This isn't a "Scranton Politics" question, but it's adversely affecting all of us. I'm just wondering how the outrageous fuel prices are affecting you.
Should we be drilling in Alaska for crude oil? Should we be drilling locally for natural gas?
Personally, I'm re-thinking the SUV I bought to get me and the kids around in the wintertime. Driving it in the summer is killing me. I put $50 in today and didn't even get a full tank.
I think it's a great topic Thursday (and as an aside, I think just about everything these days involves politics).
Here's my two cents on your questions:
Should we be drilling in Alaska for crude oil? I think that depends on where specifically. I think that in the most pristine places (and I don't know enough about Alaska to say how much is pristine) we shouldn't. We don't "own" the world...we are temporary residents, as such, I think we should leave at least a few places left for future generations to enjoy. Oh, and I don't buy the "but the space it will take to drill will only be the size of a football field" argument...because that doens't take into account roads (to bring in workers and supplies), housing (to house workers), stores (for supplies for workers), gas stations (for the vehicles workers drive), landfills (for the garbage the workers generate), sewage treatement...you got the drift. There's no such thing as "minimal impact" oil drilling.
Should we be drilling locally for natural gas? Yes, we should, although this time around, I hope that we as a people are smart and actually make some cash out of the deal...as opposed to the royal screwing NEPA residents got at the hands of coal barons. There really aren't any "pristine places" in NEPA, so I think a gas well here or there will not cause much harm. I have a good friend in Oil City/Titusville PA that I visit once or twice a year and you really can't tell that there was much in the way of oil drilling there...mind you it's a very depressing area from an economic perspective.
What really needs to happen on a national level is that we need to seriously invest in renewable resources like solar and wind. And we do need to re-look at nuclear power...provided that we can finally decide what to do with the waste (get the repository in Nevada up and running) . Don't buy the "clean coal" advertisements, btw. The "clean coal" process they talk about in commericals has to do with storing excess carbon underground...technology which hasn't been deployed. For now, all coal is dirty (well, anthracite is much cleaner than bituminous, but much of PA's remaining anthracite is inexcessible due to flooded mines, etc.).
On a more personal level, I traded in my truck two years ago for a smaller car, and my wife as a small SUV, so I think we are basically ok for now. Once my kids are older and in college, I may get something even smaller, and/or my wife may get rid of the SUV, but for now I'm trying to drive more sensibly.
This whole energy mess is a tough one to deal with, mainly because any solution will require two things that are in short supply in Washington DC:
- Creative Thinking AND - Courgage
Oh, and one more think... "...conservation is a personal virtue and shouldn't be part of public policy..." (paraphrased from VP Dick Cheyne). No, conservation is not just a personal virtue...it's a matter of patriotism, common sense and national energy survival.
-- Edited by Agamemnon at 10:54, 2008-07-19
-- Edited by Agamemnon at 10:56, 2008-07-19
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"Hope at least gives you the option of living" - Harry Nilsson
Going to fill up the tank has become quite a painful process for most Americans ... I do think that we must begin to use our own oil rather than relying of the oil from the Middle East.
They say we shouldn't drill ... I don't know if drilling is the answer ... but it is a first step ... I do know that we need more refineries to process our domestic oil for use in this country. We shouldn't be selling our oil to China and Japan and then have the citizens of this country raped at the pumps because we are dependent on foreign oil suppliers.
Oh and let me tell you ... I have a smaller vehicle and well ... I put in $45 and get only 3/4 of a tank ... so I can't even imagine what it would cost to fill up an SUV ... I try not to let my tank go empty ...filling if possible when I'm at half a tank ... doesn't always work out for me ... the last time I gassed up ... I was at 1/4 of a tank and then I put in $45 ... ouch is all I can really say!
I was at the library doing some research in some old newspapers and came across the following headline in The Scranton Times, dated May 17, 2000:
"Gas Prices' Quick Dip is History" "Cost for a gallon of gas has risen in the past two weeks and is expected to get more expensive." It is accompanied by a photo with the caption: "J*** L*** of Moscow fills his tank Tuesday at Dundon's Sunoco, Mulberry Street and Mifflin Avenue. With the approach of the summer travel season, gasoline prices are on the rise again and this trend is expected to continue."
The prices on the sign reads: Regular - $ 141.9 High - $ 150.9 Super - $ 158.9
Ahhh, remember when ??? I thought the good old days used to be 50 years ago -- not seven years ago ...
