[FlairFanatic]

I found some GOOD news on my google homepage today: President Bush is allowing offshore oil drilling and also more drilling in places like Alaska, Wyoming and etc. States like Alaska, Montana, etc have billions and billions of gallons of oil thats never been able to be touched. The Gulf of Mexico and around mexico, tons more. Hopefully, over time, this can be taken advantage of and used to produce oil for THIS COUNTRY. We already send tons of our own oil from the US to other countries, its time we keep some for our selfs.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/14/AR2008071401049.html

[summer of George]

yeah thats much better than spending time and money looking for alternative fuels that dont produce so much waste.let's give the oil companies a hand.

[summer of George]

Heading out to the lake for the weekend will be a more expensive proposition this summer, as Minnesotans feel the pain at the pump. Whether you drive a gas guzzler or a hybrid vehicle, the cost of gas hurts.

My hope was that as oil prices rose, so too would the ire of my colleagues in Congress for the oil companies that are gouging middle-class Americans. Unfortunately, many in Congress are casting about to put the responsibility on just about everyone but Big Oil.

As Big Oil’s cheerleaders explain it, gas prices are high because oil companies just aren’t drilling enough. But domestic oil supplies aren’t stagnant because oil companies lack access to oil-rich areas; it’s because oil companies are deliberately choosing not to use the leases they’ve already got.

Today, oil companies hold leases to about 92 million acres of federal land, both onshore and offshore. Roughly 67 million of those acres — more than 70 percent of the area they own the rights to — are not being used for production. These are areas that oil companies are authorized to start drilling, which have the potential to produce an additional 4.8 million barrels of oil and 44.7 billion cubic feet of natural gas each day. This would nearly double total U.S. oil production!

Why is Big Oil sitting on all this unused land? Simple: Because increasing production would increase supply and threaten the record profits the five major oil companies posted last year — $40.6 billion for Exxon-Mobile alone.

What’s less clear is why President Bush and his allies in Congress are talking about giving Big Oil access to even more land, when the companies aren’t using what they’ve already got.

It’s time to call Big Oil on the carpet. Instead of political gimmicks that give oil companies the right to drill on even more taxpayer-owned land, we need to insist they first make use of the land that they’ve already leased. That’s why I’m co-sponsoring “use it or lose it” legislation that will force oil companies to either produce oil on the land they’re leasing or turn the leases over to a company that will.

As the price of gasoline increased, Congress succeeded in forcing the president to stop adding even more oil into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, putting more oil back on the market. And the House recently passed legislation to permit the Justice Department to take action against foreign governments and oil tycoons that engage in oil price-fixing.

And just this week, the House passed legislation to crack down on price-gouging by Big Oil and give the Federal Trade Commission authority to investigate and punish companies that artificially inflate the price of energy. These are common-sense solutions that may help ease the burden of skyrocketing gas prices, and I am disappointed that President Bush has opposed each and every one of them.

But more remains to be done. We need to be honest about our situation: Americans can’t drill our way out of this energy crisis, so we need to change our priorities and use American ingenuity to develop affordable new fuels.

Even while reaping record profits, the major oil companies are still receiving billions of dollars annually in subsidies from the taxpayers. I think we should shift that money into research and development of new energy sources, but so far, we’ve been unable to overcome the opposition of President Bush and his allies in Congress.

Real solutions to our energy crisis won’t be found by simply giving Big Oil access to more taxpayer-owned land. We can start by going after the price-fixers, energy market speculators, price-gougers and others who are driving oil prices higher.

And we can start by sending a simple message to Big Oil: It’s time to use it or lose it.

http://www.albertleatribune.com/news/2008/jun/26/why-isnt-big-oil-using-leases-it-already-has/

[Skip McGee]

summer of George wrote:

yeah thats much better than spending time and money looking for alternative fuels that dont produce so much waste.let's give the oil companies a hand.

what he said ^

how much time do we have to waste looking for temporary fixes instead of long term solutions before people finally get it?

also all he did was lift the executive ban, it does nothing, there is still a federal law against it so nothing has changed until congress says so

[Randy Orton]

What do you mean finally opened his eyes? He's been trying to open these sources since he became President, and now that he's managed to raise the price of gas to 4.50 a gallon, he's eliminated his vocal opposition.

Open your eyes FF.

[FlairFanatic]

I hate Pres Bush just as much as the next guy, but, atleast he did something.

I agree, this would be just a band-aid and a temporary fix. I also agree we should use alternative fuels. But, with gas prices up, it takes a good sum of money to run the farming equipment to get the grains and corn to make ethanol and other alt fuels.

My hope is that if oil prices could drop a bit, we can produce more alternative fuels and move away from big oil.

[Ballard1979]

It make u wonder how much money the president is making off of this. as we all know The Bush Fortune is from oil. it makes u wonder

[Randy Orton]

FlairFanatic wrote:

I hate Pres Bush just as much as the next guy, but, atleast he did something. I agree, this would be just a band-aid and a temporary fix. I also agree we should use alternative fuels. But, with gas prices up, it takes a good sum of money to run the farming equipment to get the grains and corn to make ethanol and other alt fuels. My hope is that if oil prices could drop a bit, we can produce more alternative fuels and move away from big oil.

