Picken's $700 Billion Plan

[SkiFishFly]

I disagree. It will make little difference. A drop in a very big bucket. I don't know why you guys won't put any numbers with this ********************tt.

You are free to disagree. You are wrong though.

 

[Poahi]

Those who oppose new sources of oil generally complain it 'takes too long' or 'isn't enough' to curb prices. Yet at the same time, they are the same people who believe high prices are a good thing. Pick a position - only one please.

 

[blueridge71]

Expanded nuclear should be a part of any energy plan but this notion floating around that it's "proven and profitable" technology is a stretch. Nuclear has been heavily subsidized for R&D(and we're not talking about the manhattan project), operating costs, and has liability caps in place. The liability caps mean that if a plant goes all Chernobyl the plant is only responsible for a limited amount of damages no matter how bad the carnage. This saves hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars in insurance payments over time.

If wind and solar had been as heavily subsidized as nuclear we might already have "proven and profitable" technology by now.

How about France? They get 80% of their electricity from nuclear power and have never had an accident. Chernobyl was a Russian plant that was nowhere near meeting western safety standards.

 

[Smarta$$]

Show me the republican estimates of how much lower oil and gas would be if we produce the 1 million barrels a day from ANWR.

Also, show me the estimates of how much oil and gas will go down when we add 1 million barrels a day from the OCS.

I didn't think so.

None of the oil men or the republicans (I am not sure if there is a difference between them) have quantified the savings. At all.

1-2 million barrels a day added to world supply is less than 2-3% increase. It is very small. 3% of 4.00 dollars a gallon is .12 cents. Add in alittle for speculation, lets say double, .24 cents. Holy cow, look at all the money I just saved.

Give me a break. Oil men in the whitehouse, a war that drives up demand and destabilizes the region, a trade policy that grows the third world like a weed and increases their demand for oil? Yeah its the Dems.


Put another way, So the US is the only country not increasing its drilling. And because of that, the WHOLE world is paying ALLOT more for oil. But there supposedly is SO much oil out there. So our little failure to add 2-3% of world production is causing the shole world to pay record oil prices. Keep in mind, that every other country is free to drill, drill, drill as much as they want and anywhere they want outside of the US, yet still our 2-3% is the cause?

Get real. Use some common sense.

 

[Smarta$$]

Also, like I said before, W himself said recently in a speach that oil from ANWR would "likely" reduce the price of oil.

The oil man president himself didn't even guarantee that ANWR would lower the price of oil.

How about you borrow me a thousand dollars and I will "likely" pay you back. Tell me when the check is in the mail.

 

[Poahi]

The oil man president himself didn't even guarantee that ANWR would lower the price of oil.

Here's some common sense.

1. Politicians don't guarantee oil prices.
2. There is no single tactic that is going to reduce oil prices.
3. The liberal strategy of keeping oil prices high is going to cause:

A. The airline industry to collapse;
B. A global depression;
C. The loss of life of people liberals are supposed champion.


If you've got a better idea, I'd love to hear it.

 

[Mr.B]

Here's some common sense.

1. Politicians don't guarantee oil prices.
2. There is no single tactic that is going to reduce oil prices.
3. The liberal strategy of keeping oil prices high is going to cause:

A. The airline industry to collapse;
B. A global depression;
C. The loss of life of people liberals are supposed champion.


If you've got a better idea, I'd love to hear it.

It's fairly simple. Use what infrastructures and technology that are already in place...

1. Nuclear power for the grid (produce hydrogen at night...like the FRENCH)
2. Natural gas for the cars (plenty of it/cheap/clean)
3. Kerosene for the jets.

You can thank me later.

 

[Smarta$$]

What are the estimates of what ANWR would lower prices?

How about OCS?

 

[SWA GUY]

What are the estimates of what ANWR would lower prices?

How about OCS?

Keep stomping your feet and shouting "NO!", Daddy will keep you safe. There, there the gubmint will take care of you cradle to grave.

You have clearly heard about 15 seconds of misinformation about the oil business and know it all, just like the press.

 

[myrows]

How about France? They get 80% of their electricity from nuclear power and have never had an accident. Chernobyl was a Russian plant that was nowhere near meeting western safety standards.

The point wasn't that both France and the US have safety concerns to the degree that Chernobyl did. The point is that no matter how safe they are they still get liabilty caps which save them hundreds of millions of dollars in insurance payments. Still a form of subsidy.
I personally don't mind subsidizing nuclear energy. I do mind people who claim that nuclear has proven profitable without generous subsidies. If it's okay to subsidize nuclear why not wind and solar?

 

[SWA GUY]

What are the estimates of what ANWR would lower prices?

How about OCS?

You don't understand the commodities market, aka the futures market.

But to give you an answer, the best consultants in the oil industry figure crude to trade at around $50/bbl tomorrow if legislation is signed. $65/bbl by December if the legislation is not signed.

