It's official............ (Hope: environment, travel, job)

[ASpilot2be]

Originally Posted by RayinAK

Diesel is more expensive that gasoline. Should be around $4.29 to $4.49 per gallon already.

Yep. I am aware of that.

[karfar]

We've got gas now at $4.09 & $4.19, depending where you go. Ridiculous!! I've started taking the bus to work, which I should always do but the bus system here leaves much to be desired. So I haven't used my car in 2 days since I'm almost on empty & seriously don't want to gas up for as long as I can help it. Time to buy a bike! Why the heck isn't something being done about this???

[RayinAK]

Originally Posted by karfar

We've got gas now at $4.09 & $4.19, depending where you go. Ridiculous!! I've started taking the bus to work, which I should always do but the bus system here leaves much to be desired. So I haven't used my car in 2 days since I'm almost on empty & seriously don't want to gas up for as long as I can help it. Time to buy a bike! Why the heck isn't something being done about this???

Well, nothing we can do about it, except for refusing to buy gasoline. As long as there is a demand for it, the high price will continue. We don't have enough refineries in the US, and it will take years before more refineries are built since environmental restrictions are so tough nowadays. Couple that to Congress not allowing for offshore and AK's ANWAR oil exploration and production for the last several years, and that's the result. Offshore oil exploration and production is not allowed off the coast of Florida and other places, and environmental laws have crippled oil refining in the US. Not so in Canada, however. Just look at what has happened in Congress for the past few days: oil companies being "drilled" by Congress, while it's Congress that has restricted oil exploration and production in the US. The "polar bear extinction because of global warming" deal, in the news recently, will further restrict all sorts of oil activities in Alaska.

[Metlakatla]

Why the heck isn't something being done about this???

Even though I never was much of a Ron Paul fan, sometimes the guy does make a lot of sense on certain things. He said this a couple of years ago.

What Congress Can Do About Soaring Gas Prices by Ron Paul

We're already starting to see theft here. Someone stole my freakin' boat gas last night.

I make sure to lock my little truck these days. Theft of good and even ok mileage vehicles is way up here. Hell if I owned a Hummer I'd leave the keys in it next to a crack house so maybe I'd have a chance of getting something out of the insurance company if some idiot stole and wrecked it cause they can't give those things away.

I found a little rental right by my job and it's gonna cost me less money to go ahead and rent it and just come home on days off. So that's what I plan on doing.

[MissingAll4Seasons]

I'm more than happy to trade in my current vehicle and get another... problem is, if I'm gonna do it I'd want hydrogen fuel cell or pure EV. Unfortunately, none of these vehicles are quite on the market yet (despite the advertisements) and I haven't seen any hydrogen gas stations cropping up. Not interested in E85 -- it's a nice try, but one bad year in the corn crop and we're screwed. The only pure EV's I've seen are the cute kit cars that are only good for running errands around town because they can't go faster than about 40 mph downhill with a tail wind and have all the horsepower of a rabid squirrel on steroids.

And hey... let's just look at the fact that all these cars cost at leat $5000 more than their gas-guzzling counterparts. Conspiracy???? Maybe so.

[karfar]

I've got a Toyota Corolla so at least it's doing a little better in gas mileage than others. I love those cute little smart cars...beep beep!

[RayinAK]

Ron Paul's solutions to lowering the high price of gasoline do not apply to the present situation, although is may have been a good plan back in 2006. The problem now is the high demand for fuel in the US, China, India, and most of the world in general. In some parts of the world, including Venezuela and the Middle East, fuel costs from $0.25 to perhaps $0.60 per gallon, but these nations have great amounts of oil (supply), and the refineries to turn oil to heating fuel, gasoline, etc. The two refineries we have in Alaska can barely refine some of the oil from the AK's oil fields, and a great portion of this oil is send somewhere else for refining. US refineries are running at nearly full capacity, and still can't refine enough oil to take care of the demand.

With more refineries, coupled to more oil production, plus a lowered demand from the public, the prices would come down.