Much as I hate paying it, if prices were to drop, as they did in th 1970s, the push for alternative fuels would stop. If you notice, everything on TV is "green this", "green that", so the consciousness is there. Now is the time for alternative energy, not feeding the fat cat oil companies.



fuck the fat cats.

[Captain Howdy]

While I agree that we do need to seek alternative fuel sources, the problem lies with the fact that the average American cannot simply just go out and buy a hybrid vehicle or convert theirs to bio-diesel or anything along those lines at the drop of a hat.
I myself would love to upgrade, but I simply can't afford it right now with my current level of income. I bought my car used 3 years ago for $2,000 and it has treated me well; I simply can't go out and drop a down payment for that amount on a more efficient vehicle and then deal with a $500 a month car payment on top of all my existing bills.

[Randy Orton]

We should make Iraq the 51st state, and use their oil until we can convert the US to an alternative energy country, then let the middle east sink into the sand when they can no longer sell oil.

[MWS1980]

I thought the oil companies already did the first part:

It was meant to be the rising tide that would lift the Iraqi economy out of years of war and sanctions, to finance reconstruction and guarantee cheap global supplies.

Yet, five years on, big oil is only just starting to move cautiously into Iraq and, despite record prices, experts caution against another false dawn of optimism. Four oil giants - Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total and BP - are to announce next week no-bid contracts to start servicing the creaking Iraqi oil infrastructure, crippled for decades by lack of investment and often targeted by insurgents.

The deals came as the Oil Ministry announced that exports had hit a post-war high, due in large part to better security after the US troop “surge” of the past year and the turning of Sunni insurgents on erstwhile al-Qaeda allies. The news has caused many Iraqis - as well as US neocons - to hope that an oil boom could finally allow economic recovery and tackle the soaring unemployment that has fuelled militia violence and crime.

However, the oil contracts are unusual for such big players in that they are only short-term service agreements, with the giants forgoing grander production-sharing deals in the hope of getting a foot in the door when the Government signs a hydrocarbon law that has been under heated debate in Parliament for years.

“I think it's an important step in the right direction but I don't think it's significant,” Wayne Kelley, a Texas oil engineer with RSK Energy consultants, said. “It's totally insignificant in the global oil market.” While the move was “psychologically important” for Iraqis, he cautioned that getting oil back to prewar levels would take a long time and huge foreign investment, which is impossible until Parliament hammers out legislation to divide revenue among provinces that eye one another with deep suspicion.

In Washington a group of Democrats in Congress, including the former presidential candidate John Kerry, have given warning that the no-bid contracts could stir up fresh anti-US sentiment and reinforce the perception that the war was about oil.

“This for sure will create problems,” Nabil Salim, a political scientist at Baghdad University, said. “Especially when everyone believes the oil and gas law is actually supposed to be passed under pressure from the US.”

There are hopes that with violence subsiding, oil companies could form a beachhead for investment, especially in Basra, where 85 per cent of the country's oil wealth lies.

Michael Wareing, the British CEO of the auditing giant KPMG International, who was appointed co-chairman of the newly founded Basra Development Commission by Gordon Brown recently, said he hoped that incoming oil companies could kickstart investment in infrastructure projects.

But the new contracts are unlikely to bring any fresh investment as no international staff will actually move to Iraq, still considered far too dangerous by many companies. Instead, they will provide services, advice and equipment from neighbouring states.

So far the only contracts signed in Iraq have been in the relative safety of Kurdistan, where the regional government has sidestepped the wrangling over the oil law and invited companies to drill its wells, which comprise about 15 per cent of Iraqi reserves. The Oil Ministry views such deals as illegal, and only smaller companies have signed up.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article4228258.ece

[Skip McGee]

FlairFanatic wrote:

I hate Pres Bush just as much as the next guy, but, atleast he did something. I agree, this would be just a band-aid and a temporary fix. I also agree we should use alternative fuels. But, with gas prices up, it takes a good sum of money to run the farming equipment to get the grains and corn to make ethanol and other alt fuels. My hope is that if oil prices could drop a bit, we can produce more alternative fuels and move away from big oil.

if they allowed offshore drilling its going to be years before it even has any effect though

[Skip McGee]

Randy Orton wrote:

We should make Iraq the 51st state, and use their oil until we can convert the US to an alternative energy country, then let the middle east sink into the sand when they can no longer sell oil.

[MAV]

I propose we all just cut the floor boards out of our cars. Image the MPG Fred Flintstone was getting with the exact same method.

[GrayGhost]

Somehow, I don't think the style would click nowadays..

[MAV]

GrayGhost wrote:

Somehow, I don't think the style would click nowadays..

Sure it would. Check out Fred's ride...

Body style: completely bio-degradable

Fuel source: Fred's own two feet. The only emissions to worry about would be the double Bronto burger and Triceratops fries Wilma fed him last night.

Wheels: Made of rock, not rubber....no florocarbons produced to eat the ozone layer

Top: All natural fibers...plus a rag top is ALWAYS in style.

Plus...despite him not being in the car, Barney usually car pools with him.

[GrayGhost]

All true Mav, you win.

[MAV]

GrayGhost wrote:

All true Mav, you win.

Yabba-dabba-fucking-do!

[GrayGhost]

When you're w the Flinstones, have a Yabba dabba doo time, a dabba doo time. you'll have a gay (meaning HAPPY, you sicko's out there..ha) Old Time..hehe