What's your take on tapping the strategic oil reserves? I don't think they should unless there is a real crisis in America with oil (natural disaster, war, terrorism, etc). Paying $5 a gallon because of unrest in the middle east is not a crisis. I am for offshore drilling and ANWAR though.
How about they make sure the oil companies aren't hiking gas prices artificially first? Anwar won't help us for a couple years, at best.
The oil companies seem to be dollar cost averaging oil futures and current prices. So when libyan oil production is in doubt, the futures skyrocket. It don't bother me that they raise gas prices in these situations, but it does seem to take longer for the price to come back down after.
Yeah... like lots of markets they seem very quick to react to any possible bad news... and very slow to react to anything positive.
It's a political crisis, though, for Obama and the Dems. Here is what I find funny about rising energy costs and gas prices, though, as they relate to Obama. Other than his brilliant energy plan of having us inflate our tires and get tune-ups, of course! [video=youtube;k4yFsaxw6L8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4yFsaxw6L8&feature=related[/video] [video=youtube;BqHL404zhcU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqHL404zhcU[/video]
Production of oil in the US is as high as it has been since 2003. In 2010, the us produced half of it's own oil needs.
I'm against tapping the strategic's, like the OP said, we could actually NEED those. I do, however, think offshore drilling should be allowed... soon...
That's not near enough. There is no reason we shouldn't be close to 100% in terms of producing our own oil, and it's a travesty that we're not drilling offshore while other countries are doing it. Any Democrat who complains about energy prices deserves no sympathy, IMO.
It's strategic for a reason. It shouldn't get touched unless there's an embargo or a major disruption in supplies. If you want to immediately drop oil prices, start signing approvals for drilling domestically. Oil prices aren't based on present circumstances, but perceived future supply.
We are drilling off shore. That moratorium was lifted, it was only a temporary thing. http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/12/white-house-to-lift-ban-on-deep-water-drilling/ That is from October, 5 months ago.
That's not the offshore drilling I was talking about. Plus, the Obama administration ignored the ruling that you reference, and there is still no drilling nor any new permits in the Gulf of Mexico. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704900004576152521093786528.html?mod=googlenews_wsj . Whoops. The facts yet again get in the way of Obama's constant stream of bullshit and propaganda. I'm not blaming you, btw. One would think that the administration would comply with a federal court injunction, wouldn't they? Instead, they ignore the ruling, issue another moratorium, and now Salazar is in contempt of violating a federal ruling. I wouldn't expect the NYT or MSNBC to report this, though. May as well let the sheeple believe that Obama is all about low gas prices.
Well lookie here. The first permit was finally issued last week! Amazing how rising gas prices will get the administration off of their ass, isn't it? http://www.thenewsstar.com/article/20110301/NEWS01/103010303/Drilling-resumes-Gulf
The thing that pisses me off is that even the president claims that we only have two percent of the oil, that is flat out wrong, we just do not developer our oilfields because of the left wing, save an owl kill off an industry politics that have taken hold. We have more natural gas than anywhere, we have well known oil fields in Alaska, new finds in the Dakotas, Wyoming as well as the other well known TX, OK NM etc. Big oil will develop when the price is more profitable, that has always been the plan.
At least Clinton gets it. I don't expect westnob to re-enter this thread, but I found this interesting. It makes one question why Obama is holding up these permits, doesn't it? http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0311/51150.html
There is actually something to be said for not drilling immediately, even if we intend to extract every last drop of oil from the entire country. To the extent oil is a strategic resource, it makes sense to hoard it for later on, when oil is scarce and more expensive, rather than drill-baby-drill so that we can use it up now. Better to buy and use oil from other countries now, while it is relatively cheap, and then pump our own later, when prices are higher. Think Road Warrior. Of course, that assumes "we" own the oil under our land instead of MobilExxonChevronTexacoBPAmoco owning it. barfo