[Bluefly]

Originally Posted by RayinAK

Well, nothing we can do about it, except for refusing to buy gasoline. As long as there is a demand for it, the high price will continue. We don't have enough refineries in the US, and it will take years before more refineries are built since environmental restrictions are so tough nowadays. Couple that to Congress not allowing for offshore and AK's ANWAR oil exploration and production for the last several years, and that's the result. Offshore oil exploration and production is not allowed off the coast of Florida and other places, and environmental laws have crippled oil refining in the US. Not so in Canada, however. Just look at what has happened in Congress for the past few days: oil companies being "drilled" by Congress, while it's Congress that has restricted oil exploration and production in the US. The "polar bear extinction because of global warming" deal, in the news recently, will further restrict all sorts of oil activities in Alaska.

There's an interesting book titled "Yearning Wild". The author left Indiana the day he graduated high school to work on the oil pipeline in Alaska. He was so enthusiastic about it. He almost got fired several times for working too hard. He eventually learned that the oil companies were purposely moving as slow as they possibly could to get as many government handouts as they could. When Congress would ask why things were taking so long, they would blame environmental regulation. The author was appalled at what he experienced and became a diehard defender of the wilderness against such unnecessary devastation.

It's a scam. Don't by into it. Drilling in those places would have minimal impact on global supply and demand.

Anyway, we have the knowledge to move beyond oil. Why not use our human ingenuity and creativity to solve this problem rather than going back to primitive solutions like more dirty oil?

Perhaps this is the opportunity we've been waiting for to truly evolve. Why hold ourselves back?

Btw - $4.30 here in northern Michigan.

[RayinAK]

Originally Posted by Bluefly

There's an interesting book titled "Yearning Wild". The author left Indiana the day he graduated high school to work on the oil pipeline in Alaska. He was so enthusiastic about it. He almost got fired several times for working too hard. He eventually learned that the oil companies were purposely moving as slow as they possibly could to get as many government handouts as they could. When Congress would ask why things were taking so long, they would blame environmental regulation. The author was appalled at what he experienced and became a diehard defender of the wilderness against such unnecessary devastation.

It's a scam. Don't by into it. Drilling in those places would have minimal impact on global supply and demand.

Anyway, we have the knowledge to move beyond oil. Why not use our human ingenuity and creativity to solve this problem rather than going back to primitive solutions like more dirty oil?

Perhaps this is the opportunity we've been waiting for to truly evolve. Why hold ourselves back?

Btw - $4.30 here in northern Michigan.

Oh, I don't buy from one side nor the other. Both the environmentalists as well as the oil companies have their respective agendas, otherwise none could make a living. The fact is that we only have two refineries in Alaska, one a few miles from where I live, and the other not too far from Anchorage, and both running around 98% capacity. Only a portion of Alaska's oil is refined in Alaska.

If you would have listened to some members of Congress this week, their answers to the present situation would be to tax the oil companies some more. Another member (from CA) answer was to have the Government take over the oil companies.

Just imagine the Government, the same one that is making billions of $ from oil in the form of taxes, controlling the oil market? The more taxes on oil, gasoline, etc., the richer governments become. Not only are governments making money at the pump, but on property tax.

The answer as as simple as this: no demand for a product, no supply for it needed. Right now there is enough supply, not enough refineries, high demand for it, and those governments and marketeers that can afford it are hoarding oil, gasoline, heating fuel, etc.

[Dusty Rhodes]

Originally Posted by karfar

We've got gas now at $4.09 & $4.19, depending where you go. Ridiculous!! I've started taking the bus to work, which I should always do but the bus system here leaves much to be desired. So I haven't used my car in 2 days since I'm almost on empty & seriously don't want to gas up for as long as I can help it. Time to buy a bike! Why the heck isn't something being done about this???

Someone of a suspicious temperment may suspect that since our president was a Texas oilman and all of his best buds are also Texas oilmen, it is probably just a coincidence that gas prices are soaring and these guys are making very large fortunes.