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U.S. energy independence: right under our feet
Americans are finally awakening to the damage that four decades of governmental moratoriums and restrictions on energy development have done to our economy and our lives. According to the Bureau of Land Management, there are 38 billion barrels of oil under American soil (19 billion barrels onshore and another 19 billion offshore) that Congress forbids developing. But that’s just the beginning of known American oil reserves. The Rand Institute reports that the Green River shale formation (covering portions of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming) holds a proven recoverable reserve of roughly 800 billion barrels of oil, three times the petroleum reserves in Saudi Arabia. And yet Congress forbids touching this as well. Put together, there is enough American oil under American land to provide for American needs for the next century at current rates of consumption. And this doesn’t include additional fields that are yet to be discovered. By opening its offshore waters to oil exploration, Brazil recently increased its known reserves by 40 percent with a single new discovery in January. But in America, it’s illegal even to look for oil on 97 percent of our off-shore land and 93 percent of our on-shore land. Meanwhile, the vast oil fields off the coast of Florida that American law prevents Americans from developing are now being drained by the Chinese government drilling in Cuban waters. And still Nancy Pelosi and her supporters in Congress continue to block the development of these vast American oil reserves. Their excuses are lame. They argue that the 68 million acres of American land open to exploration is more than enough to meet American needs. What they don’t explain is that most of that land has already been explored and found to be dry. One of Pelosi’s minions said he’d be willing to drill on the White House lawn (where there’s no oil) — and yet not in the Arctic tundra (where there’s at least 10 billion barrels of it). Another excuse is that America’s oil reserves are only 2 percent to 6 percent of world energy supplies and thus won’t make a dent in prices. (Comically, the same people argue that releasing a miniscule fraction of this amount from the federal government’s strategic reserve would bring a dramatic price reduction). Yet in making this claim, they simply ignore our shale oil reserves that make Saudi Arabia look like a petroleum pygmy. Another excuse is that it will take years to bring these fields on line, offering little immediate price relief. They ignore the simple economic fact that current prices reflect future expectations — which is how speculators drive up prices by betting on continued scarcity. A bold declaration from Congress that we are no longer willing to sit on our immense petroleum resources would bring an immediate reduction in current prices. Just the president’s largely symbolic act of removing the executive ban on exploration sent world oil prices tumbling last month. Some have proposed draconian increases in oil company taxes by “closing loopholes.” There’s just one problem: oil company taxes end up being passed along to us as consumers through higher prices. And the real tragedy is, the development of our offshore oil resources alone would produce a trillion dollars of additional revenue without increasing taxes according to at least one estimate. That’s not to say that petroleum is a permanent solution to our energy needs — far from it. But the immediate development of America’s oil resources would bring immediate price relief and buy us the time to transition to hydrogen as the replacement for fossil fuels. Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe — we have an entire ocean filled with the stuff — but it takes vast amounts of electricity to separate it. In order to produce cheap hydrogen, we must first generate cheap electricity. And once again, Pelosi’s Congress stands in our way. The cheapest ways that we have to generate electricity are hydroelectric, at 1.5 cents per kilowatt-hour; nuclear at 1.7 cents and coal at 1.9 cents. (By comparison, solar power costs 28 cents per kilowatt-hour; natural gas, 11 cents and wind, 4.6 cents.) And yet the least expensive technologies are those the government forbids us from developing, while the most expensive are those the government subsidizes with higher taxes. Government is not the solution to our energy crisis — government has been the cause of that crisis. And, suing Saudi Arabia to increase oil production while keeping America’s oil off-limits is simply a farce. Republican Tom McClintock is a candidate for Congress in California’s 4th District.
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I think we should give the oil companies even more tax breaks besides letting them keep the billions they already get. I get some pretty nice dividends from the shares I own in oil co's. I knew Haliburton was a good investment back in 2000 when the Republicans got elected.
Beware.
When a politician who for years employed a deputy campaign manager and legislative policy advisor who does not believe in evolution makes policy arguments based on science, beware. He will contort science to fit his narrow world view.
When a politican tells you that if it weren't for the opposition party all would be well, beware. Big problems always have bipartisan causes. The current energy situation is no different. Republicans have obstructed conservation and development of alternatives for decades. This has had as much or more impact on the current price of oil as any actions Democrats have taken to limit domestic drilling due to real and unsolved environmental concerns. The truth is we can reduce the price of oil far more by committing to reduced energy use and robust development of alternatives than by announcing our intention to increase supply. BOTH need to be part of a responsible energy policy. Charlie Brown knows this. Read about his energy plan and stack it up against McClintock's simplistic argument that a few lawmakers have caused the current energy crisis.
