I'm fairly liberal and think we should get economical alternative energy but I NEED some cheaper gas now!!
Have you read anything about this subject?? The oil (which won't help prices anyway) won't be delivered for *10 years*. Your gas prices will be unaffected. Geez. Do some freaking research. BF
No, that's just the only data *you* happen to know about. There is more to the issue, which I outlined. And I suppose you have an insiders view of the issue? I am not the geologist doing the research, no...but my father has been involved for decades, so it does make me a hair closer than most. The point I was making, in my brief opening post, was that the drilling will do nothing to lower oil prices for the US. You seemed to think I was relying on the seismic data from the 80's. I wasn't. Get it straight. Hardly. It was all connected. Perhaps you have data to support the assertion that this drilling will do anything to reduce the US' reliance on foreign oil? I'd be thrilled to read it. Once again--too bad the drilling will do nothing to solve the problem. Too bad the cost of setting up the infrastructure and the cost of extraction will negate any "savings". Too bad the data doesn't support anything you say. Too bad. BF
I'm going to really throw everyone off and say, yes this is great news. I think we should open up drilling off the Florida and Pacific coasts too. Maybe if we opened up the entire country to the possibility of drilling it would get peoples attention. The need for drilling in the Artic is because of how we live folks. I own two SUV's, neither gets better then 19 mpg in the city. Right now the way Americans live, the way our economy functions is all based on cheap oil. If prices go up, people complain. If enough people complain, then the politicians are going to do what is necessary to keep people happy. I'd like to move to a more efficient economy and lessen our daily need for oil in this country. If Americans changed the way they live, then the economics won't be there for drilling in the Artic. Right now enough people believe the need is there. Most Americans put their lifestyle first and most won't care if a rig go up thousands of miles away where only a caribou sees it. Concentrate on getting officials to put a realistic plan in place to move our economy to other forms of energy and maybe 10 years down the road a full functioning oil field in the Artic won't make economic sense.
Or maybe you yourself could stop putting your 2 SUV lifestyle first. Why put the onus on "officals" and do something yourself, if you give a rat's ass? BF
Rat's ass??? I thought you were worried about the caribou ass? My point is change doesn't happen overnight. I have one SUV paid off and have another two years on the other. Hybrid cars are just now starting to come into the auto market and most I wouldn't fit in. My long legs aren't comfortable in most smaller cars. Infrastructure as a whole has to change if society as a whole is too change. I sadly do not have the necessary funds to completely alter my life. Would it be nice to have a fuel efficient mode of transportation where I didn't feel like a sardine in a can, yes. Would it be nice to put solar panels on my roof to help with energy costs, yes. I spend my money housing and feeding my family first. A few years down the road I am hoping that there are more ways to conserve energy and that they are more affordable to purchase.
Then why would you support mass drilling if it wouldn't help with the energy "crisis" anyway? What infrastructure? I'm 6'5" and have never found the need to buy an SUV, let alone 2. Change starts from within and with the individual, in small ways and actions that we do everyday. Always easy to put it off until tomorrow. There are dozens upon dozens of ways to conserve energy, but for most people it involves small sacrifices that are too much of a hassle. BF
Drilling in the Artic is easy for most to swallow, it's far from their backyard. I want the threat of drilling to be in everyones back yard so the motivation to change our lifestyle is greater. No one worries if a tar ball washes up on a Texas beach, but heaven help us if one washes up on a California or Florida beach. Everyone is responsible, but most don't share the environmental risk. I like my SUV's. My personal choice. I would gladly by an SUV that got better gas mileage. I didn't by them for their gas mileage. It's a Jeep thing, you wouldn't understand. Most sacrifices are too much of a hassle; I guess I'm a bad liberal just like I am a bad Lutheran. I wouldn't recycle if the city didn't pick up my recycling at the curb in front of my house. Most people are not going to go out of there way save the planet, otherwise The Sierra Club would have more members.
What's funny to me is that they said there is a little over 10 billion barrels of oil underneath the tundra in Alaska, no? The U.S. uses over 7 billion barrels of oil a year. So, drilling and getting this oil is going to supply us with basically a year and a half of oil for ourselves, if that.
So, if its 10 billion barrels..that works out to $600 billion of imports? $600 billion more we send out this country. $600 billion for what, 1 million animals? 10 million animals?
I was so upset reading about this when I woke up, I actually prayed for Alaska. All this amounts to is another piece of our environment sold to Exxon since you know they need to keep making that 10 billion bux per quarter.
The people of Alaska LOVE THIS. You do realize the citizens of Alaska get a cut of profits each year, so this is going to MAKE them loads of money, greatly improve their economy. It has been proven long ago that drilling for oil doesnt' effect the local wild life... and we have more oil then Iraq untapped because of tree huggers.
I guess you know better about the environment than people who have made it their entire career and life to study it. http://www.defenders.org/releases/pr2005/pr021405.html
Endangered species or species with low numbers in a certain area have thrived in such areas. The oil produced there is "taxed" and that money goes back into the local wildlife creating more money then they could have ever had by traditional funding, thus helping the populations. I don't understand why people just think "strip mining" when it comes to industrialization, last I checked our industrialization has come a LONG way since the early 1900s and the companies take great care of the areas surrounding their work... because if they didn't they would be driven of town. With the drilling technologies we have today (hell even 20 years ago) you can easily drill without effecting the wild life surrounding the area.
For every 1000 scientists you find against, you can find 1000 for... so a "one sided" defenders source is far from viable. I know the Gulf Coast drilling that was supposed to be "horrible" on our sealife has actually improved the sea life and even more platforms are being added each year.
Actually I am against it more because of expectations being over-hyped. 10 billion barrels and we use over 7 a year with that rate increasing almost yearly. Then it is going to be years until this oil is actually where we can use it. So by the time it gets around to where we can use it it may last us all of one year. Yay! It's just giving false hope to many who think that they will see their fuel bills plunge which is basically untrue. I mean they may go down a little but the truth is you're dealing with a non-renewable resource here so eventually it's going to run out and as the supply gets lower and the demand gets higher the prices is going to continue to rise. Instead of looking for more oil the government should be looking into more sources of alternative fuels and how to make these more plentiful and cheaper to manufacture. Talk about bringing the price of oil down and OPEC to their knees.
