More domestic drilling won't lower gas prices
Posted: Tuesday, August 05, 2008
STORM LAKE, Iowa -- For the people believing that drilling for oil in environmentally sensitive areas will somehow lower the prices of gas, I would like to make the following points.
President Bush's own energy department said that any new drilling will have no effect on gas prices now, and an insignificant effect on gas prices 15 to 20 years from now.
The U.S. uses 25 percent of the world's oil supply, but only holds 2.6 percent of the world's oil reserves. No matter how much we drill, we could never impact the price of gas.
The oil companies already hold leases on 70 million acres of land that they are not drilling on. This latest move is a greedy land grab to nail down cheap leases before their friends in the Bush administration leave office.
Rather than being fed the false claim that drilling will lower gas prices, Americans need real choices, like cars with better fuel efficiency, mass transit and renewable energy research funded by repealing billions in tax breaks for the oil companies.
Bush's father is the one that banned drilling on the continental shelf in the first place, and the reasons for that ban still exist, namely that drilling there poses an unacceptable risk of damage to our seashores. -- John Christensen
President Bush's own energy department said that any new drilling will have no effect on gas prices now, and an insignificant effect on gas prices 15 to 20 years from now.
The U.S. uses 25 percent of the world's oil supply, but only holds 2.6 percent of the world's oil reserves. No matter how much we drill, we could never impact the price of gas.
The oil companies already hold leases on 70 million acres of land that they are not drilling on. This latest move is a greedy land grab to nail down cheap leases before their friends in the Bush administration leave office.
Rather than being fed the false claim that drilling will lower gas prices, Americans need real choices, like cars with better fuel efficiency, mass transit and renewable energy research funded by repealing billions in tax breaks for the oil companies.
Bush's father is the one that banned drilling on the continental shelf in the first place, and the reasons for that ban still exist, namely that drilling there poses an unacceptable risk of damage to our seashores. -- John Christensen
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Mike wrote on Aug 11, 2008 7:12 PM:
FlimFlam wrote on Aug 11, 2008 4:04 PM:
Clay wrote on Aug 9, 2008 12:32 PM:
FlimFlam wrote on Aug 9, 2008 7:52 AM:
Yep I agree and it pi$$es me off. Two thirds of the population has been so mislead by politics that they actually think it will help.
It doesn't upset me so much that they want to drill, just they want to do so without another plan in the works. The politicians no it won't solve diddley just like tapping into our reserves is a horrible idea from the Dems. They're feeding crap to the America people and 2/3 of us can't wait for a second plate.
It truly saddens me how few people actually try and understand how dire the situation is we're in.
Oil is not going to fix it this time we use too much in this country to drill our way out. We need alternatives and we have to get serious about it now. "
Moderate Observer wrote on Aug 8, 2008 1:34 PM:
is the 600 billion dollars being sent overseas (principally Mideast) yearly for oil. We cannot have a growing economy and strategic security importing 70 percent of our oil. Oil will only be replaced by alternatives very gradually (over several decades). Otherwise, we become a stagnant, debtor nation, with lower standards of living. We have already outsourced so much that we cannot make up the 600 billion by exports. Two -thirds of voters want more domestic oil; politicians will have to respond. "