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Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Finally, some common sense on energy from Congress


Today, the US Senate approved the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act, which will expedite oil and gas production in areas that are at least 100 miles from the coastlines of Gulf Coast states. The bill, which passed by a vote of 71-25, provides new revenue to the states that border the Gulf of Mexico from this increased production of oil and gas.

Of course, the same people voted against it who always vote against any kind of domestic energy creation...and then complain about the US being involved in the Middle East!

In a couple of years, technology may make the whole idea of high crude oil usage obsolete. But in the meantime, we need to use our domestic resources.

High time indeed we started on the road to becoming energy independent.

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous8:03 PM

    nazar,
    you drive an f-150.
    i thought new yawkers all drove lexus or beamers.
    i take back everything, no wait not everything, i have said about you.
    you feel your chain yankin.....
    :)
    1/3 of our imported oil comes from canada.
    1/3 of our imported oil comes from venezuela.
    the rest comes from a hooge-pooge of nations.
    16% of our imported oil comes from the saudis.
    i think the reason we focus on the saudis is due to keeping the flow of oil to japan open. i.e., we are japans' protector.
    i think you were referencing alternative fuels and i agree.
    the other word i think you were looking for to use was "band-aid". i agree with your free market comment, but keep in mind the same people that own the refineries are the same people who own the processes that will develop alternative fuels. the only way to change them, via the free market, is to trade that f-150 in for a prius(sp).
    as for me, my short term pain years ago was the $1500 i paid to change over to natural gas on my jeep cherokee. (full disclosure: no native americans were injured in this procedure) i did it because of reduced pollution, and no i am not green, however one of the side effects is i am paying, i am told $1.20/gallon, however they measure that. reduced horsepower and limited fueling locations/stations are a pain.

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  2. Hi guys,
    You both make some good points.

    My point was not that this or even ANWR is a cure-all, but a step in the right direction while new technologies are developed.

    Louie is correct about where our oil comes from, but it's important to remember that gasoline is only ONE of the uses petroleum is put to, and even if we were all driving electric go-karts oil would still be a valuble comodity.

    Ultimately. I think the key word is `infrastructure'.

    No new technologies (like hydrogen cells) can be implemented without tooling up to manufacture the new vehicles, sell them to the public and provide repair and maintenance facilities for them.

    That takes time..which is why this is an important stop gap.

    And while we're at it, we had better build so new gasoline refineries(it's been over 20 years) and some new nuclear plants, even with the security risk. Nukes provide 18% of the America's energy, but we haven't built any new ones for decades thanks to some of the people in congress with small d's behind their names. Inanother twenty years or so, the current plants online will go dark...leaving a large hole in America's power grid.

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  3. Anonymous9:31 PM

    then move to oklahoma.
    we gots lotsa f-150 out thisa ways darection.
    youda fits right in.

    ReplyDelete