Sarah, althouh I disagree with much of what you posted #10 just seems to be something people don't realize. Drilling now will increase the supply 10 years off but it won't do a thing for gas prices now. No matter what our future sources of power will be we need to start talking about our distribution system. Do we have the infrastructure to move the power from where it is to the places that need it. That will be critical with wind and solar power. It will be interesting to see the rhetoric from both parties on this during the campaigning. Tom

I've been to an oil polluted beach in Southern California, near Santa Barbara. There were globs of oil all over the place, Supposedly there had been no big oil spill, just some leaking from the offshore rigs.

There ought to be a slogan, such as "Remember the Exxon Valdez!" I remember that catastrophe, and the millions of dollars it cost to clean up.
Lorna

Thank you for posting this .
Offshore drilling in fragile places like off the coast of Florida reminds me of virginity . Once you cross the line , there's no going back and saying -- oops ! I made a mistake . Here - I'll fix it and make it all better .
Once ocean habitats are disturbed , they will be changed forever . We've already screwed up the ground where we live . Why continue destroying the oceans ?
What has the Alaskan pipeline done do help our oil deficit ?
There must be a better way .

When I listened to the president make a bid for offshore drilling a few months ago, he gave about ten seconds to 'seeking alternative sources' and the rest of the speech was about drilling now.

I remember the last huge price spike after hurricane Katrina. Our own oil companies came into windfall profits. Wanna guess where it went? Not into alternative energy exploration. LOL.

I have a hard time even getting sympathetic with our populace when almost every median wage earning family has a car for each person over eighteen. The house next door has FOUR cars. Our school busses run half empty.

Lorna, I lived in Santa Barbara in the 60's. There have always been globs of oil on the beaches from there to Gaviota to the north from natural seepage. But in either late 68 or early 69 there was a big blow out from a rig. Tom

I believe a significant number of Americans continue to hold on to the belief that more drilling is the only answer to the mess we're in and sacrificing the environment is no big deal. After all, preserving the lifestyle theyÂve become so accustomed to is all that matters. It also doesn't help that we have idiot politicians making the following comments: (a blurb from one of our local news sources)

"The Republican from Minnesota's 6th Congressional District repeated her assertion that if the U.S. more thoroughly taps its own energy sources, gas prices could be cut in half back to around $2 a gallon. She said it would send a signal to the world market that the U.S. is serious about addressing oil prices."

Another quote from her about drilling in ANWR:

"Some suggestions are that perhaps we would see an enhancement of wildlife expansion because of the warmth of the pipeline," she said. [Â] The pipeline has now become a meeting ground and "coffee klatch" for the caribou, she said.

The general feeling around here is that this woman will most likely be reelected to office.

What are another 10 reasons to vote against offshore drilling and the elected officials who support it ?

Gatormomx, is that sarcasm?

Sarah

The second half of 10, the second half of 8, 6, and 3 are wrong.

A little more oil would dramatically reduce the price, especially US oil where we do not have to ship it in.

If we run the low resolution global models we find that more heat means bigger hurricanes, if we run the high resolution hurricane models we see that more heat in the ocean means bigger hurricanes, if we feed the data back and fourth between the high resolution hurricane models and the low resolution global models we find that we get no more hurricanes, and the recent data collected in the last 5 years back that up. Hurricanes are run not on heat but on heat gradients, if the air heats up too then we get no more hurricanes than we have now, and global warming is heating the air (maybe, it would seem from satellite data that the global temperature is dropping, probably because of global dimming from chinas coal burning).

Saudi oil is shipped in from saudi arabia which is far away, oil prices vary wildly from one location to another, crossing a border in some places can tripple the price of a tank of gas.

No sarcasm intended whatsoever !
There is always more than one side to an issue - often many more sides .
Just trying to gain more knowledge and keep an open mind .
As a biologist , my gut tells me I should be against offshore drilling .
I am seeking facts not fiction .

Gatormomx2 you may be interested in reading this:

http://www.sierraclub.org/pressroom/releases/pr2006-02-23.asp

Sarah

" A little more oil would dramatically reduce the price, especially US oil where we do not have to ship it in".

Sorry but you're wrong. Any oil whether it's drilled off shore or around the world has to be refined. We don't have enough refineries in this country and the US oil companies want it that way so they can have a scapegoat to blame when there's not enough supply to meet demand.
Futhermore oil prices are being manipulated by brokers who are buying and selling oil futures. So no matter what you drill or where the price is going to climb according to that market.
And lastly when a company such as EXXON is making BILLIONS of dollars in profits when there's suppose to be shortages and are giving there CEO's million dollar bonuses while the guy buying the product can't afford groceries something major is wrong and it has nothing to do with supply and demand. More like greed and corruption.

Supposedly we have laws against monopolies. Oil and drug companies are powerful monopolies in the US, and getting wealthier every year. I agree, Carol, there is major corruption and I believe the current governmental administration supports it.

