Who is standing in our way?
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, “There’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 today’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
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July 24th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
America’s infrastructure is based on oil. All the trucks, planes, trains, ships, that deliver all goods to market run on oil. All automobiles, as well as all the gas stations across America run on oil. All petroleum based products, run on oil. Although alternative fuels most definitely should be developed, in the mean time America must have oil to keep our economy from screeching to a halt. In addition, our national security requires energy independence ASAP, so that we are not transferring all our wealth to foreign countries who do not like us, and who can cripple us by turning off the spigot, disrupting oil transport to us, or arbitrary oil price hikes. These are all reasons why we must be drilling for more oil right now and right here in the U.S.A. … ASAP. Nancy Pelosi and her cronies stubborn commitment to petty party politics, instead of realistic concern over our national interest, even in the face of 76% of Americans who want off shore drilling now, will end up in bringing America to its knees.
July 24th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
You know,, they say it will only produce 4 percent maybe. Well that small percentage is what is short in the market!! You only need to increase production by so much, and it will make a ton of difference in price. But the oil companies do not want to drill everywhere. They want to keep the market tight so the price of oil will be high. I think since the justice department is now involved and heading the investigation we will find out some interesting things… Like reporting on a regular basis that the U.S. inventory is low. Its funny now that since its being investigated that the inventory is surprisingly way over what was projected!!!
July 27th, 2008 at 6:15 pm
Bill Fowler raises a point, but in the wrong context. Of course a business in America wants the price of their goods/services to command the highest price. This is a good thing, it’s capitalism. And it’s kept us free, and prosperous.
Second, low inventory? It’s not about inventory, it’s about expected output from existing sources relative to burgeoning demand internationally. The speculators - RIGHTLY - moved this commodity higher because of demand. They didn’t cause this problem - head in the sand Energy policy did.
Bringing in the lawyers and CongressCritters to point fingers and wail will only make gas cost more.
Short of price fixing, which always leads to economic instability, the only way to fix this problem is to increase the supply of crude and it’s concomitant products.
Drill, or watch this country’s economy spiral out of control while China happily sucks the OCS dry. I for one, would rather see drilling platforms in sight of our shores fly the American Flag, not the PRC flag.
July 31st, 2008 at 11:09 pm
Well kids all good things must come to an end, I will check in from time to time as long as library’s have internet access. Washington as decided to pretend that its business as usual Nancy and the Nancy boys see no problem because the current economic situation does not effect them. remember ladies and gentlemen that congress chose to break with your futures in the balance. You, all of you, need to express your displeasure to them, actions don’t let a day go by where there is not a news story of your displeasure or they will take what little you have left. fight for your way of life America Washington is the enemy from within they will not act for you because they don’t care about you, you are an ssn number a tax statistic these people have all been in Washington far to long. Families that have bread career politicians or bored rich house wives that couldn’t balance there own budgets, so they want to mess up yours just little bit.
those of you who agree with me we need these people alive (our current batch of lifetime politicians) to answer for there crimes against the united states and its people. find ten to fifteen like minded friends that you can trust plan for things to get a lot worse and they will. buy guns buy ammo cash them in different locations pick targets carefully and prepare your children this may not be over in our lifetime they will not be happy about giving up there power. life is short what matters is how you chose to live under tyrants as there cash cow (slaves) or as my fellow free man and women in control of your own life. Tear yourselves away from the television or that will be your vote for do what you want to me. don’t let yourselves be pacified into submission stand up and fight, fight like American men and women. we are an unstoppable force if you unleash it I hope you do before its to late before you let yourselves become 3rd world. work together stick together and they cannot beat us.
Do you miss the freedom you once had, have you notice the rape of the constitution and its amendments. We have been betrayed by our politicians they have sold us out for there own gain. First print yourself copies of the constitution and bill of rights keep them close to your heart. Now take a good look around as the price of gas rises the masses become more and more isolated, expect Home Land Security to gain more and broader powers those who used to get by on a 40 hour pay check will soon be the new homeless and destitute. The American dream is about to become a nightmare, For the present time all politicians should be held accountable and face the penalty for there betrayal. The democrats and republicans are both guilty our judicial system is a joke. Our judges and lawyers have created a lottery system where the man who has a fly in his bottled water can get rich overnight but of course the real winner is the lawyer. A system where O.J. and Kennedy-Smith go free, street gangs rule the streets. Still not enough for you to take arms and take back our country well consider this a communist / socialist America if both major parties get there way, ripe with corruption that only they will benefit from and cement there positions in there eyes for all time. Think your being taxed enough well I’m afraid they will have to raise taxes to pay for our natural disasters for 2008 and well also for the aid we had to give China because they hold so much of our debt.
