’69 Flashback

As usual, Environmentalists and democrats have no solution to a problem, just a doomsday attitude about every solution brought to the table. They have no valid argument other than something that occurred 40 years ago. Don't you realize the technology that is being used today? There are so many safeguards, not to mentin the federal regulatons on plants like this. In the meantime, continue to drive your gas cars, use electricity, styrofoam cups, paper, and other resources while you complain about everything. Alternative energy is decades away from being practical and affordable.

The press is all over the last major oil spill in the US 40 YEARS AGO. The technology for drilling has vastly improved since that time. Drilling now involves alot of work and cost to prevent or reduce the chance of a spill. You won't see that covered by the media.

Santa Barbara?

What about people lilke me who live in the midwest with no access to a decent public transportation system? And not everyone can afford to pay 30 grand for a hybrid vehicle. This country depends on their vehicles not just for pleasure but for their livelyhood. Suburbs would not exist today if gas prices were always this high. We would not have the highway system we have today if gas prices were always this high. The automobile is as American as apple pie. I say drill where ever it takes. Rich people in California are not living in the real world.

HEATED WORDS! OIL COMPANYS ARE IN IT FOR THE MONEY! NOTHING ELSE! REMEMBER THAT! WE ALL PAY! SO EITHER YOU BUY OIL OR GO SOLAR,WIND,BATTERY,OR HORSE!!!

Whatever. I have lived in SB for the last twenty years. We have the highest gas prices in the nation; while all you complain on gas hitting the 4 dollar mark.. we are at 5 dollars a gallon! Hell, i love NHRA, SUVs, and driving cars, but there is NO truth in putting more oil rigs off our shore to reduce the price anytime soon. India and China are pushing the prices sky high, even if we drive 100% Priuses! We need to force all the obese Americans to get out and ride a bike, one way or another. Santa Barbarans are 100% against more OIL rigs off our shores..

Dear Marty Blum, an oil covered sea lion has no meaning for me. I have to work for a living. Carter shut down wells with the windfall tax, Nancy P. won't remove the tax- the wells still remeined capped in Oklahoma et all.

So I am pushing to drill off the coast- since you liberals wont ease the tax burden of the mid west.

Where to start. I too am a Democrat and an environmentalist. That being said, I live in Texas and know VERY WELL what it's like to live near oil and or gas wells. The mayor of Santa Barbara wants energy and HAS TO HAVE energy to live, but just doesn't want it in her backyard. Well I'm here to tell you, we need ALL the energy we can get in an environmentally appropriate way. If everyone took the exact same position she takes, then there would be NO energy production. What makes Santa Barbara any better than the Texas or Louisiana Gulf Coast or even West Texas? They're all beautiful, she just thinks hers should be protected at the expense of others landscapes she views as less worthy.

She's also as you point out, got numerous offshore platforms operating in the Santa Barbara region. In the last 40 years, they've not spilled any significant amount. I'd say that's a pretty environmentally responsible operation. The fact is, we need every domestically produced hydrocarbon possible even if it takes us 20 years of development to "pop" the well. Then we need a President who is willing to spend billions on a national effort (think Manhattan Project) to solve and provide another transportation fuel that isn't based upon crude oil. There's an idea.

Lastly, she's plugging in her Prius to an electrical outlet. Well the electricity produced comes most likely from a coal fired plant. She doesn't seem to have a problem with strip mining the Powder River Basin where much of the coal for the Western U.S. comes from because it's not in her backyard. She also doesn't mind plugging in and recharging her Prius knowing that coal fired electricity is by FAR the most polluting form of energy we have. If she argues for nuclear because it has little to no air pollution, then she ought to be in Sacramento lobbying on behalf of the nuclear power industry to put an new nuclear generating station in the Santa Barbara region. But she won't, not even to say it from the Mayor's office in Santa Barbara.

Let's get real here, the only solution to the energy challenge is to produce as much oil/gas domestically and responsibly as we can WHILE finding better alternatives than coal fired and nuclear fired Prius'. She's being a hypocrite at best. And I can say this as I live in the Dallas-Fort Worth area (6 million people) and I and my neighbors in a very beautiful neighborhood have given permission to drill a gas well close by. It'll do our part to provide energy to our country AND we'll actually make a little money too. Texas and Alaska ought to cut off oil to California and let her buy it from Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Mexico and Russia (all our best buddies) and have her pay $10 a gallon and maybe she'll get a more balanced view.

If the state of California doesn't want off shore drilling that's fine. States that oppose drilling should have to continue to import from overseas. That would increase the supply for the rest of us.

That spill was 40 years ago. Our technology is vastly improved . There are more that a 1000 oil wells in the gulf of mexico and there were no spills during Katrina or the following hurricane(Whose name escapes meat the moment) We need to Drill here and Drill now to save money and protect our national security and economy. We are the only nation on earth blocked from our natural recources by enviromental wackos. I have seen estimates that range from 200-500 Billion barrels of oil in the USA . Thats as much or more than Saudi Arabia. If we find a way to get to our oil shale we will be by far the largest energy producer in the world. I suggest we require OIl companies to hire enviromental experts to assist in the safe and clean extrtaction and use fees for the leases to fund electric car technology. Joe Knight

So the federal government gets to control the size of the land leased and who gets the leases? Does Haliburton drill wells? Is anybody else not real trusting of the Bush administration based on it's record over the last 8 years.........