WaPo Columnist Robert Samuelson Channels RedState's Vladimir
By Vladimir Posted in ANWR | Energy — Comments (15) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
To the moderators: Maybe I'm flirting with Fair Use here, so feel free to edit if necessary. Mr. Samuelson did such a good job of encapsulating the current energy picture that it was hard to cut anything.
...The truth is that we're almost powerless to influence today's [oil] prices. We are because we didn't take sensible actions 10 or 20 years ago. If we persist, we will be even worse off in a decade or two. The first thing to do: Start drilling.It may surprise Americans to discover that the United States is the third-largest oil producer, behind Saudi Arabia and Russia. We could be producing more, but Congress has put large areas of potential supply off-limits. These include the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and parts of Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico. By government estimates, these areas may contain 25 billion to 30 billion barrels of oil (against about 30 billion barrels of proven U.S. reserves today) and 80 trillion cubic feet or more of natural gas (compared with about 200 tcf of proven reserves).
What keeps these areas closed are exaggerated environmental fears, strong prejudice against oil companies and sheer stupidity. Americans favor both "energy independence" and cheap fuel. They deplore imports -- who wants to pay foreigners? -- but oppose more production in the United States. Got it? The result is a "no-pain energy agenda that sounds appealing but has no basis in reality," writes Robert Bryce in "Gusher of Lies: The Dangerous Delusions of 'Energy Independence.' "
Unsurprisingly, all three major presidential candidates tout "energy independence." This reflects either ignorance (unlikely) or pandering (probable).
[snip]
... Output from older fields, including Alaska's North Slope, is declining. Although production from restricted areas won't make the United States self-sufficient, it might stabilize output or even reduce imports. No one knows exactly what's in these areas, because the exploratory work is old. Estimates indicate that production from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge might equal almost 5 percent of present U.S. oil use.
Members of Congress complain loudly about high oil profits ($40.6 billion for Exxon Mobil last year) but frustrate those companies' desire to use those profits to explore and produce in the United States. Getting access to oil elsewhere is increasingly difficult. Governments own three-quarters or more of proven reserves. ...
But it's hard for the United States to complain that other countries limit access to their reserves when we're doing the same. If higher U.S. production reduced world prices, other countries might expand production. What they couldn't get from prices they'd try to get from greater sales.
On environmental grounds, the alternatives to more drilling are usually worse. Subsidies for ethanol made from corn have increased food prices and used scarce water, with few benefits. If oil is imported, it's vulnerable to tanker spills. By contrast, local production is probably safer. [No "probably" about it, in my book. - ed.] There were 4,000 platforms operating in the Gulf of Mexico when hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit. Despite extensive damage, there were no major spills...
Though dependent on foreign oil, we might conceivably curb the power of foreign producers. But this is not a task of a month or a year. It is a task of decades; new production projects take that long. If we don't start now, our future dependence and its dangers will grow. Count on it.
H/T Mrs. Vladimir
And the spotted Owl ?
And this thing
They have to be protected
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777
...must not rely on sexual reproduction.
Plus, you forgot:
There is more stupidity than hydrogen in the universe, and it has a longer shelf life. - Frank Zappa
Hubby and I have been talking about this issue quite a bit over the last week.
Personally, I think the US, Mexico, and Canada should join together in a NA energy alliance and drill like mad. Then tell the rest of the world to go suck eggs. If they want a piece of our oil, they can pay double.
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Just a typical, small town, white girl...
They're paranoid that the Norte Americanos will come in & steal their oil. As a consequence, they're left with Pemex, a kleptocracy if there ever was one, and subject to the tyranny of their labor unions.
U.S. companies could go in & aggressively develop and pay the Mexicans a handsome royalty, and everyone would make more money. But will it ever happen? Not in our lifetimes.
There is more stupidity than hydrogen in the universe, and it has a longer shelf life. - Frank Zappa
it is a simplistic notion, but one that makes so much sense.
Sadly, paranoia is quite powerful.
One thing I am not about to do again though is go in and develop a country's oil business and then years later be left taking it in the shorts over ridiculous prices when we built the d*mn business in the first place.
