Drill Here Drill Now

Energy and the President-elect

Jon Stallings — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 23:41:40 +0000

The attention that had previously been given to the energy crisis shifted drastically because of the economic crisis and the Presidential election. Now with the Presidential election over (finally) it would seem energy is coming back into focus. The big question now is what exactly Barack Obama is going to do as far as energy policies and whether or not we can depend on him to take America into the next generation of energy. As the gas prices have been falling many may say there is no longer a need for drilling here in America. Unfortunately nothing could be further from the truth. Since before starting this campaign we have understood that oil we drill here in America would not be available for quite some time. The idea behind drilling here and drilling now has never been about instant gratification in the energy department. The idea the whole time has been taking action now so that in the not-too-distant future we could all benefit. I’m as happy as the next person that I am no longer paying $4 a gallon for gasoline, however I also understand there is a good chance that price goes back to what it was. Stopping the fight now for energy independence would be a major mistake. I would only hope President-elect Obama will have new policies and the determination to see this thing through.

It is good to hear that he is a strong advocate of green energy. I would hope that all of us as Americans would prefer clean, green energy to anything that pollutes the environment. However the realistic choice is obviously not so straight forward. Obama’s comments about “bankrupting the coal industry” really concern me. Why not make the attempt to make clean coal, rather than destroy the industry all together. I understand that pushing green energy forward will result in the creation of new jobs, but will it make up for the amount of jobs destroyed by bankrupting the coal industry? All in all my biggest concern is that we may try and bite off a lot more than we can chew. The faster we can produce clean, green energy the better, but let’s not bankrupt our current source of energy before finding a new one. We need to move forward, but we need to do so by putting one foot in front of the other. We need to make sure we go about it in a way that will not place a huge burden on the already suffering economy, and we need to make sure we’re creating jobs at least fast as we are destroying them. It is also important that each of us keep fighting for this campaign. Drilling now and drilling here should still be a huge priority. You won’t hear much about it in the news currently, because there is just so much else going on. Let’s not forget however, that if we wait until it shows up in the news again, gasoline will probably be back up to around $4 a gallon. Quite frankly I don’t want to wait that long. -Jon Stallings

Who is standing in our way?

Jon Stallings — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 16:22:39 +0000

As the number of signatures we have collected continues to increase every day I feel as though we are making good progress. More and more Americans are hearing about the effort to drill here and drill now and many of them are supportive of such a plan. I’m usually not one to point fingers at specific people or political parties, unless it has become transparently obvious that they are standing in the way of the American people. Even so, I’ll try to stay away from accusations and just lay out some of the facts. I recently saw an interview with the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi put on by CNN addressing, in part at least, the oil problem and her plan to fix things. She is also pretty quick to lay judgement down on who is at fault for our current situation. The video is a good starting point:

The two things that really stand out from that interview are that first; she has absolutely no plans to bring the issue of off-shore drilling before the House of Representatives. Second, without hesitation she places blame on “2 oil men” in the White House and the US Senate. I think the second point sticks out because it comes off as, “this is everyone’s fault but my own.” The first point however is much more concerning to me.

From CNN’s poll we learn that 73% of Americans support off-shore drilling leaving only 27% that are opposed to it. I hoped to see a little more concern from the Speaker of the House when she learned that the vast majority of Americans have taken a position in direct contrast to her own. I will however give her credit for her plan with the Strategic Petroleum Reserve which would in fact bring immediate relief to the pump.

The biggest problem that she and many others have against drilling in currently protected areas is that the oil companies are not drilling where they are currently allowed to. On the surface it seems to be a well thought out argument and makes a lot of sense; but it warrants some further investigation. The problem with the 68 million acres that are currently available is that they have not been found to hold enough oil to justify drilling. David Curtiss, the director of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists in Washington, reminds us that, “Thereâ€™s the misconception that every lease has oil, [but] a lease is a line on a map. It has nothing to do with the geology of where oil is.”

The overall claim coming from the opposition is, “Energy companies are not using 68 million acres of federal lands already open to energy development. If we extrapolate from todayâ€™s production rates on federal land and waters, this means that Big Oil is stockpiling an additional 4.8 million barrels of oil and 44.7 billion cubic feet of natural gas each day.”

Interestingly enough, according to the Institute for Energy Research this number was obtained by some pretty fishy speculation. The assumption goes like this:

Currently 23 million acres are producing 1.6 million barrels of oil a day from off-shore and onshore federal land
There are 68 million acres available for drilling
Therefore; because there is 3 times the land available for drilling there is obviously 3 times the oil available, giving us a number of 4.8 million barrels a day

Keep in mind what David Curtiss has said. Just because there is a lease does not mean there is oil avalaible. The Institute for Energy Research did some of their own assuming and came up with their own solution:

Using the very same extrapolation, the Institute for Energy Research has calculated that 9.4 billion non-produing acres of the moon could produce an additional 654 million barrels of oil each day.

