A whole lot cleaner, too. Who’s that Colorado senator standing in the way of this?

coldwarrior on September 2, 2008 at 3:35 PM

Ken Salazar (D) is our Senatorial roadblock. In Congress, Mark Udall is one of the biggest pains in this regard. He’s getting a bit famous for skipping out on the vote that would have prevented Congress from going on extended vacation. He had said he would support keeping Congress in session until a vote on the drilling bans, and then didn’t show up for the vote… which was lost by one vote.

Remember the Pickens commercials- the US has only 3% of known reserves while consuming 75% of worldwide supply.

bayam on September 2, 2008 at 1:42 PM

The arguments that T-Bone Pickins’ commercials are peddling are deliberately misleading.

First of all, I guarantee you that his “3% of the world’s known reserves” malarkey doesn’t include the 1 trillion+ barrels in shale oil. Thus IMHO his whole pitch is disingenuous on its face. He might be able to fall back on official numbers discussing “known reserves in traditional oil wells, yada yada yada” as a defense, but he has to know that is not even close to the whole pie.

Not to mention, he never points out that wind power is primarily for electricity generation, which is something that nuclear can more than cover if given the chance, and more efficiently. (I shudder to think what France would look like today if they tried to supply 85% of their electrical power using windmills instead of E = mc^2 …).

“Ah, but they don’t have all of that wasteland in west Texas that we have…”

And do we really think it’s smart to build and maintain all of those wind turbines over thousands of square miles? Also, when the world hears more about the environmental effects of wind power (such as LFO noise pollution) I imagine the cost/benefit calculations will be even more in favor of nuclear power.

Being in Colorado, this is a pretty big deal for us.

VekTor on September 2, 2008 at 3:26 PM

A whole lot cleaner, too. Who’s that Colorado senator standing in the way of this?

coldwarrior on September 2, 2008 at 3:35 PM

Great post(s), coldwarrior et al!

Maybe sooner than people think.

Maybe.

VekTor on September 2, 2008 at 3:26 PM

A whole lot cleaner, too. Who’s that Colorado senator standing in the way of this?

Minor point, you don’t drill shale oil.
The rock that it is in has to be crushed and the oil cooked out of it.

MarkTheGreat on September 2, 2008 at 8:41 AM

Once upon a time, this was true. However, technology marches on, and there are now a variety of new in-situ processes for oil shale pyrolysis and retorting, which doesn’t require the shale to be dug up first. Instead, you literally drill. Afterwards, there’s a thermal process to crack out the oil without having to dig for it. This radically reduces the footprint involved.

Check the Wiki page on Oil Shale Extraction for more details.

Being in Colorado, this is a pretty big deal for us.

It is not about keeping the US on the oil economy forever.

It is not a slap at alternative energy sources.

It is, however, about providing affordable oil for the next 20 years as we transistion from an oil-dependent economy to one where oil is simply another choice, or source, for fuel/energy.

We will never ever totally get off the oil economy.

The list of products made and products we depend on daily that require oil for their production is huge…thousands and thousands of items…burning it to power our SUV’s is just one of oil’s uses.

But, switching out to another fuel base. a more diversified fuel base, a fuel base we own entirely, will take time for development, tweaking, testing. The simple example of how well corn-based ethanol has done is why we need to buy time for rational development of alternatives. Burning food for fuel is a dumb idea in any economy. But, look how many jumped aboard that bandwagon, and then had to ponder whay so many food prices went off the charts.

But, for the futures market, and the dependence of the oil-states on our dollars (euros, yuan, yen, whatever) our getting off our duffs and drilling here, and drilling now, and getting government out of the way of the free market will bring the price of oil down in both the short run and long run, and will wean us away from Venuzuela and the Saudis, and others for our needs…and hit them in the pocket book as well, strengthening the dollar along the way.

That purported 3% of “known” reserves comes in mighty handy for that transition. The amount of “unknown” reserves depending on the sources of that information varies between 5% to 20% of the global oil/gas potentials. Not a drop in the bucket, I might add.

The old tired meme that if we drill now we won’t see any benefit for a decade or more is patently false. The same sort of meme that drilling now would only bring the price down a few pennies a gallon is also patently false.

But…if we do not drill here, and drill now…the Chavez’s and Saud’s and Putin’s of the world can comfortably dictate production, thus dictate cost, and we wil never break that strangle hold as we will be unable to have the energy we need for the two decade or so transition from a primary oil-based economy to one with multiple energy bases.

Why this cannot be understood…well…it boggles the mind why so many are so willing to accept Chavez, the Saud’s and their fiefdoms, Imadinnerjacket and Putin dictating terms to us.

Face it, without oil and gas, the Russian economy today would resemble Chad for the most part, likewise Iran, Saudi Arabia and a host of other oil-rich nations.

but now even supposed powerhouses like China and India will cut back on power production in coming months.

It’s only a short-term, temporary turn of events. Once those economies heat up again, oil will return to its old highs.

whenever the price drops, and people take their eyes off of the prize, so to speak, the public forgets about it, and nothing then gets done.