When a politican claims that the U.S. has one trillion barrels of oil simply awaiting the waving of a legislative wand, beware. Even the most optimistic reports show that domestic shale oil will not be available in quantity for fifteen to twenty years. If you read about this situation carefully you will also find that the main barriers to development are technology and cost, not a lack of leases or lawsuits by environmentalists. In other wards, McClintock is not telling you the truth about shale oil. The market has already factored this future supply into today's oil price. It's not the silver bullet McClintock claims it will be.
...and when Tom McClintock says anything, beware. This is a guy who says he is for reduced government and lower taxes yet he has taken hundreds of thousands of dollars in personal payments from the state of California that he did not need simply because he qualified for them. His actions and his rhetoric don't match. He cannot be trusted.
McClintock just wants you to vote for him so that he can continue to draw government pay so he will say anything to get you to support him. He doesn't really care about people like you and me who live in this district. He just wants a base of operations to continue obstructing progressing on America's most difficult problems as he has done as a California legislator for almost twenty years.
Beware.
Miuwtant, fyi Tom McClintock was in the State Legislature for 22 years, and in the State Senate for 8.
This article nails the energy crisis we are experiencing in California. The democrats talk about the environmental impact of drilling oil here in the U.S., how selfish and self-centered can you get? Let's not drill our own oil, but let's expect every other country around the world to screw up their environments and ecosystems for us so we can act like we're not part of the problem. And by the way, other countries and their polution effect us too. An air study was done in Los Angeles and they found the same polution in the LA air that had drifted all the way from China on wind currents.
It is completely and utterly unfair to ask other countries to do our dirty laundary for us, when we are unwilling to help fix the problem. I think Tom McClintock should be praised for what he is trying to do about this issue. It is true, if we can start drilling now, and alleviate some of the cost issue we face today, it will make it much easier to maneuver into different types of energy. As the article states (and all you Charlie Brown blind followers listen up), drilling WILL NOT solve the long term problem! BUT, it will help us tremendously in coming up with new sources of energy by bringing prices down in the short run. I think McClintock has nailed this issue, and it is time for all of us to stand up and start making a difference on the energy issue.
I've heard of oil shale before, but only recently have I really read up on it. It looks to me like the clearcut path out of our current energy crisis. It strikes me as common sense that oil shale would be something more easy to develop into a mass-source of energy than, say, wind or solar powers, both of which produce far smaller amounts with far greater costs.
McClintock is really onto something here by emphasizing the ways the Democrats have undermined energy exploration and production within our own borders. At the same time, he offers us a way out from such severe dependence on foreign oil and the subsidizing of such terrible regimes around the world, with our billions of petrodollars. But those with a hatred of oil companies as deep as their fanatical defense of the environment will likely never listen. That's why we need McClintock to keep them from getting any stronger with another district in their hands.
Dear Tom;
Reading this article reminds me of a boxing match I saw one time.
Charlie Brown walks into the ring, throws a couple of blows that don't land, then you proceed to hit him in the body, move to the head, back to the body, then a right-cross and he is on the floor.
In some ways, that fight was great to watch because the winner executed so brilliantly. On the other hand, it was a bit unsatisfying because it did not even last a single round.
It did not help when his trainer, Nancy Pelosi, threw in the towel on offshore drilling after Charlie had already jumped into the ring.
Brown is going to run for cover because he is on the wrong side of all the issues. He will send out his attack dogs to do his dirty work and avoid discussing the issues any more.
Sad what passes for "policy" from Republicans these days (and worse still, people are still buying it)!
1) McClintock is right that there are 38 billion barrels of crude under barred lands. But he's deliberately deceptive when he implies there is ONLY 38 billion barrels under the US soil! Per his own stated source, there are 65 billion barrels of untapped oil right now: 38 in areas barred from drilling, but 27 billion on land the oil companies ALREADY OWN LEASES ON!!! Lands the oil companies aren't drilling. Why the rush to give them leases to every inch when so much is already held and available? Except, yet another GOP giveaway to their favorite money source!
2) He flat out lies when he says China is drilling "our oil" from the Gulf. Ignoring the obviously disputable claim that its "our oil" if they're drilling in Cuban waters, the simple fact (admitted by Bush, by Cheney, by several GOP Senators including Florida's own) is they aren't even drilling in the Gulf! This is a fiction four or five desparate Republicans keep repeating, with the minor problem being that it IS FICTION! But I guess that just doesn't matter. Win at any cost! Lie, smear...doesn't matter.
