By H. JOSEF HEBERT
WASHINGTON May 25, 2006 (AP)— Citing the public outcry over $3-a-gallon gasoline and America's heavy reliance on foreign oil, the House on Thursday voted to open an Alaska wildlife refuge to oil drilling, knowing the prospects for Senate approval were slim.
Drilling proponents argued that the refuge on Alaska's North Slope would provide 1 million barrels a day of additional domestic oil at peak production and reduce the need for imports.
But opponents to developing what environmentalists argue is a pristine area where drilling will harm caribou, polar bears and migratory birds, said Congress should pursue conservation and alternative energy sources that would save more oil than would be tapped from the refuge.
The House voted 225-201 to direct the Interior Department to open oil leases on the coastal strip of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge an area of 1.5 million acres that is thought likely to hold about 11 billion barrels of recoverable oil.
So, how do we feel about this one kiddies? Do we say screw the enviornment for some oil that would be US based or do we hold off and save some polar bears? I Wanna know....
Thursday, May 25, 2006
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22 comments:
Bullshit. That's what this is. Pandering, pure and simple. How long will it take to get the oil rigs up and extracting oil? What about the refineries that are already working at near peak capacity. Do we build more refineries? If so, where? The immediate relief people want on gas prices won't be there. Unless of course the government starts subsidising the oil companies even more. How long will this delay us from seriously working on developing renewable, cheap, clean fuel, another 30 years? Not to mention that they shouldn't be fucking around with national parks.
I agree with you on this one 100%. It is such b.s.
my history here is a bit fuzzy.. mabye someone can help me out (Mo), the good old USA was trying like hell to win WW2, so we put a bunch of really smart dudes in a very special, very secluded place and said "See you when you can bring me something that will win this GD war, the best weapon ever.. untill then enjoy the silence and solitude of the desert" they came back with the atom bomb.
If we let true science dictate the develepments and not the companies, we would see amazing things happen. not just the companies making more money with the status quo.
Thats just the catch PJ, the companies dictate the outcome now. Look at things like diesease research. The companies and the big wigs get to say w hats what and the actual do gooders get left out in the cold.
Has any one heard the story of a gas additive used in ww2 that extended our fighter planes fuel range by over 50% and after the war the patent was purchased by a group of major oil companies, and has since disappeared? It might be a real lark, but I remember this story which was told to me by my 8th grade English teacher, who was also a ww2 vet.
I heard a story very close to this when I was younger. I am sure it is an urban legend but I remember it had something to do with someon inventing a additive that would allow a car to run on half gas half water.
sorry my internet is acting funny...anywhat, this guy invents a additive in pill form that would allow your car to run on a hlaf filled tank of water and gas...this happened right after WWII also. As the story went, the big wig car guys found out about it and the invention and inventor went away very fast.
I dont know if it is real or not, I would bet not, but it makes good legend.
It is a great idea. I mean hell, we have cars that can all but drive themselves now why cant we havea hybrid that runs on somethign besides gasoline like water or even cooking oil. It could happen ya know, dont laugh at me.
A week or two ago a Mythbusters episode showed the guys using filtered cooking grease to fuel a diesel engine and it worked.
Mythbusters kicks ass. Deadliest Catch is pretty cool too.
I've seen that bus, it used oil from SWK while it was in chicago.
Also Popular Mechanics did a big article about alternative fuels.
Big shock, gas still wins overall, but mainly because of un develeloped alternatives.
Brazil has ended its dependancy on foreign oil entirely because all of its vehicles are flex-fuel vehicles. Most use ethanol which they produce from sugar cain. The irony is that the cars that they purchase are imported from the United States. Some environmentalists in thsi country have jerry-rigged their cars to use biodiesel which can produced from common everyday gease disposed of by places such as restaurants. there are entire bus lines in the country that run on fuel cell technology and have their own filling stations. The technology is available, but big oil's influence in politics, and the cost of altering the existing systems of distribution (ie: filling stations and production facilities) keeps big wigs from utilizing them They would rather destroy what little nature we have left and force up to pay out the wazoo than take a year or to of smaller profits due to investment in these systems. Ahhh, capitalism and deregulation...such beautiful things.
