax subsidy for damn sure.
The statement of 'voting Replublican' how has the last 8 years worked out here? When the first 4 of those years we also matched with a Republican majority in the House AND Senate - what did this party do to stop the bleeding of oil, the decrease in the dependency of foreign energy, the increase in funding for renewable energy? What about the fiscal conservancy they are so proud of? Blowing one of the largest Federal surpluses in recent history (50 years) and turning into the quickest, largest Federal debt.
I got news for you right wing, jingoist, narrow visioned, short memory folks: By all measures these last 7 years are the worst on record and that was with the Republicant's steering the ship. No thanks - I for one already gave them a chance and its been blown to smithereens. Along with several other countries to boot.
1:22 AM
I've been feeling this way for a while. I think we should also help Russia get into their oil, so we're not so damn dependant on the Middle East. But overall, the less we have to rely on people who hate us, the better.
6:22 PM
Who is Raleigh Man?
9:48 AM
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