Ask yourself do you want your children to be slaves to foreign powers are you willing to let yourself be distracted by ufo’s aliens bunny huggers and pacifists or american idol. Are you willing to wait till they desensitize our military with overseas boarder skirmishes so they can be used against us (to keep the peace of course) We eat food that is not safe willingly, most of our food supply is not inspected.
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) is an incurable degenerative neurological disorder (brain disease) that is ultimately fatal. Among the types of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy found in humans, it is the most common.
It is recognized that a single host gene encodes the agent for scrapie, transmissible mink encephalopathy, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, kuru, GSS, Creutzfeldt-Jakob and other Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies. This gene is transcribed equally in both normal and diseased hosts.
The claim that rendered sheep offal fed to cattle was the initiator for BSE is not fully supported by the facts. Although recent revelations of the variant-CJD being possibly linked to BSE are still being debated, it is surprising considering past evidence of just such a cross species transmission.
Director for the Animal Resources Department and Pathology of a leading biologics manufacturer in Canada that a more plausible explanation may be a pathway failure in which one of the host body’s sophisticated production processes is interfered with. Through comparisons of pathologic lesions at an electronmicroscopic level, the author has discovered what he considers significant associated pathology that suggests mechanical destruction. The vacuolation resulting from the prion disease is not unlike many other neuropathogeneses. It may be more appropriate to evaluate prions on a cellular pathway level and thereby examine their development and spread more as a molecular epidemiology. Upon review of articles and materials involving spongiform encephalopathies, certain hypotheses were expounded in this article suggesting that far more information on this family of disease agents can be extrapolated from current knowledge. The fact that thus far, prions have been unique in the behavior suggests that accepted principles that normally are applied to other micro organisms do not adhere well in when dealing with abnormal prions.
Certain species are more prone to TSE’s than others. The high susceptibility of goats does not only apply itself to scrapie but to CJD as well. When CJD was injected into goats, the resultant disease was indistinguishable from naturally occurring scrapie either on the basis of clinical signs nor by histopathology. Whereas other species seem to rely heavily on a host-agent mechanism for determining severity and incubation period, this does not appear to be a restriction exhibited in goats.
The potential for human infection with prion disease is a distinct possibility wherever beef or dairy products are consumed and BSE exists. Since 85% of CJD cases are not familial based, there is the possibility that some of these cases as recently reported in Britain, are BSE related. A view of the CJD incidence worldwide reported in Masters? paper of 1979 overlaid against a map of the beef and dairy industries would possibly suggest that a relationship between the disease was occurring prior to this decade and that BSE may have been present earlier than its recorded date in Kent, England.
The possibility of a closer relationship in mechanism between CJD and Alzheimer?s Disease must be fully explored and identification of those cases of AD which were misdiagnosed must be done in order to acquire a more accurate knowledge of CJD incidence. If the hypothesis of prion disease being the result of an abnormal pathway resulting in human diseases such as CJD and AD, then it would be likely that the host would eventually encode the abnormality as in AD and propagate the disease in subsequent generations. Some indicator of BSE or V-CJD would arise in the present of near future in either an isolated cow or a human, respectively.
The alteration of prions as they passage through various host species would indicate that there was a common origin for prion diseases and that host specificity was a result of continued passage within the same species. This would also suggest that a genetic susceptibility or recognition process would also be achieved within the host species over time. The process of alteration would increase the opportunity for further prion dysfunction which in turn may advance the onset, severity, and transmissibility of the prion which is evident in the clinical findings of the numerous prion strains within a single species.
Such alterations could result in every mammalian species developing a prion disease specific to itself with maximized effect. The ability for different etiological agents to produce histopathological signs within the central nervous system having similar features amongst numerous mammalian species may indicate a predisposition which encourages genetic incorporation.
Sourcing of bovine material for any purpose, including consumption, manufacturing, research etc. should be from a country where CWD, scrapie and BSE are not present. In this way a level of confidence can be achieved which cannot be obtained presently with products from certain countries. The summons to take the prion situation seriously of almost a decade ago could never be more prophetic than on this threshold that we currently find ourselves upon.
Let’s look at these betrayals a little more closely from the present back under this congress we lost a variable yield nuclear warhead and sent 4 nuclear detonators (I hope they where not Z-pinch detonators) to China. Bill and co-president Hillary Clinton gave nuclear reactors to North Korea making it possible for them to make nuclear weapons not to mention the embarrassment that there presidency cost us world wide. Did you know that they single-handedly brought our military to its knees with no equipment and no funds even to keep military planes flying not to mention the manpower forced outs. The attacks of 9/11 were successful because our enemies saw weakness in Bill and Hillary Clinton (and by extension, the American people). They were successful because Clinton and his top advisers were negligent. Our enemies succeeded because Bill and Hillary Clinton defanged the CIA and FBI during his tenure in the White House. They succeeded because the U.S. military rusted under another oblivious politician who put all his faith in the hands of the United Nations. George H.W. Bush took us into Iraq with just cause, but probably didn’t trust bill Clinton to mop up pulling us back at the moment of victory. which may have avoided the current boarder skirmish there and in Pakistan. Still want to blindly follow these fools. this is no longer the country that our fathers founded. The above is the short list of our leaders betrayals if you wish to blindly follow then nothing said or stated here will stop you.