Wow, looks like the energy crisis has been solved. Life can continue as usual…

-Jon Stallings

1.3 Million Signatures handed to Congress!

Jon Stallings — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 22:40:42 +0000

I know that many of you have been wondering when all of these efforts are actually going to bring about real change. Well as of a couple days ago the campaign has definitely started setting things in motion. It’s a very exciting time for all of us collecting signatures and I hope it’s as exciting for each of you. A petition of 1.3 million signatures was given to Congress by American Solutions in an effort to ensure the voice of the American people is heard and that something is done about it. The best part about all of this is that it is only the beginning. Signatures are continuing to pour in as Americans hear about this campaign and what we are trying to accomplish. We have a little sneak peak at what took place at the press conference.

Make no mistake; just because the petition was handed over doesn’t mean we are done collecting signatures. In fact, we figure this will help get the word out to more people and we are planning on handing over more petitions in the future with more signatures on each and every one.

Also in the news this week, President Bush said on Monday that he has reversed the executive order which banned drilling for natural gas and oil in water off the US coast. Now that the executive branch has done it’s part, Bush says, “the ball is squarely in Congressâ€™ court.â€ Here is the interesting part though. If you remember from our last update Newt had made the point that even talk of us drilling here and drilling now would start to reduce the price of gas. Well President Bush started talking and now guess what?

Oil prices plummeted by the second-largest margin on record Tuesday as investors feared a further decline in U.S. demand after hearing comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

Light, sweet crude fell $6.44 to settle at $138.74 a barrel in trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

It now appears that Newt is right and that if we continue to demonstrate that we are serious about drilling the price could continue to decrease. However; everyone knows talk is cheap. We actually need to start drilling. If the President making an announcement can do that to the price of oil; what would happen if we followed through with what he announced? President Bush was right though, now it’s up to Congress.

-Jon Stallings

3 Ways to Lower Gas Prices

Jon Stallings — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 23:10:39 +0000

Welcome to the Drill Here Drill Now.com blog. It’s something we’ve wanted to get going for a while; but first we wanted to make sure everything else on the site was running as smooth as possible. I first got involved in the Drill Here Drill Now campaign a few months back when I took an honest look at rising gas prices and our energy problem here in America. Before finding the campaign I had told myself time and time again that there must be something the United States of America could do to help our current situation. Don’t get me wrong; I don’t think drilling here in America is the answer to all of our problems. I don’t even think it’s the answer to all of our energy problems. The key, however, is that it is a very good start. Further on down the road there are better options than crude oil. Technology will be the answer and we need to start thinking about that today so that our children and grandchildren can enjoy it tomorrow. For right now though, oil is here and it is usable. The best overall explanation I have heard of the Drill Here Drill Now campaign and how exactly it is going to work came from the man himself, Newt Gingrich. I could try and explain it, but I’ll just let him do the talking…

Now that just makes sense to me. Some of those points may be a little exaggerated, for example oil dropping $50 a barrel after the President’s press conference. Even if it didn’t drop that much, at least it would be going in a direction besides up. Newt’s second point is by far the most important. I mean that is what all of this is about; going after the oil where it currently is and it just happens that it is in America. I think one of the biggest problems with our energy crisis is the lack of knowledge of the average American. Most of us don’t understand what Newt is trying to say when he explains that we have more oil here than in the middle east. The shale in the western United States has plenty of oil, the trick is getting to it. It is possible and some companies are getting pretty creative in their efforts to hit the black gold.

It really isn’t worth wasting too much energy on methods to retrieve the oil until it is legal to do so. It’s the purpose of this campaign, it’s the reason I’m writing this, and it’s exactly what Newt Gingrich was talking about. The American people have power and lots of it. I think we often times take for granted the power we do have to influence and select our elected officials. While I’m not able to give exact numbers, I can say that the petition has been signed by republicans, independents, and democrats. In fact, the spread between those three and the “other” category has taken me by surprise. This issue is bigger than any one party and together the American people can be heard.

That’s where you come in. We are doing everything we can, from radio shows, to movies, to pictures and advertising to get the word out. When all is said and done though, it really comes down to you, the American people. A “grassroots” type movement is much faster and more effective than anything money can buy. Many of you have started chain emails and even taken petitions to your place of work to round up all the signatures you can get. We’ve had a lot of great ideas come in from people all over the United States. Now that the t-shirts have started to ship we have pictures coming in every day of people showing their support. Most importantly, our petition is on fire.

We’ll be using this blog to keep you up to date on all of the news and information about energy independence. To me that is the important part of all of this. We need to be independent from all other nations; especially when it comes to something as important as energy.

-Jon Stallings