3) Why the attacks on Democrats for adjourning without passing an energy bill? Perhaps people should actually study what Congress has done (and who prevented them from doing things).
On July 30th, the Senate voted on a renewable energy bill, including tax credits for solar and wind power. This was the EIGHTH time in 7 months the bill was brought up in the Senate. And for the eighth time in a row, Republicans filibustered, and Democrats couldn't get 60 votes to end it. So who is refusing to do anything about America's energy problems? Do Republicans literally want to block any and every bill, so they can run charging Democrats with failing to pass necessary bills? Sure looks that way! And it hurts even more. There's a Chinese-owned company who make solar panels, who are planning to open a factory in the U.S. But they won't do it unless the Federal gov't shows they're serious about it with a consistent energy policy. They've toured six states (each states' governors have been wineing/dining them hoping to get the factory in their state), but have put it on hold now pending passage of this bill that Republicans are blocking!
Oh, and John McCain has a perfect voting record on this bill: he's missed ALL EIGHT votes this year! Indeed, in one case, he was actually in his Senate office, but refused to go down and cast his vote. At least Obama has managed to vote for this bill three times, dispite the heavy primary schedule!
McClintock doesn't seem to have much of a memory. In 1979 Jimmy Carter set up a oil shale project. Reagan scrapped it. For decades oil companies have tried to find ways to recover oil out of that shale out there without poisoning the Colorado River basin which so much of the west depends on for it's water supply. Not to mention using up more energy and water than it's worth. They're still trying new methods. The Bush Administration let 5 huge leases in Colorado in 2006. So far no one has been able to figure out how to mine it, cook it and make it usable at a cost that makes sense financially or isn't environmentally catastrophic. Most methods require more water than exists in the West.
38 billion barrels of oil = a little over 5 years of American oil consumption at 2007 rates. We can drill off every tourist beach and in downtown San Francisco but then what Tom? There aren't any more huge fields of light sweet crude to be found in the USA. We used it up.
There's isn't much oil to be found off FL either. The Chinese aren't drilling in Cuban waters, our waters or anybody's waters out there. The US Geological Survey estimates there's maybe 4.6 billion barrels of heavy sour crude oil in Cuban waters. It's 2 miles down at the bottom of the ocean in a hurricane alley. Less on our side of the line. Any fields worth drilling in the Gulf are further west, closer to Mexico and TX where we're already drilling. Brazilian and Spanish oil companies drilled test wells off Cuba in 2001 and 2004 but found no viable deposits In any case 4.6 billion barrels = 230 of US consumption at 2007 rates.
We could drill here, drill now like shortsighted Republicans want but that wouldn't bring down gas prices now or in the future. What this mindless draining of the last of our oil it would do is make us more dependent on foreign oil suppliers before we can develop an alternative way of fueling our transportation system.
The US uses 25% of the world's oil but only has 2% of the world's oil. We need to keep most of the USA's oil we have left in the ground in reserve. We need to develop and adopt new sources of energy that don't destroy the planet while leaving us in hock to people who hate us. If you want the Russians and Saudis dictating where our army can fight in 10 years stick with oil company shills like McClintock and McCain who keep trying to drag us back to the 20th century. Those F-22s and M1A2 tanks don't run on ethanol.
Prospector--Typical right-wing selfishness--you're bread aint gettin' buttered when Obama wins.
BTW, check out Gus Thompson's new online article: "China-Cuba oil drilling gaffe has McClintock backpedaling" which demonstrates--wow, who'd of thunk it; McClintock's full of bullsh.. up to his eyeballs.
Tom McClintock says that China is on the verge of draining off all the oil in the Gulf! of Mexico
"Meanwhile, the vast oil fields off the coast of Florida that American law prevents Americans from developing are now being drained by the Chinese government drilling in Cuban waters. And still Nancy Pelosi and her supporters in Congress continue to block the development of these vast American oil reserves." Grab your wallet, folks, it's Republican "mushroom cloud" false alarm.
Question: Given how long it takes to set up offshore rigs, isn't it already too late to prevent China from taking every last drop of the Gulf of Mexico oil they aren't actually drilling for?
This is the same Los Angeles carpetbagger who consistently votes "no" on pro-environment bills and has a zero percent rating from the California League of Conservation Voters for opposing anti-global-warming, fuel-conservation and clean-air bills.