Capitalism is a beutiful thing. Oil lobbyists using the government to shore up an aging and obsolete technology is not. If capitalism were allowed to run it's course without government interferance and subsidies to the oil companies even though their profits are the highest ever, there may be advancement in fuel. capitalism helps develop new, better technologies. As far as deregulaion, the government is regulating the crap out of gas in particular. gas blends that emit less pollutants, new proposals for higher fuel efficiancy in cars, all govt regulations. Not bad ones, necessarily, but regulations none the less.
Capitailsm may in fact allow for the development of new technologies, but in many ways, it also stunts them. Huge profits reaped by the oil companies is a classic example of supply and demad run amok. Supply is short while demand is ever increasing, so prices skyrocket allowing for gross "how do you sleep at night when you Mr. oil exec make close to $200,000 dollars A DAY at the expense of the consumer" because of profits. In this case capitalism stunts the use and production of new technologies because oil makes sooooo much money that people are more willing to invest in it than in new technologies. They simply aren't profitable enough at this point to merit consideration. If profit was less of a priority than things like sustainabilty and ecofriendliness we would be in better shape, but profit is God in a capitalistic society. Ok, you got me on the dereg thing though. Oil is regualted like crazy in terms of pollutants/emissions and drilling which is all fine and dandy with me. Guess the type of regualtion I was thinking of was more along the lines of price caps or price gouging regs or something of the sort. Something has to be done to reign in big oil. Don;t know what exactly yet, haven't pontificated for very long, admittedly, but you get the gist, eh?
by the way, who is Martin?? I like him
If it wasn't for capitalism, this wouldn't be an issue because most of us couldn't afford cars to begin with. Capitalism and greed are 2 different things. There are people that abuse their positions of power as the head of companies, but there are politicians that abuse their power as well so should we shitcan democracy? Capitalism also allows the opportunity to advance, better oneself and improve their position in life. People flock to this country for that very reason.
Partly true, partly not. We are not a purely capitaistic economy. We are a mixed economy. What makes us successful is not laissez-faire capitalism, but the fact that as a mixed economy our government has the power to regulate and intervene, making our economy more stable than laissez-faire economics. Secondly, we are not a direct democracy either. We are a representative democracy. In any event, you do not have to scrap an entire system because it is flawed. Black and white simplicity does not necessarliy apply. What makes a country strong is its ability to identify flaws and address them within the existing system. Tweeking, not scapping is what is called for.
Yeah, I don't deny that, and if someone wants to be technical, we're not a democracy, the US is a federal republic. As far as regulation, I like things like the FDA that makes sure that somebody's not selling me snake oil and telling me it will cure cancer or make my hair grow, or there are no more than X number or rat droppings in my hamburger. Per one of my previous posts I said that I didn't like the fact the the government is helping subsidise big oil, that money could be spent towards developing new fuel tech. The government does have it's place in economy, I may have overreacted and took the comment as an attack on capatalism in general. I've had to talk to socialists before and tend to respond in general terms. I'm not accusing you of being a socialist though, and IF you are, that's fine too.
You dont know Martin, D. His name is Mike and hes damn good people. He is the newest Offmen addition; the first one in many years.
He is an Offmen in training. We are fortunate to have him as our apprentice, as unlike the rest of us he is a learned person with great intelligentsia. We plan on using him for hummers and other favors, as recommended by Frank.
Martin, when you first started posting, I thought I saw a lot of Mo, in your writing, however I must digress, as have begun to really respect your ability to write about what you have learned. Kudos’!
Franks one of my best customers
spiraling shape They Might be Giants
Scott, Nice Avatar.
D, the us gov't manages consistantly to fuck up a one car parade, you really think we need a bigger gov't to tell us how to do more, remember if you let these bastards into one part of your life they will get into more.
I think we would be better served to have the gov't go the other direction. stay out of buisness, and vice versa, but be an impartial observer, reporter of fact.
The people are smart enough to see through the shit if they were given the truth, stop telling people how lovely smoking is- but how awful it is, and smokers decrease. stop telling people how awsome it would be to have an H2 in your garage, but instead thell them how terrible they are for the enviroment, how hard they are to drive, and how many of them actually get used for their intended pupose, and the H2, would never have had an H3, there would be no market for it.
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