Drilling for Answers

I wouldn't argue that offshore drilling hasn't been proven safe, but Charlie Crist coming out for it in his quest to be mcCain's VP will backfire big time. It's not about oil or gas prices in Florida! It's about tourism and everything related to it. Floridians will not be in favor of anything that could even remotely harm that industry. McCain looked like he had many of the Hillary defectors going his way until Crist did a flip flop. Now mcCain will lose Florida and his shot for the Whitehouse and Crist will lose his shot to be the VP and a two term Governor. How stupid can the mouth-breathing 23%ers get?

JackGBoyd is right to draw a distinction between net-positive energy sources (oil, gas, nuclear, solar, wind, hydro)and portable energy intermediaries that require much energy to produce (hydrogen, corn ethanol). It seems the best solution is to increase the % of non-fossil in our electricity grid, and make the move to direct use of electricity for transit wherever possible (electric subways and trains, electric cars like the Chevy Volt, etc.). Even then, there will always be a need for portable fuel for transportation and heating, so let's get going on cellulosic ethanol and bio-diesels. Ideally, the best biofuels are those that require the least amount of fertilizer, since fertilizer is made from petroleum. I have read promising reports on biodiesel developed from algae, so switchgrass ethanol is not the only answer. It's R&D time, folks!

Hydrogen has no promise as a replacement for fossil fuels unless there is some huge scientific breakthrough. The amount of energy needed to separate the hydrogen from water is about equal to the energy it can provide. The source of energy used for the separation is and will continue to be fossil fuels. Hydrogen should be thought of more as a means of transporting energy. Electircity is also mostly fossil fueld based. Hydrogen and electricity are not alternative energy sources.

Hydrogen has no promise as a replacement for fossil fuels unless there is some huge scientific breakthrough. The amount of energy needed to separate the hydrogen from water is about equal to the energy it can provide. The source of energy used for the separation is and will continue to be fossil fuels. Hydrogen should be thought of more as a means of transporting energy. Electircity is also mostly fossil fueld based. Hydrogen and electricity are not alternative energy sources.

40 million acres are currently leased for off-shore production. 30-million of those are currently sitting idle and unused. So why do they need more? Maybe because it's a good excuse to execute a land grab. By the way, there is a fascinating article in the NY Times today explaining that there is a critical shortage in off-shore drilling ships and the companies that manufacture them. So there are many reasons why expanding off-shore drilling areas will NOT increase production anytime soon.

Oh, and Exxon is dumping its gas stations and sticking with oil production because anyone can tell you that manufacturing is more profitable than retail. Would they be doing it if it DECREASED their profits? That would be crazy.

Maybe we could strike a deal? We agree to more off-shore drilling, and the oil companies agree to a GUARANTEED price reduction in gasoline since, you know, it's soooo going to happen. Pretty funny, huh? Of course that would never happen, because the oil companies know that gas is never coming down again as the rest of the world continues to develop. 40% of the world's population lives in China and India, and most of them do not even have cars yet. Do the math.

380 parts per million.
Does that number mean anything to John Hofmeister or even RHO?
It should - at least if Hofmeister or any one else is an intelligent or responsible commentator.
That???s the ratio of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere as of last October. This ratio is expanding by 2 parts per year, so now the ratio is about 382 parts per million. If the ratio hits 450, the human race will face mass extinction. I got these quotes from the October 2007 issue of National Geographic which did not cover the ratio of methane in the atmosphere, an even more deadly gas than carbon dioxide.
As I am writing, the West is burning up with out-of-control fires, the South and Midwest have been struck with a record number of tornadoes; Iowa and other parts of the Midwest have been hit with floods, causing record high corn prices - These are only warning signs of the effects of global warming. It will get worse - much worse, each year we pump more carbon into the atmosphere.
In face of these realities, big oil???s campaign to liberate oil companies from the constraints of off-shore drilling borders on criminal insanity. Giving oil companies the right to drill and kill without any regard to the environment will not lower gas prices. It simply lures us away from facing the inevitable - a world without oil
There are alternatives. Corn ethanol is not one of them. According to National Geographic we could produce fuel from algae. Yet I do not see any discussion of algae technology or any attempt to cover corporations like GreenFuel Technology or entrepreneurs like Isaac Berzin. Ironically, Samuelson didn???t even read the last issue of Newsweek magazine features an interview with Genome pioneer Craig Venter who proposes a specially engineered bacteria that will convert carbon dioxide into fuel. Hofmeister???s myopic article emphasizes the need for a radical change in this country - both in leadership - in the political and corporate spheres and as well as a change of our view of economics.