The enemy is not big business or capitalism they should be encouraged and nurtured and we need to reevaluate laws on a case by case basis to eliminate the lawsuit lottery system. natural resources should be exploited and this can be done cleanly but these things can not be done under the current political climate. The dems and reps will continue to shake fingers at each other get nothing done and drive us further into a pit that there is eventually no way out of. the hour is late and time is very short Americas cancer is the body politic and we are the antibody.
In the decades yet to come thousands will die from cjd and its variants this can not be avoided but that number does not have to keep growing its up to us to institute checks and balances to protect our food system. With similar checks and balances to protect our political system. every citizen should consider themselves a protector of the constitution and a protector of there fellow citizens. There was a time when if a person saw injustice they would feel obligated to put a stop to it. In these days we live in now we turn our heads and hope they don’t bother us. We have lost our civic mindedness but it has not been forgotten we are not a nation of black white yellow we are Americans we have evolved to a point where color means nothing we must protect one another if we are to survive as a nation. The road ahead will not be easy but good things never are. religious and ethnic intolerance must be put aside to complete this task. This was and will be again the land of the free and home of the brave.
We the people can take back our country.
BrainMaggot
August 6th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Who is behind this thinking, What do you not understand that Oil is the problem. Drilling does us no good. Alternative fuels and sources is our soluiton. This is just anoter Oil company stratagy to gain more control over us. All here must need to read about the 70’s oil crisis? What Crisis? Get off oil today, stp drilling and develop the real new alternatives on the table. http://push.pickensplan.com/
Seeya,
August 9th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
Coop is a TRUE idiot.
How can you say drilling does us no good?
Did you drop out of school in the 3rd grade?
Your mentality is the same as a doctor telling a starving man that eating more will not save his life.
Your alternative nonsense is only a tiny part of the solution and yes WE NEED to drill our own resources and stop our democrap, leftist, politicians from commiting ECONOMIC SEDITION against the US citizenry.
I guess you prefer to keep sending 2 BILLION DOLLARS EVERY WEEK TO THE MUSLIM WORLD RATHER THAN INVESTING IT HERE IN THE US WORKERS!
I choose drilling here our own resources that any other nation would go to war to have.
God blessed us with immense resources and we need to use them.
Say what you want, but the tide of common sense is taking hold and soon we will be seeing better times as we drill our OWN oil.
Shame on you and your ilk, but I prefer to use my own resources and end this political clout that these islamic nations are currently using against my people.
August 11th, 2008 at 9:55 am
Here’s your problem with the oil prices in a nut shell. It’s ignorance,not stupidity,just ignorance.I would dare guess that 60% of the people in this country that has a voters registration doesn’t know the first thing about economics. It doesn’t take a rocket sientist to know that if you simply announce that we can now drill for oil feely,it will cause oil prices to drop drastically. This would also promote new processing facilities and several thousands of jobs. Then once the drilling has begun you can sit back
and watch the price of oil drop like a bad dream. I would go as far to say that gas prices would drop well below $2.25 per gallon. Even though that is still somewhat high, we have to allow the oil producers to make a very resonable profit so they will continue to invest in more drilling.
Only a fool would say we have to stop the use of oil in our life time. People of AMERICA…stop and think.Think of all the products we use that comes from oil or oil is a good portion of this product. If we would let the free market do it’s work,someone will come up with a better substitute for oil. But if you let our government control it, they will be chargeing us more than any of us will be able to stand. THINK….BE SMART.
So you want to tax the rich moreeeeee…once again…THINK.Who do you think it is that creates the new businesses and new jobs????Who do you think invest their money to make more money???? It certainly isn’t the folks liveing in poverty. It certainly isn’t our government!!!!!! It’s that small 20% of AMERICANS you call the rich that pay 80% of the tax bill already.
So what’s wrong with our government cutting some of the fat from it’s budget. Why does our congressmen and senators feel like they must have a 10 to 15% pay raise every 2-3 years on a already inflated salary with so many perks, while the greater portion of AMERICANS go through 5 to 10 year droughts without even a simple cost of liveing raise.
And last but not least. What makes those who want to protect the wildlife so bad,think that GOD put the animals before his sons and daughters needs. This earth is going to be destroyed in time. Actually sooner than most of the world thinks. GOD put us higher than any creature on this earth………………THINK ABOUT IT. Thanks for your time in reading a simple “BORN-AGAIN..REAGANOMICS FOLLOWING-CONSERVATIVE-REPUBLICAN”<<<the most hate of all parties in this country.
