Pain at the pump...doublespeak....AGAIN!!!!

[Guest]

Notice how Obama and many of the congressmen and senators will try to dissuade folks by saying drilling won't have any effect for at least five years!!!!
SO? What is their point? In the 70's if they would have done something they could have had 35+ years to make SOMETHING happen.
Over 2/3 of the American people are now in favor of drilling....anywhere in the USA.
Let's see how our lawmakers finesse the desires of the people....and more interesting how the same people will let them do it.

The Chinese, the Russians, Chavez and Castro are drilling 50 miles away....laughing at the US dummies.

Back in the forties some Japanese leaders were quoted as saying....I fear we have awakened the paper tiger.....after Pearl Harbor.
Where is that spirit.

Tonight's news was full of what schools will be taking away to be able to keep the buses running....why? Charge the Mom's and Dads with riding children a fuel surcharge per day per child. Don't dilute an already faltering education system to keep the buses rolling.

DON'T LET THE POLITICIANS SIDE STEP THE ISSUE WITH THE ANSWER IT WON'T DO ANY GOOD UNTIL 5+ YEARS FROM NOW.....AT LEAST THEN THERE WILL BE SOMETHING.

You want a real.....I mean REAL subject for change in Washington? How about energy independence.

As I have said before, the solution is easy.....get to your lawmakers and tell them what you think. If you haven't done so yet....you are part of the problem.

BTK

[Guest]

How many oil crisises do we have to go through before people get it? Oil isn't the answer. We need to cut our dependence on oil and start using the natural resources we have readily available such as alternative fuel vehicles, clean coal, wind power, nuclear, etc. In Europe, do you think you see bumper to bumper SUV's driving to work in the morning? Hello, they're driving tiny 2 person micro mini cars and motor scooters that get about 60 mpg. We need to change our habits big time.

I read yesterday that the oil companies have only drilled a tiny portion of the oil reserves they now have access to, and even if they were given permission to drill "anywhere" it would be 10 years before Americans saw the results, i.e. too little, too late. 10 years would be 2 years past the end of Obama's 2 term presidency. We have the technology to lower our oil demand, we just need to pull up our socks and do it. I suspect if oil prices stay as they are, that will be the catalyst for change.

[Guest]

We should be pursuing ALL energy saving concepts. However, the notion that payback is 10 or more years away there fore let's do something else is irresponsible....as it has been since the 70's. So what if Americans 10 years from now gain the benefits of prudent planning from the past? Don't we (today) wish there were enough folks with the presence of mind to do that in the 70's. Almost all the so called alternatives (those of significance) will take 5 + years.
There is such a thing as planning for the future....a strange notion to lawmakers in Washington as well as local governing bodies. In this day of instant gratification and no action lawmakers in Washington....a perfect combination for failure.
What is the mystery about those things that take 5-10-15 years because that is the cycle for refineries, nuclear plants, hydrogen distribution...just get on with it and do it.

I think we forget we are capable of putting men on the moon thirty and more years ago....capable of traveling to Mars and digging with robots from that far away....capable of supersonic air transportation more than 20 years ago.
It isn't that we are not capable. We do have the talent and the pattern for invention and innovation. THE PROBLEM IS WE have become NO LONGER ABLE!!!!!!!!!!!! Problem solving cannot be done by politicos....period...end of subject. We have lost the leadership ability (not politics) to do what is right and necessary.

In closing, the drilling for American oil NOW may have an end result at the pump 10 years away, but the message to OPEC will be instantaneous and duly noted with results!!!!!!!
That alone is worth the announcement today to begin.

Thirty years from today will tell the tale (probably sooner if we continue doing NOTHING!!)

BTK

[Guest]

The energy situation is a peculiar conundrum.

People don't want drilling in what some areas considered pristine.

People don't want nuclear because they keep seeing reruns of "China Syndrome," remember Three Mile Island, and fear a US-based Chernobyl incident.

People don't want wind farms because they are ugly.

People want solar, but think solar panels are ugly (looks, again!).

People call for conservation, yet the Soccer Mom Taxicab System still consists mainly of large SUVs which challenge The Villages shuttle buses for passenger capacity.

As far as the oil companies drilling in areas where leases exist but no drilling occurs, the main reason is the cost benefit. Most of these non-drilled areas have all had test soundings done, and the cost to recover the oil is much more expensive (sometimes up to 1,000% more) than other producing areas. So, if it costs $50 a barrel to recover crude oil in a producing area, and the projection is a cost of $150-500 per barrel in other areas (legally allowed to drill, but is it worth it?), no sane business operation would make the investment and sunk costs to drill in an area where it's a money-loser from the beginning.

European nations have had high gas prices for years, mainly because they tax the death out of gas-at-the-pump. Add that to the high cost of parking there (land, especially), and the result is mini-cars for most.

Unfortunately, the "we have to conserve" concept has been a US issue since the early 70's, and like everything else, it"s a flash in the pan. Once things seem a little bit rosier, it's back to mega-vehicles because you can't legislate attitude.

[Guest]

my prediction is that as soon as we have all become green citizens and switched to hybrid cars, the use of coal for alternative fuel will result in the price of electricity skyrocketing! the sensible solution is a combination of conservation and preparation. use less and also start preparing to find more, both drilling and alternative methods. i have found on my long road trips (of which there WERE many) my trusty ford taurus gets 37 mpg instead of the usual 28 when i slow down from 75 down to 60 mph....what's the hurry?

[Guest]

billiethekid and chachacha for Prez!

[Guest]

LOL thanks, mucci! will you be our finance minister?

[Guest]

Those enviromentalist are the ones that have create all this mess.

No drilling
No nuclear
No win
Maybe solar but NIMBY
Yes to conservation, as long as someone else conserve, not me: I am too important.

We had 30 years to do something and did nothing, now we pay the price. $4.00 is nothing, when oil goes above $150.00 in a few weeks it will be $5.00 an rising.
Maybe a revolution will be a good thing to happens.

[Guest]

I just returned from a trip to NC, across NC and then back down to TV and according to what I saw on the Interstates there can't possibly be a problem with gas. We put the cruise control on whatever happened to be the speed limit (usually 70) and for every vehicle we passed at least a hundred passed us! Not just passed us, but PASSED US! Nary a cop to be seen anywhere either. Prices ranged from 4.05 down to 3.78, but I'm sure those have changed by now. Oh well, I guess people will just wait till gas is in short supply before they stary driving intelligently. ???

[Guest]

seems i have seen the "revolution" word tossed around in more than one thread lately. as someone living in north dakota and montana the past few years, let me say that that idea is taken seriously in these parts! not that i am advocating it as a solution to anything but surely at least slowing down and saving gas should not be a revolutionary idea!

[Guest]

I don't think people will conserve on their own - it has to be forced down their throats someway. If the price of gas goes to $8 or $10 per gallon, maybe you'll see people slow down.

[Guest]

I don't think people will conserve on their own - it has to be forced down their throats someway. If the price of gas goes to $8 or $10 per gallon, maybe you'll see people slow down.

Be ready then to spend $4 for a head of lettuce and $6 for a gallon of milk. Everything you eat, drink, wear and play with has to be transported. Increased costs to encourage conservation also mean increased costs for everything else.