Artificial regulation has stopped refinery production and we are building NO new refineries in the US. Build one and watch gas prices start to fall. Did you know that almost all of Montana's Oil is shipped over seas; the US doesn't have refinery capacity for it.
They have CLOSED about 35% of the refineries we had during the mid 70's. Don't think the government had a single thing to do with that, it was a business decision by the oil companies to reduce overhead. The government played NO role in the refinery numbers.
Artificial regulation has stopped drilling in our own coastal waters. But Cuba and China are signing agreements to drill in the Gulf of Mexico off our coast. So, let's get this straight - Cuba and China can do a better job of drilling then we can, they will be more environmentally responsible? I don't think so.
Signing agreements and actually commencing drilling are two different things. We do have unregulated areas of offshore drilling that are as-yet untapped by the oil companies, who own the rights but have not started the drilling operations.
Artificial regulation has stopped drilling in ANWR. The postage stamp size of land will cause no impact. In fact, were it not for GPS or compos, you could get lost trying to find the spot in the huge chunk of land out there. Why stop it, again, you have heard of Red Necks, well, now get use to the Green Necks. Green Necks are even more of a joke than Red Necks.
By Exxon's own admission, even if we poked the holes in ANWR, build a refinery in one day, and pumped it at its maximum capacity, even keeping all of the production for the US only, their own economic advisers state it would affect the US oil price per barrel by $1.45. Thats a 1% reduction per barrel, which would be roughly .03-.05 at the pump. ANWR is an election year red herring, don't let them fool you into thinking that it has any effect on oil prices. If you want effective price change, they already own land. only 15% of owned oil claims in the US are being drilled. These claims have already been blessed by the EPA, and are ripe for the picking. The oil company just needs to get off its ass and put some rigs in.
Our stock market allows open speculation, and speculation can drive prices up or down. With uncertainty in the world, with 70% of our oil coming from over seas instead of our own back yard, and with no refinery capacity left, which direction do you think oil will go. Stop speculation? How? we can stop our own, but this is a world market and we cannot legislate foreign speculation away.
If we are the highest GDP country in the world, and the leading oil consumer, what effect do you think we have on the futures and commodities market? If we were Sweden, we wouldn't have much effect. We are the US, we have things called Hedge Funds. We do have a major effect.
We have enough oil shale to provide oil for many many decades to come, but again, artificial regulation.
Stop listening to Hannity and Rush. These oil fields are completely open. ND, SD, Minn, etc etc etc, are all open. The only place there is any regulation is a small section in Colorado. Have you been to the dakotas lately? They are building oil rigs all over the place. There is NO regulation in place over the oil shale fields that haven't been in place for 20 years and have been ironed out by past precedence in the industry. No barriers exist.
We have enough coal to convert to oil, at $40/barrel (compare to the open market now of $140/barrel), but again, artificial regulation.
Coal gassification plants are definitely a great alternative, but here is a funny little story. There is only one place that is going full-tilt on CG plants and it isn't what you think. Montana has gotten extremely involved in building plants. Problem being, the oil and gas companies were unwilling to spend the money, so they are STATE RUN PLANTS, OWNED BY THE STATE OF MONTANA! Government at work kids.....
Wind, a good idea, but we will never be able to use it as more than a supplement. Solar, same deal.
Turbine technology is young. There is a new concept out there using a flexible shaft and as many as 20 rotors on a single generator, sailing the shaft like a kite. It can produce exponentially higher levels of energy, but still requires a bit of development for variable wind speeds. Give it a few years, wind will be competitive.
-----------------
Don't listen to the propaganda machine. Many of these items are talking points, not fact. Spend time learning about the issues and you will find the pundits are just that, pundits. They don't know their ass from their elbow. And I mean BOTH sides of the radio dial.
E