August 13th, 2008 at 11:59 am
Well, now it seems that Pelosi (the dictator)and her socialist environmental friends are going to attach so many earmarks and conditions to the energy bill it will never get passed. If our representatives don’t start representing “We the People” then we need to remove everyone of them by vote in November or empeachment. I tryed to email Pelosi, but was not accepted because my zip code was not in her constituancy, I tryed to call but the VM was full and has been with concerned citizens that she could care less what they think. She’s going to save the planet at the detrement of the US economy no matter what “We the people think”. Everyone needs to express their concerns at Congress.org and be relentless or we can kiss our freedom goodbye.
August 21st, 2008 at 1:14 pm
Remember also that there are 640 acres in a square mile. Whenever someone wants a land mass to sound like a large area, they use the term “acres”. An area only ten miles by ten miles square contains 64,000 acres.
I have heard that about 20% of all reserves are actually under the control of the private oil companies. The rest is controlled by State owned enterprises under the control of the National governments of the country in which they drill. Confirmation?
September 8th, 2008 at 10:46 am
Bottom line is this folks. We had a warning in 1973 and again in 1979 with two oil crises. We did nothing about it since then. Today we are getting our third strike. Last time I checked, when you get 3 strikes you’re out. And the people that should be out of here are anyone in Congress over 56 years old. My reasoning is, if you are over 56 it means you were 21 YOA in 1973 and perfectly able to begin doing something about the energy crisis in this country.
So the solution is not “drill baby drill” it is fire all of these old, do nothing senators and congress people that have had their chance and have done nothing with it over the last 30 years. That includes you McCain! Give the younger generation a crack at this problem. Guaranteed we will solve it.
BTW, once all of you realize that oil is used for much more than gasoline, such as plastics, raw manufacturing materials, pharmaceuticals, etc. you will stop asking Congress to drill and start asking Congress to support alternatives for transportation fuels. The little domestic oil we have left in this country is too precious to be burning it in cars!
September 17th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
Nancy Pelosi is not worried about drilling she has plenty of money. She is the worse speaker of the house we ever had, in fact I know a lot of people who are making notes on all these spending congressman and we’ll vote them out next time!
September 23rd, 2008 at 4:40 pm
I’m confused about why all we talk about is gas and gas prices. Even if we replace gas with hydrogen, methane or water, we still have to replace that for which we use the majority of oil. We need to replace all our plastic, road material, etc. Nobody has a plan to replace everything that comes from oil. Until then, reliance on oil will not end anytime soon.
September 27th, 2008 at 11:08 pm
My fellow Americans now that the first debates are over and you are hearing democrats and republicans tell you that they are looking out for you the middle class I quite assure you that they are not. Look back at the last forty to fifty years site a time when either party has showed fiscal responsibility. Just recently when gas prices peaked the democrats left on vacation and the republicans put on a show of looking out for your best interests knowing that nothing could be done without the other. In a way they are playing an elaborate game of good cop bad cop with the president being little more then a figure head to lay blame on regardless of the party. Case in point when there major campaign contributors got them selves in trouble they suddenly felt the need to work overtime and on weekends but when you where in trouble what did they do. Revolution is a patriotic act the love you feel for your country can only be protected by you or this will no longer be your country and that my fellow Americans is on the horizon. These blood lines need to be extinguished once and for all in congress and on wall street before we can take back our country the road ahead is not an easy one we will lose many of those we love but what you must now ask yourself is what kind of country do we want to leave our children and our children’s children. You have heard me preach buy guns buy ammo be ready the hour is late and time to save ourselves is very short the hour to move is coming very quickly be ready and stand with me my friends. Your country is calling will you answer the call or will you be a slave take that any way you want but a slave is a slave. Bailing out foreign governments and patting CEO’s on the back and saying its ok is not the answer they gambled and lost let the foreign governments get there money from the CEO’s stand on the right side stand with me your future is at steak.
October 20th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
NorthDakota has more OIL than the U.S. will ever need, but it is deep and take more to drill, they are finding more all the time. My has worked on the large Bakken oil field, and now they found another field below the bakken that exteneds even further, covering most of North Dakota and probably into MN, Canada, etc.
He claims it isn’t any deeper than off-shore drilling, but is massive quantities.
ND has had oil fields for decades, every 20 years, they open them up when there are oil issues, run them a few years, then prices drop and they store the oil again. I suspect they are waiting for the Foreign suppliers to just cut us off completely, and they open them up full barrel and let it roll, so we will have our oil supply. They often say, it is cheap storage to keep it in the ground til we really need it. hmmm