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Just a typical, small town, white girl...
... in exploring and developing reserves all over the world (Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Sahkalin Island, Libya, Yemen, on and on) only to have the host country renegotiate, nationalize, or otherwise steal the oil back.
One thing we do have in the U.S. of A. is the Rule of Law. That way, if Congress wants to steal back a piece of the action they've got to pass a Windfall Profits Tax.
There is more stupidity than hydrogen in the universe, and it has a longer shelf life. - Frank Zappa
The envirowhackos just this week got some federal judge to order the federal government to make a determination on endangered status for the polar bear. The fed will probably and rightly conclude that populations are healthy and any endangerment from "global warming" is speculative. Then of course, the greenies sue and get a judge to declare that science notwithstanding, the polar bear is endangered, whereupon a ten year court fight begins. Assuming a Democrat wins the Presidency, the US will change its position and support endangered status, so it will be solely up to the leaseholders to try to protect the leases they just paid billions for off the NW Coast of Alaska - paid billions to the US, not to Alaska BTW. We'll have our own fight with the US over how much of the money goes to us and how much to the federal government.
In Vino Veritas
[CNN's John] ROBERTS: Sen. Hillary Clinton wants to slap you with a 50 percent tax on what she calls windfall profit, profit above a certain level. Is that a good idea?
HOFMEISTER: Look at our revenues and our income for the last quarter. If we had made $7.8 million on $114 million of revenue, nobody would call that excessive, because that's 7½ percent. We made $7.8 billion profit on $114 billion revenue -- same 7½ percent. So to me that is not an excessive number when banks and pharmaceuticals and IT companies earn a whole lot more.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/04/30/shell.qa/index.html
There is more stupidity than hydrogen in the universe, and it has a longer shelf life. - Frank Zappa
He said something noteworthy about Hillary
BECK: Let me ask you this. What happens? I mean, Hillary Clinton, it must have made your blood run cold, when you heard Hillary Clinton say she was going to take your profits.
HOFMEISTER: Well, I think it`s for government to decide what to do from a tax policy. You know, I have heard so many different proposals over my time working in this industry that I just kind of roll with it. But one thing that Hillary Clinton has done, which I do appreciate, is she has said in Houston, when other presidential candidates would not come to Houston and speak at a presidential summit, she has said we need to drill for more oil.
God bless her for saying that, because that`s exactly been what I have been saying for last three years.
Perhaps she lied to them, but she is better than our guy if she is truthful in saying we need to drill for more oil.
The purpose of communist propaganda was not to persuade or convince, nor to inform, but to humiliate; and therefore, the less it corresponded to reality the better.
Dr. Theodore Dalrymple
Mike DeVine’s Charlotte Observer columns
http://thehinzsightreport.com
www.theminorityreportblog.com
www.race42008.com
"One man with courage makes a majority." - Andrew Jackson
and make a political difference in a year like this, we're pretty pathetic.
Where are all those 'evil' Republican strategists when you need them. This needs to be a national issue in congressional races.
Mike DeVine’s Charlotte Observer columns
http://thehinzsightreport.com
www.theminorityreportblog.com
www.race42008.com
"One man with courage makes a majority." - Andrew Jackson
the problem is not that we're not drilling domestically, but that we're not putting any of those new wells into production.
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I can unequivocally say I will not be running for national office in four years.
- Barack Obama, 11/04/04
The whole point of drilling is to put the wells into production.
There are a couple of thousand drilling rigs working domestically, and with these prices, wells are being hooked up as fast as practical.
If you are thinking about the deepwater Gulf of Mexico discoveries that have been drilled (and widely publicized) over the last couple of years, those are at the fringe of the technologically possible, and the lead times to bring them on are several years.
There is more stupidity than hydrogen in the universe, and it has a longer shelf life. - Frank Zappa
we are willing to allow China to drill 50 miles off our coast with their horrendous safety and economic record, but we won't drill our own coastline (given that we have the safest and most economically friendly drilling technology available.)
Now also found at The Minority Report