You’re right, and that’s exactly what OPEC is hoping. Oil priced at $!00 a barrel doesn’t scare OPEC. Americans talking about a future based on alternative energy that isn’t exportable or subject to world fossil fuel prices- is what scares OPEC. If the US goes alternative, it will bring Iran and Venezuela to their knees begging for diplomacy with the West.

If Republicans are foolish enough to say that Palin has the answer- drill in Alaska- and nothing else needs to be done, then the Arabs have already won. Remember the Pickens commercials- the US has only 3% of known reserves while consuming 75% of worldwide supply. China and India have just started to grow middle classes that can afford cars and other energy consuming products. A future based on alternative energy is the only way for American to protect its economy and free our dependency from the Middle East.

There are still wells there, but inside buildings so they can’t be seen. There is even a pump right on the Hollywood High School campus.

Every 5 years, the amount of oil seepage off shore equals the Valdez spill. Drilling here would actually help reduce natural leakage.

Now, local cities are getting creative about generating lost revenue. Drill her, drill now, drill in my back yard.

- The Cat

When will we finally begin to take responsibility for our own needs and keep our money in the US?

Good Question! I’ve always wondered why we pay the very same one’s who slammed them planes into the trade center. I mean, it’s the same damn Religion.

We need to drill, produce HERE and not buy from the idiots.

Remember, Jimmy Carter was the one who got us into that mess.

AND WE’RE ALL ABLE TO THUMB OUR NOSES AT THE MIDDLE EAST ARABS, AND HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO CONCERN IF THEIR SOCIETIES AND ECONOMIES GO BACK TO THE STONE AGE !!!

RocketmanBob on September 2, 2008 at 10:45 AM

I beg your pardon, I didn’t quite catch that. :)

But, now that the olympics are over AND they are feeling the same slowdown as the rest of the globe-’sfunny how de prise come tumblin’ down!!!

That said you can count on OPEC to cut production; the hell with all of the rest of us! We should all collectively add an “energy surcharde” to all products that the OPEC nations need to import-just to send them a message about the artificially manipulating the price of necessary goods and services. But we won’t, since we’re free marketeers and not policy hypocrites like most of our “trading partners…”

The best answer?

DRILL, DRILL, DRILL; and develop more alternatives here at home !!!

I can imagine a sweet day comin’ down the line in the future; perhaps 15 years from now. We’ve developed a viable alternative transportation fuel as well as FUSION nuclear power. Only too happy to supply our European allies, we all enjoy a nearly oil free existence-except for the Russians, Chinese, and some other, hostile, developing nation. The spot price of crude is around 15/bbl…

AND WE’RE ALL ABLE TO THUMB OUR NOSES AT THE MIDDLE EAST ARABS, AND HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO CONCERN IF THEIR SOCIETIES AND ECONOMIES GO BACK TO THE STONE AGE !!!

It is new auto technology, but it’s old locomotive technology!

DrSteve on September 2, 2008 at 9:48 AM

DrSteve, if you’re talking hybrid technology, which is what
diesel/electric is, the automotive side of it predates anything the railroads did by about 35-40 years.

Oil drops to $106 a barrel
The oil markets responded to the less-than-expected impact of Hurricane Gustav by touching off a selling spree,
driving the price of oil to a new low in recent months. After losing
$10 per barrel in a day, oil finally……

TexasJew on September 2, 2008 at 8:57 AM

Good point. That’s what I’m concerned about. The more I think about the selection of Palin for the veep slot, the more I’m convinced that beyond rallying the base she was chosen to make the push for domestic energy production especially in Alaska.

Palin has great appeal for a broad swath of Americans who will support any and all efforts in that direction. We cannot afford to forget $147/bbl oil. Although we’ve had a welcome reprieve lately it won’t last as long term global demand is not going to subside.

We need to get busy now, create jobs for Americans, work on alternatives and position this country to remain competitive in the years to come.

I think all of the talk about drilling and going after every alternative energy source are major reasons why oil IS dropping. Many predicted it. Republicans need to keep talking saying “Drill Now!” It is the “right” thing to do and will help our economy going into the election.

Star20 on September 2, 2008 at 9:48 AM

Could be an influence – but an avowedly anti-drilling candidate still stands a better than 50% chance of winning the election. There are plenty of other things going on in the world that are influencing the price of oil, and we can’t be so myopic as to attribute them to domestic politics here in the USA – no matter how hard Larry Kudlow bangs his drum. I saw a study somewhere that showed that opening ANWR to drilling would only decrease the price of a barrel of oil by somewhere between $0.40 and $2.00 at peak production, if current trends are extrapolated 10 years from now. I don’t think a $40 change is the result of a little talk in Washington.

But let us not rest on this current dip, keep up the pressure on the tech sector to work on the next answer…and it ain’t ethanol and other food-based fuels either!

http://www.ArmchairEnergist.com