 

[Smarta$$]

You don't understand the commodities market, aka the futures market.

But to give you an answer, the best consultants in the oil industry figure crude to trade at around $50/bbl tomorrow if legislation is signed. $65/bbl by December if the legislation is not signed.

The Dept of Energy, the White House, or even the Republican news network are not reporting your figures.

Again, the whole world is paying record prices for oil because ONE country won't add 2-3% to the world supply? Get real.

 

[Smarta$$]

I do not advocate that the government take care of me. I expect our worlds scientists and entrepreneurs to give us solutions that don't feed the addiction.

It is already happening slowly. Look at the Tesla Roadster. Or even the Chevy Volt. There are about Ten cars coming to market in the next two years that will allow most americans to drive to and from work without burning a drop of gas. That is how you kill demand.

You guys that say we can't find any other way to power our cars are the defeatist.

You prefer more crack, I prefer drug treatment.

Show me you are not a defeatist, other than just saying drill, drill, drill.

 

[SWA GUY]

Yep...you're still at a loss.

Those entities are not in the oil bidness.

 

[rajflyboy]

Producing as little as 2 to 3 million barrels of oil per day here in the USA will LOWER the price of a barrel of oil.

It will send the message to the mideast that we ARE willing to find our OWN oil and the mideast will make sure the price comes down... so they can continue to sell oil to us.

Heck.. Just W lifting the Executive branch ruling against drilling off shore has already lowered the price of a barrel of oil by 10 bucks per barrell.

T Boone Pickens is using government funding to buy those windmills. Windmills that will never be able to power big ciites like NYC, Chicago, LAX, Atlanta, Etc. Wind power througout the USA is a farse. In some regions with a lot of wind.. a lot of land and a few houses it will work.

 

[rajflyboy]

I do not advocate that the government take care of me. I expect our worlds scientists and entrepreneurs to give us solutions that don't feed the addiction.

It is already happening slowly. Look at the Tesla Roadster. Or even the Chevy Volt. There are about Ten cars coming to market in the next two years that will allow most americans to drive to and from work without burning a drop of gas. That is how you kill demand.

You guys that say we can't find any other way to power our cars are the defeatist.

You prefer more crack, I prefer drug treatment.

Show me you are not a defeatist, other than just saying drill, drill, drill.

How are you powering that Electricity for all these Electric Cars?

 

[coolyokeluke]

Producing as little as 2 to 3 million barrels of oil per day here in the USA will LOWER the price of a barrel of oil.

It will send the message to the mideast that we ARE willing to find our OWN oil and the mideast will make sure the price comes down... so they can continue to sell oil to us.

Heck.. Just W lifting the Executive branch ruling against drilling off shore has already lowered the price of a barrel of oil by 10 bucks per barrell.

T Boone Pickens is using government funding to buy those windmills. Windmills that will never be able to power big ciites like NYC, Chicago, LAX, Atlanta, Etc. Wind power througout the USA is a farse. In some regions with a lot of wind.. a lot of land and a few houses it will work.

You're not going to scare the people in the mideast. The figures of oil reserves being thrown around by neo cons like SWA GUY are total oil. That's the amount of estimated oil if we recovered it all, cost no object. Cost is always an object. If you start looking at economically viable recoverable oil, even at $140/bbl, the figure is much, much less. The theory that even a little amount of additional oil on the market would reduce prices can be put to rest by Saudi Arabia's example; they raised their output by 200k bbl/day initially and then by 700k bbl/day and the prices per barrel didn't even nudge downwards. And by the way I support drilling, when done in a smart manner, because it will help our economy by providing high-paying jobs here in the US. But it's a fallacy to think the small amount of reserves we have (compared with the mideast, Russia, etc) will cause a dent in the world commodities markets.

If you want to send a message that will scare the arabs, show them we're serious about getting rid of our oil addiction. Do it by building nukes plants, windmills, solar, tidal energy, etc.

The oil markets have been volitale the last few days. You think that $10/bbl less is going to stay for a while? I seriously doubt it. The pundit I listened to on the way to work this morning said it was from investor fears of a slowing world economy and a suprisingly large jump in oil inventories in the US. I doubt Bush's lifting the ruling had anything to do with it as the congressional rule is still in place.

The real "no no no" people are the ones who won't look down the road for solutions, rather than the right now quick fixes. There is an enourmous amount of windpower to be tapped here in the US. It can be sent to the demand centers, it will just take an investment in our grid's infrastructure. Electricity can also be sent a long ways down the road by converting it to high voltage DC to minimize line losses. It's completely feasible and demonstrated to work. The costs of coal are higher if you start to factor in environmental damages. Nuke power needs huge govt subsidies to make it work. Oil companies have had huge tax breaks for years. Why are we so against assisting a truly clean source of energy, like wind? A good point was brought up that sometimes the wind doesn't blow. A solution to that is the afore-mentioned grids; when wind isn't blowing in one part of the country another part will have wind almost always. Also you can partner with industry for load shedding; it works by offering industry cheaper power in return for having them shut off in peak load/brownout situations. There are already many natural gas fired "peaker plants" the operate just when electrical consumption is at its peak.

