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Short answer; off the coast of Florida, off the east coast, off the west coast, and in Alaska. Solution? Think long term,...not short term. Approve new oil refineries. New refineries would be more efficient and cleaner. Approve new nuclear reactors and get input from engineers from European nations who have successfully used nuclear power plants for decades. Doing so would reduce the coal, oil, and natural gas used for electricity generation. Use a standard fuel formula nation wide and eliminate ethanol. By increasing oil drilling and production here in USA, you reduce the reliance on oil from politically unstable regions like what's going on now. Political instability in oil rich nations will cause oil speculators to get nervous and price spikes.
I'm not saying the wars in the middle east that we've engaged in were only about oil. But because of our self-induced dependence on that region, we have to care. Would we even have had an Iraq war if we were self sufficient?
Since the US has not built a new refinery in close to 35 years due to NIMBY, what foriegn country would you like to ship it to be refined?
As to prices, the US can be like numerous other countries and control prices to change once a month? Regulate the pricing just like its done with electricity providers. This daily up a dime, down a dime, up a dime all in the same day is really annoying.
^ I didn't blame Bush but many people did since he did launch two Wars in the middle east and another poster on here is actually blaming Obama for not making us energy independent in the scant 25 months he's been in office! I was responding to that since practically every thread on this forum is now full of Obama haters who blame him for everything.
I'm not saying the wars in the middle east that we've engaged in were only about oil. But because of our self-induced dependence on that region, we have to care. Would we even have had an Iraq war if we were self sufficient?
The UN approved the first Iraq war in 1991. Bush haters always seem to forget that when they scream "war for oil". Some of the nations that didn't want us to go into Iraq in 2003 (like France, Germany, and Russia) didn't want us to remove Saddam's government because they had sweet oil deals with Saddam and they knew that if Saddam's government was removed, so was their oil contracts. After Saddam's removal and the formation of a new government, the oil fields reverted back to the Iraqi people, not America.
In my opinion, the government should pass a gas tax now to bring gas up to $6/gallon. Take that tax money and put 100% of it towards energy solutions. Whether that be propping up our infrastructure to handle more drilling and refining or for funding research into alternative energy.
I think it is safe to say that one day we will be paying $6/gallon. We can either pay it to other nations from whom we import oil or we can start by paying it to ourselves so that when the day come when the gas would've really hit $6/gallon, maybe we'll be able to lessen the blow.
But its political suicide to do that. So it won't happen.
I'm watching another "expert" spouting off that $5 gas will not adversely affect our economy. These "experts" are very misguided. As gas nears $4 people's driving habits will cut back, trips to restaurants will be reduced. As it hits $5 and works its way into higher food, clothing, and all the other products people buy they will cut back spending on discretionary items. They will start demanding action from their elected officials and maybe then we will get an energy policy.
With gas expected to reach $5 a gallon by summer, is NOW the time to start drilling here, and the hell with what the environmentalist say or think?
In the words of Sarah Palin, DRILL BABY DRILL!!!
It's too late for that.
Thanks to the failure of our politicians over the last 4 decades, we find ourselves and our entire economy held captive by babbling lunatics in desert countries who hate us.
Thank you environmentalists for not allowing any drilling, building of nuclear plants or oil refineries for the last three decades.
Thank you to the rest of our "leaders" who kissed the asses of the oil sheiks for decades, allowing them to wield their power over us.
There's several problems with the idea that drilling more here in the US will actually lower the price of gas.
First, before the off shore moratorium they were increasing drilling in North Dakota, drilling was steady in Alaska, Texas, and other states where they normally drill for oil, and off shore drilling was increasing. Gas was still easily hitting over $3 a gallon. Clearly, drilling more at home didn't affect gas prices before, therefore there's no reason to think that doing so now would actually change anything.
Second, the price of oil is not determined by supply and demand. Libya imports very little oil to the United States, yet before we could even feel the impact of any shortage of oil coming from Libya (which is highly unlikely that we would) our gas prices were going up.
Third, oil drilled here in the US does not stay in the US. It goes to the world market where it is sold to whoever will pay the most for it.
Fourth, if by some freakish chance an increase in oil actually did make the price of gas lower, drilling companies would slow down the drilling. They've yanked crews off wells before, and they'll continue to do it. If the price drops, they stop drilling as much to try and get the price to go back up.
Even if the off shore moratorium gets lifted, even if we drilled more in the US, it wouldn't lower the price of gas. Our government can't stop the private corporations from not drilling if they feel the price of oil has gotten to low.
Anyone that thinks that any new drilling will have any significant impact except lining some oil company's execs with a lot of money is an idiot. First, any new significant drilling wouldn't make as much of a dent in our overall demand. Mostly importantly, this idea that domestic drilling means we'll get nice cheap gas is also misguided. Oil sells on the free market and those oil companies are going to sell to the highest bidder. They're not going to turn around and sell it to Americans any cheaper cause it came out of Palin's backyard.
Anyone that thinks that any new drilling will have any significant impact except lining some oil company's execs with a lot of money is an idiot. First, any new significant drilling wouldn't make as much of a dent in our overall demand. Mostly importantly, this idea that domestic drilling means we'll get nice cheap gas is also misguided. Oil sells on the free market and those oil companies are going to sell to the highest bidder. They're not going to turn around and sell it to Americans any cheaper cause it came out of Palin's backyard.
Do you work for no profit?
You seem to be very uninformed about our abundance of oil and natural gas.
The point is, it's too late to do anything positive now.
Maybe if we start now, we will be out of this mess in 5 years or so.
As far as selling to the highest bidder, would you sell something of yours to the lowest bidder?
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Why drilling more will not lower the price of gas