Google "the Enron loophole" or "the energy loophole", you all have been played like a bad fiddle. And guess who was a major pusher for the exploitation of that loophole? Yup, the same lobbyist who are running McCain's campaign.

Offshore drilling is a red herring. Oil prices are up because the oil companies want them to be. Must be pretty damn nice since they know we can't stop driving. If we can't get the prices to go down we should at least get the oil execs to pay a huge fat tax on their record profits. Yeah I remember the congressional hearings. "I make billions of dollars but I'm just a victim". Bull crap!

It is commonly known that the price of oil is rising and will continue to rise. The longer we hold on to our oil, the more it is worth.

500 million


Dave Foreman Co-Founder of Earth First! 100 million

"My three main goals would be to reduce human populatioin to about 100 million worldwide, destroy the industrial infrastructure and see wilderness, with its full complement of species, returning throughout the world."

The club of romes first global revolution

"All these dangers are caused by human intervention...and it is only through changed attitudes and behavior that they can be overcome...The real enemy, then. is humanity itself."

"The earth has cancer and the cancer is man" The club of Rome "Mankind at the Turning Point"

"The resultant ideal sustainable population is hence more than 500 million but less than one billion." The Club of Rome "Goals for Mankind"

Paul Erlich Population Bomb "A cancer is an uncontrolled multiplecation of cells; the population explosion is an uncontrolled multiplication of people. We must shift our efforts from the treatment of the symptoms to the cutting out of the cancer. The operation will demand many apparently brutal and heartless decisions."

WE dont deserve to live anyway
"the most dangerous destructive selfish and unethical animal on planet."

Prince Phillip of Edinburgh
"If i were reincarnated i would wish to be returned to earth as a killer virus to lower human population levels."

David Brower First Director of Sierra Club
"Childbearing should be a punishable crime against society, unless the parents hold a government license."
All potential parents should be requited to use contraceptive chemicals, the government issuing antidotes to citizens chosen for childbearing."

Controlling energy agenda...the greens...no Alaska drilling.

One American burdens the earth much more than twenty Bangladeshis. This is a terrible thing to say. In order to stabilize world population we must eliminate 350,000 people per day. It is a horrible thing to say, but its just as bad not to say it." Jacques Cousteau

Because oil is priced in dollars the declining dollar means we pay more for less. In addition, we only produce about 10% of the world's supply of crude oil. We could drill on every coastal shelf and in every national park and still not impact crude oil prices more than a penny or two. We can only control demand. That is where change lies.

Yes, it's that time of the year -- AGAIN!

SHAMEFUL political posturing that is NO different from the oil tax holiday proposed earlier by the likes of BILLARY Clinton -- and John McCain!

aelemay,
At least give Mr. Gross (the author) some credit where credit is due. You and I are both in favor of putting the United States in a position to benefit from our own natural energy sources, while the author is not. But at least he had the integrity to give an expert in the industry a voice. That's much better than we usually get from the drive by media, where they often quote libs like Nancy Pelosi claiming that the oil industry isn't even fully utilizing existing leases. What she fails to mention is that they can't because of the never ending red tape placed on the energy industry by our wonderful government and the environmental wacko's trial lawyers.

You smug rotten son of a ***, you could have taken the same material and written a constructive useful article instead of one ridiculing the world's experts and those who have some optimism for the future. Some petroleum experts feel the ANWR has three times the reserves of Saudi Arabia. Similarly, there are some experts who feel the Shell Oil explorations and R&D of the Colorado oil shale deposits can be seven times the size of the Saudi's reserves.

So, what are you trying to say? That it's hopless? Bullshit. Alternative sources are useful, but nowhere ready for prime time -- the real estate requirements are hopless, the costs are too high, and they do not replace the need for base-load power available 24 hours a day.

I think you should ask your mother to review your writing so she can tell you if you are insulting the intelligence of your audience. I did not know it was a job requirement at Newsweek that the writers are jerks.