Apparently the latest and greatest idea the Republicans have come up with to deal with the energy problem is to open more of our shore for drilling. I'm sure that people with an IQ of 50 truly believe that will solve the problem; however, for the rest of us we are going to need something better than that.
To better understand why this won't be affecting your energy and gas bills, one first must understand how the process works for drilling oil. I do not claim to be an expert by any means. I couldn't be an engineer on a rig, nor could I work on a rig, but I do understand the basic process. Before any drilling can even start, there first has to be exploration to determine if any oil is actually there. If it is determined that there is in fact oil in the area, it has to be determined if it is feasible to extract it, i.e. is there enough to make it worth their while, after all, it can be costly to set up a rig in water. After all that, it can still be years before any actual oil from that venture can be introduced into our market. We all know that oil and gas are limited resources with a limited future. Shouldn't we be concentrating our long-term efforts on something that will get our kids and grandkids and great grandkids through the future? This is where our efforts should be, not scraping the bottom of the barrel for more of the black heroin that we keep pumping into our veins.
So what then is the solution in the short term? Any alternative energy sources are unfortunately years in the future, thanks to years of finding ways to put it on the back burner. I don't really think there is a simple answer to this. I am not even sure there IS an answer. Gas tax holidays won't save us either. If we tax the oil companies more as the Democrats suggest (actually it is just asking them to pay what they should be paying and stop giving them extra special treatment), they would probably pass the price down to us. We could create legislation that would regulate the oil industry to allow them only a certain amount of profit, but let's face it, too many of our "leaders" are in their pockets so that's not likely to happen.
I don't know what the answer is. I think the problem is that neither do our "leaders." Rather than tell the public that they don't have a short-term solution, they make up these bullshit solutions. Next thing they will be telling us that if we all put an egg on our head and hop on one foot without letting the egg fall, then, and only then, will our electric bills top out. OK, I admit, that one is far out there even for the Republicans, but it would be nearly as effective as opening up more shoreline for the oil companies. The difference is that when the egg falls off your head and splatters all over the kitchen floor, the only harm done is that you have one less egg and a floor to clean. When oil and byproducts leak into the ocean, it kills sea life, makes water unsafe, and destroys our Earth.
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The problem is that we are at or are approaching peak oil sometime in the next couple of decades and we need a minimum of 10 years to get some alternative energy infrastructure in place. A sudden global economic collapse will result in massive human casualties and the end of civilization as we know it or at least a very long, severe depression lasting for a couple of generations. This country has to get moving now on alternative energy and the associated infrastructure and we MUST reduce our foreign oil dependence. It won't happen without a serious effort. Drilling off the Gulf coast would be a bandaid while finding long term solutions and implementing them. It may come to that, although it is not a long term solution to the looming energy crisis. We are in Iraq because the power elite know that we are in deep trouble with regard to energy in this country. It is a matter of time and it is when, not if, we reach peak oil. I think. I could be wrong. Hopefully. Given that plastics, microchips and all things computer-related, clothing, transportation, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and just about everything you can touch in your house is petroleum-based. We are talking about a serious change when oil becomes even more expensive than it is. We have so much debt that we are going to be in huge trouble when everything comes crashing down around us. I hope I am wrong. I hope, I hope, I hope. The problem is that if the American public had any idea about the scope of the problem that there would be panic and collapse of financial markets. I hope this is wrong. I hope this is just doomsday BS and that everything is going to be fine. Just fine. Slap a solar panel on your roof and everything will be just fine. There are dire predictions that the suburbs will be the new slums of the future...when people can't drive their cars and food isn't being delivered to the supermarkets anymore. Hope to heck I'm wrong. Hope it will all be just fine. Maybe it will. Maybe Barack Obama will get elected and this country will get on track to alternative energy dependence. Maybe the economy will stabilize and we will all live happily ever after. Yay for American Empire! We can do it! Trillion dollar debt? No big deal. Chaaaaaarge!
ReplyDeleteAhh...but the problem is we aren't talking about the Gulf Coast. They already have drilling rights there. They are wanting to open up areas that have not been open to oil companies before for various reasons. And it will be more than 10 years before we'd see any impact from it. I think the year that I heard was somewhere around 2030 before we'd see any real impact from any opening of additional shores in other parts of the country. In the meantime, China and India are increasing in their use even more and so is America and the rest of the world, so any small amount they could get by 2030 would not be enough. We do need to get on the ball with the alternative energy sources and to do that, we need to stop looking into doing things like this opening of more shoreline for drilling and use that funding and that time working on these alternative fuel sources. And I don't mean ethanol. Ethanol is the biggest joke we've been sold in recent history. It ranks right up there with "they hate us for our freedom" and "mission accomplished." I could see suburbia being the slums of the future, but we have ways to fix that if we act now. Alternative fuel, better public transportation, telecommuting, all very viable options.
ReplyDeleteI too have high hopes for Obama. I do have to caution myself at times though and remember he is a politician and he is only one man. Even if he goes and fights for everything he says, he can't do it alone. Let's hope that he is a smooth enough talker and is a man that holds his passions dear enough so that he can actually make some change.