Lorna

Supposedly we have laws....yep but they are full of loopholes which are being used to the oil companies advantage and the consumers disadvantage.
I do agree the current administration is a HUGE oil supporter,

There are 68 million acres of leases in the US that oil companies do not drill at and just sit on. Why don't they drill on these leases instead of trying to take from protected areas (offshore, ANWR, etc.)? Perhaps because oil companies believe they can trick Americans into believing more drilling will lower gas prices, but it won't. There isn't a major shortage as they try to make us believe when we pay $4/gallon. Of course, as we know, so many Americans fall for this deception.

If you want to know want see a map of the leased areas in the US, check out this link: http://www.sierraclub.org/bigoil/map.asp

Sarah

John McCain's pushing of offshore drilling is simply betting on the ignorance of the average voter. Even the experts say it's ridiculous.

The U.S. Department of Energy 2007 report says that it would be 20 years for offshore drilling to have noticeable effect on domestic production and even then "because oil prices are determined in the international market" that the impact on fuel costs would be insignificant.

The Dept of Energy is not generally considered to be a left wing, tree hugging organization.

And T. Boone Pickens, the Texas oil billionaire who has begun to invest in wind energy, says re the oil crisis: "This is one emergency we can't drill our way out of."

What is his " real " agenda anyway ?
There's more to his campaign than we are hearing .

While there are all kinds of possibilities of manipulation, the fact remains that we are paying a high price for our oil and refinery capacity shortages.

I suspect that if we were really serious about drilling and refining more oil starting today that the price would drop quite a bit by morning ...due to taming speculators who react to every hiccup in our supply of oil. When supplies are even a little tight in any commody, the price shoots up.

Whether our oil companies are in collusion comcerning supplies and prices, a more ample supply would tell whether that tale is true or not. We had a real bargain in gasoline prices for decades most of the time. Only when Opec started their tricks from time to time did we have a crisis.

Wayne,

"While there are all kinds of possibilities of manipulation, the fact remains that we are paying a high price for our oil and refinery capacity shortages."

Perhaps you should look at the link I posted above and now below. We do not have a shortage, rather oil companies just don't utilize land that is already leased. Offshore drilling is just a way big oil companies fool Americans into thinking there is a reason to justify high oil costs. Offshore drilling is not going to help reduce costs and very likely just have a devasting impact on our environment. Yesterday, there was an oil spill off the coast of Brazil. As far as I know, the cause is still unknown. Despite the cause, many penguins have died and many more are trying to be rescued. It would sad and pathetic if Americans drilled offshore and such ramifications happened because of our ignorance to look past oil and into new technologies.

Sarah

Here is a link that might be useful: Leased Land Not Being Used

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 29, 2008

Shocking Choice by John McCain

WASHINGTON-- Senator John McCain just announced his choice for running mate: Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska. To follow is a statement by Rodger Schlickeisen, president of Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund.

"Senator McCainÂs choice for a running mate is beyond belief. By choosing Sarah Palin, McCain has clearly made a decision to continue the Bush legacy of destructive environmental policies.

"Sarah Palin, whose husband works for BP (formerly British Petroleum), has repeatedly put special interests first when it comes to the environment. In her scant two years as governor, she has lobbied aggressively to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, pushed for more drilling off of AlaskaÂs coasts, and put special interests above science. Ms. Palin has made it clear through her actions that she is unwilling to do even as much as the Bush administration to address the impacts of global warming. Her most recent effort has been to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove the polar bear from the endangered species list, putting Big Oil before sound science. As unbelievable as this may sound, this actually puts her to the right of the Bush administration.

"This is Senator McCainÂs first significant choice in building his executive team and itÂs a bad one. It has to raise serious doubts in the minds of voters about John McCainÂs commitment to conservation, to addressing the impacts of global warming and to ensuring our country ends its dependency on oil."

Sarah

I truly do not understand what people expected when they elected an oil man as President. The first thing he wanted to do was drill off of Florida, and his own brother stopped him. I remember reading somewhere (I wish I could find it now) that the Bush family was making something like $600 a MINUTE on the oil prices. It's not all made by selling oil, but by speculation and having insider info on the prices.

All I know is that when all of this started, the Prince of Saudi Arabia said there was no reason for the gas prices in America to be this high, and HE was selling us the oil!

Remember, the Saudi Arabian Prince and his family are buddy-buddy with the Bushes and Cheneys. Look at the sweetheart deal the U.S. Oil Companies got in Iraq. And they said it wasn't about oil.

Again, though, we deserve what we got for re-electing Bush. I didn't vote for him either time, so my conscience is clear. Things are so messed up now, it will take 20 years to get it fixed.

Want to see where your hard earned $$ you spend on fuel is going?? Dubai: The Palm Islands
click on the link below--amazing

Here is a link that might be useful: Dubai: The Palm Islands

One of the chants heard at the Republican Convention was " Drill , baby ! Drill ! "
What on earth are these people thinking ?
This just confirms that Rudy and his fellow Republicans are out of their minds and don't give a hoot about the environment . It's all about Big Business and making a buck to them !
It is WAY past time to start using alternative energy sources and wean our country away from petroleum products .