If we could make more of our grid run off renewables it would leave more oil for Jet A!

 

[Smarta$$]

Yeah, W is the reason that oil came down. Right. Tool. Maybe the larger than as expected build in inventories, like CNBC is reporting? Do to decreased demand, from conservation. Just as plug-in hybrids will lower demand dramatically in the very near future.

You power the electric cars with coal, wind, solar, nuclear, hydro, natural gas, anything except oil.

You are all defeatist if you think oil is the answer. And that our scientists and companies can't find another way. They can, and they already are.

I have already said the price will come down if you add 1-3% to the world supply. But it will be allot less than you think if we don't make other significant changes.

There is NO guarantee that oil pumped out of our wells will be sold at our gas stations. Oil out of alaska is being sent to Japan right now, even though we import most of our oil already.

More oil does not cure the addiction. It just temporarily decreases the pain.

But you all can't think for yourselves, you just get stuck on the republican talking points. You for some reason just beleive every word that fox news puts out without thinking that they may have an egenda.

Think for yourselfs. Is the WHOLE world really paying RECORD energy prices because ONE country does not add another 1-3% of world supply. Keep in mind that EVERY OTHER COUNTRY in the world is free to add ALL THEY WANT or CAN to world supply. Nobody is stopping the entire rest of the world from adding supply. But I guess the whole world is at our mercy. Give me a break.

By the way, when was the last time you saw an empty gas pump. Yeah, we are short on oil alright.

And why do the republicans say that speculation isn't to blame, but then say that if we will just say yes to drilling, the speculators will get crushed and have to start selling and covering their short positions.

Which is it?

If you really want to see the price drop, then hit the demand side by conserving where you can, start looking into the ten or so vehicles coming in the next few years that will cut gas for transportation by leaps and bounds. Then see the inventories build and watch the speculators get crushed. We saw inventories build over the last couple of days and the price went down aggressively.

That is the beginning of a cure, not more drugs for the addict. I am sick of my wallet being chained to traders and oil men. No thank you. Yes I will likely have to by energy from someone for the forseable future, when I can have some not to distant future version of the Tesla Roadster, or something equivilant, I am very encourgaged.

For those that don't know, The Tesla roadster, which is for sale now, and will have much competition and a more affordable price in the near future can go 240 miles on one charge. It costs about 3.00 to charge up and can plug into any house hold outlet. I don't think it uses any more energy than a TV or 2.

240 miles for 3.00, sounds allot better than "drill, drill, drill".

But I guess I am just stupid, and should change my mind on drilling so I can be stuck paying 3.99 a gallon until we run out of the stuff.

 

[jhill]

From what I've read, solar and wind simply aren't cost effective at this point. The next generation of solar/wind technology might be better, but at this point it is not ready.

What is ready is nuclear power, clean coal, and coal gasification. If we build more nuclear power plants in particular, we can make electricity cheap and practical enough to inspire homeowners to change from heating oil to electricity. Likewise, Tesla Motors (http://www.teslamotors.com/), builder of an electric sports car, is currently working on an electric minivan. As oil continues to rise in price and the prices of electric cars fall (due to manufacturing more), electric cars will also become more attractive to consumers.

To keep our economy from imploding in the meantime, we need to start drilling domestically everywhere we can immediately. Converting coal to gas, a process that has been around since WWII, is also becoming more cost effective and could help to increase oil supplies.

It really is this simple. Now if we can keep special interest groups out of the fight maybe congress will actuall do whats right for the people of this country. Before our entire economy implodes. Its closer than you think.

Oil prices are due to our weak dollar and high demand, not speculators. We can't just keep printing money and borrowing from the Saudi's and Chinese. This is comming to a head and soon. Write you congressmen and senators and tell what you demand. Not for this industry but for our entire economy and way of life.

 

[Secret Squirrel]

Oil prices are due to our weak dollar and high demand, not speculators. We can't just keep printing money and borrowing from the Saudi's and Chinese. This is comming to a head and soon. Write you congressmen and senators and tell what you demand. Not for this industry but for our entire economy and way of life.

The only people that are saying it is not the speculators to blame are the speculators. I agree demand is going up and the dollar is weaker but that does not explain 150% jump in crude price. What explains it better is the crude market use to have about 10-20% speculators (the SWA types) at the beginning of the decade to 50% speculators throwing money in today. And those people will make as much money on the market going up as they did on the market going down. They are playing the market without care as to how bad it is killing the economy.

And what do you think will happened to the natural gas market as we start to use more for our cars? Or electric prices as we start using more for our cars? Or coal prices if we start using it for our cars. I have an answer for you. Look at what has happened with corn prices.