Look left or right. Who cares? What happened to infrastructure?

[Jobster]

Originally Posted by thecoalman

You understand what the term "recoverable" means when looking at reserve estimates for any fossil fuel?

Let me explain, see the top three parts of this pyramid. The Demonstrated reserve base is coal they know is there and it's based on hard data collected over move than a century. We burn about 1 billion tons per year and you often hear the comment we have 2 centuries of coal, so why isn't it 4.7 centuries?

That estimate is adjusted for two things, it uses increased demand and it's based on the recoverable reserves. Recoverable reserves only includes coal that can feasibly mined using today's technology.



Far less that what OPEC can hold us ransom for.

Show me the math. It's simple arithmetic. What are you trying to do?

What is your agenda?

[Jobster]

Originally Posted by thecoalman

What changes is technology and unlike most of the rest of the world the US has a diverse and massive quantity of resources to meet these demands. That's not to say oil is here forever or prices will not increase over time but these dire predictions about falling off a cliff become laughable.

No they don't. What is the ERoEI on shale rock?

Do you understand what ERoEI is?

US May Hold Large Reserves of Shale Oil, but is it Economically Out of Reach? | OilPrice.com

It doesn't matter that the US has all these reserves. You can't extract the energy at economically viable prices.

The economy would collapse.

[Jstarling]

Originally Posted by Robert_J

Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution lists the 18 enumerated powers of the federal government. The only infrastructure they are empower to spend on is post roads. Basically the interstate system and US highways.

Agreed. Most needed infrastructure programs are for transportation and security. Programs all Americans use daily. Need to modernize electric grid as a national security issue.
Tax money spent wisely and fairly.