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Wednesday, June 18, 2008

The American Energy Crisis and You

Energy in America: Foreign Oil Dependency, Oil Addiction, Energy Independence, and How Environmentalists and Bureaucrats are Responsible For Our Current Energy Crisis


I know that the title sounds a bit ambitious for a first serious post, but I could not determine a better or more relevant place to start with the current state of our Union. With gas prices reaching a new all time high seemingly every day, the cost of oil shooting through the roof like it had a JADO rocket attached to its backside, and a seemingly impotent US government who can't seem to see this crisis for what it is and either act; or get out of the Americans way's so that our capitalist system can right itself.

It is difficult to determine where the first move should be made, but the best thing I can think of is that someone is going to have to grab this bull by the horns, call this crisis exactly what it is and call the American spirit to arms like it has been in the past. We need a JFK type of speech; calling on the American spirit and ingenuity to get us to the moon in 10 years. We will solve this issue if the bureaucrats and tree hugger's can just get out of the way, and let us work it out.

There are so many things that are aggravating in this issue, that it is hard to know where to start, however I think we will start with offshore drilling. The President FINALLY called on congress to get out of the way and stop the ban on coastal drilling in the US, saying that "there was no excuse for delay" and that "Families across the country are looking to Washington for a response,". Democrats in congress stated that oil companies already have under lease 68 million acres on federal lands and waters — outside the ban area — that are not being developed. This may be true but most of the land we are talking about won't have oil. A lot of it is on federal lands, some of which is still being blocked from development by the environmental lobby, and a lot of the land that is currently under lease is not in the water but on land. I would also venture a guess that the democrats in congress could not tell me the area of the ocean floor in square acres, a unit of measure that they used because it makes it seem like a lot more area than it is. 68 million acres is only roughly 106,000 square miles, almost half of which is on land, not in the water. If exactly half was on water versus land it would be an area for exploration worldwide currently on lease the size of Louisiana. On the whole planet, an area for exploration for oil in the water of less than 1\3 of one percent of the area of the ocean. Doesn't seem like all that much area when you see it that way does it?

The main thing to remember with this also is that finding oil down there isn't a sure thing, as a matter of fact it is like trying to find a needle in a HUGE haystack. It is very difficult and I don't think we should be limiting the oil companies to just the areas they already have. I say let them look wherever they need to in the outer continental shelf, an area so far off the coasts that you couldn't see the oil rigs with binoculars, even if you had some powerful enough, because of the curvature of the earth. We let them explore; something done from a boat with virtually no environmental impact; if they don't find anything, they return the lease to the government, if they do, go get the oil and suck it dry immediately. We need to allow the oil companies to build more refineries so that we can start refining and producing more of our own oil. We allow them to drill in ANWR and just about anywhere else they want to, until we develop alternative energy sources that will offset our dependency on oil. The Alaska National Wildlife Reserve is over 2 million square acres. It would require sacrificing only about 2000 acres to build several drilling areas up there that would allow us to go get the oil, with limited environmental impact.

I will continue this article later today, with a section that I think has the most promise; shale to oil conversion. Imagine if the United States became the largest oil producer on earth? It could happen and later today I will tell you how.

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