Prices at the pumps dropped 10 cents per gallon at the Valero near Schiffs over the weekend ... sad when we can be excited about a $3.89 per/gallon at the pumps rather than a $3.99 per/gallon ... wouldn't it be nice if this continues ... Dreaming of under $3.00 per/gallon!
Should we drill in Alaska? No. Should we drill in Pennsylvania for natural gas? No.
High gas prices have been very effective in causing drivers and homeowners to readjust their energy use. Natural gas is already down 35% from its high two months ago. By winter there will be an overabundance. Why ruin the natural resources unless we absolutely have to?
I had a whole snarky comment about Glenn being Prince Abdullah incognito all set to go, but dammit the man made a point worth considering.
Granted, the oil fields over there are in the middle of an uninhabitable desert, which certainly do not compare to our Alaska. I just don't see why we have to send millions of our dollars to the Middle East (and deal with all the political/religious/zealot crap that comes with it) when we have our own natural resources right here.
The bigger question is this: whether the oil is in Alaska or in the middle of the desert, the fact is that it will eventually run out. We either start preparing for that now, or we pay the price later (an even more steep price than we are currently paying).
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"Hope at least gives you the option of living" - Harry Nilsson
Yes, my view is harsh. However, even the most jaded observer of American behavior has to admit that the populace has suddenly become very conscious of conserving energy and changing wasteful driving habits. If this is how it had to happen, so be it.
The United States will adapt and thrive. It's in our genetic makeup to do so. In ten years or so, we will look back at the vehicles we now drive and the houses we now build, and roll our eyes and laugh.
There's something to be said for tough love, and it doesn't include the needless destruction of the Northern Tier for a commodity that is not exactly scarce. Natural gas is plentiful. Should we also encourage its waste by drilling for it wherever we can? I say no.
I didn't think your view was harsh at all. It got me to thinking about the subject from a different perspective ... you know, anything to keep out money in the US instead of in shipping off to the sand dunes ...
But many of us (myself included) need to realize just how frivolous we are with our natural resources.
Well the price of fuel is going down ... although I personally would like to see it go down much more ... but today I was going by that Valero again ... (I go to Schiffs alot) and it was down again ... 3.72 per gallon ... here is hoping that the new trend will continue ... Supply it up and demand is down ... I guess that Glenn was right ... we have changed the way we do things ... I know that I drive a lot less ... and according to the world news last night it seems that most Americans are changing their ways ... now I won't go back to my old ways ... however I do think that now that the trend in prices at the pumps is going down on what seems to be a daily basis ... I think that America will go back to their gas guzzling ways.
Well at the Valero on N. Main Ave and Providence Road the price is 3.69. per gallon ... hopefully it will continue to go down ... On Tuesday it was 3.72 and by Thursday it was 3.69 ... here is hoping that the trend continues ... supply is up and demand is down ... if all americans keep conserving as we have been doing then ... well this trend will continue ... but if we go and start buying as we did in the past ... prices will soar again ...
On the world news last night they had a story on the profits that Iraq is making off of us ... I believe that it was 36 billion dollars ... and that is just what it cost us for fuel from them ... something is wrong there ... just my opinion!
Seems as though Glenn was right ... drilling is not necessary!
I think what we saw was a "bubble" in prices...one that's now deflating...but I think the long-term trend for oil prices is going to be nothing but higher (with increases well above the historic inflation rate of 3%). I don't know if that's a bad thing necessarily.
I am concerned if oil prices go down too much; like everyone else I don't want to pay too much for gas, but there will never be any real change in national energy policy and consumption patterns unless there is price pressure to force it along.
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"Hope at least gives you the option of living" - Harry Nilsson
See? The market takes care of unsustainably high prices. As I type, oil is "down" to $116. Chinese and Indian drivers can't afford five bucks a gallon any more than U.S. drivers.
Update on price at the pump ... Valero on N. Main and Providence Rd. sign says 3.48 per gallon ... however if you pay with cash or a valero card ... it is 3.43 per gallon ...
The Sunoco on North Main in N.S. is also down to 3.48 per gallon as of last evening.
My friends i can only say that we are all lucky that we live in america and only pay 3.50$ a gallon , most of europe pays about 6.50$ a gallon and in most cases people make about 1,000$ a month in central and eastern european countries, so we are pretty lucky that we pay 50 to fuel up our SUV instead of $130 to fuel it up
