Posted by
Charlie on Thursday, June 19, 2008 5:44:38 AM
I don't claim to be an expert on these matters but I do have a little common sense. As opposed to our "representatives" who leave their common sense at the DC border.
Most of the debate in Congress centers around drilling in ANWR and offshore. It seems to me that this is the wrong way to go about increasing our energy supplies.
Drilling in ANWR, while it has vast reserves, would require bringing the necessary equipment and personnel to a remote area where severe weather conditions would probably limit operations. Once the oil is found and ready for shipment it would either have to be loaded on tankers ( is ANWR accessible by sea in winter?) or transported via pipeline, possibly a spur of the Alaska Pipeline if it has sufficient capacity.
As for offshore drilling very expensive oil-drilling platforms must be constructed, which are the size if small towns, then towed out to the appropriate spot before drilling can begin.
And besides the "experts" tell us it will take seven to ten years before we can expect any oil from these sources.
These seem to be the most expensive and time consuming ways to get the oil we need.
My solution, and the one our "representatives" should be pursuing, is to go full bore on coal to oil production. The technology for this process has been around for many years. Hitler's panzers were running on gasoline derived from coal over sixty years ago. There are many abandoned factory buildings, thanks to our ill-conceived trade policies, which could be adapted to house the equipment used for the conversion. Coal is readily available and should be stock piled while the conversion plants are under construction.
There are also vast deposits of oil shale in our western states which could be exploited.
The ease of transportation and shorter time factors of producing energy within the Continental United States make coal to oil and oil shale much more practical than ANWR and offshore drilling.
I'm not saying we shouldn't drill in ANWR and offshore. What I am saying is that our "representatives" are going at this problem the wrong way - as usual.
The politicians like to make headlines for themselves by calling oil company executives to testify and accusing them of price gouging. Consider this: oil company profit on a gallon of gas 4 cents. Federal tax on a gallon of gas 18.4 cents. So who is doing the gouging?
This makes me FURIOUS !!!!