Once again the country is going to see that $4 number at the pump...

[Warph]

On October 1, 2008 the 30 year moratorium on offshore drilling expired and at that time the country was paying $4/gal at the gas pump.  The chant of "Drill Now" was ringing across the country loud and clear but somewhere along the way as gas prices went down, guess what... the country lost its way.

Well guess what..... again?

Once again the country is going to see that $4 number at the pump as oil prices are rising and $100/barrel of oil plus is looming on the horizon.  It is sitting at $77 a barrell right now.  Any chance for economic recovery any time soon will be severely stunted by high gas prices and high gas prices brings inflation faster than you can say..."What the hell happen?"

I guess there are many reasons why oil prices rise and fall.  One of the main reasons for the rise we are about to experience is the decline in the value of the dollar.  As the dollar continues to decline and experts say, "... before the dollar bottoms out expect to see another 15% decline."  Geez, Louise!

And how will the Washington political establishment respond to rising gas prices?   I suppose as they always have done in the past...Blame "Big Oil".

What are they going to blame "Big Oil" for this time?  For not drilling?? .... well who is stopping them?  It is the government who is squeezing our energy supply.  It is the government who has placed moratoriums on drilling.

Read from the Heritage Foundation..."Five Things Congress and the President Are Doing to Bring Back Sky-High Gas Prices."  A very good eye-opening article.  http://www.heritage.org/research/energyandenvironment/wm2587.cfm

Well this time it won't work because the dirty little secret is out.... thanks to Rep. Waters... (I know this is over a year old but I had to throw it in here... It's so darn funny)  Here is Rep. Maxine Waters, a California Democrat, representing the 35th district of California, (who btw has the I.Q. of the speed limit in a school zone) is caught spilling the beans back in May, 2008.  Yep.... she gives away the game while grilling John Hofmeister of Shell Oil during Congressional hearings.  She goes on to say that this government is intentionally causing the rise in oil prices so that they have an excuse to take over the energy sector in this country. (As er, ah, um, um as speed zone Maxine says...Nationalize, Socialize)  LOL.... it takes all kinds, I guess.  

But seriously, John Q. Public has been inundated with many issues facing the country but we can not let the issue of 'drilling' slip under the radar screen again.  Petroleum is a key component to our industrialized society and we can not afford to be ever dependent on foreign sources for oil.  This country has untapped oil and gas deposit resources in abundance.  The problem is as it has always been for the last 30 years, the politics of environmentalist.  In most countries they celebrate when new energy sources are found, like in Brazil recently..... in the United States we file lawsuits to limit discovery.  What a crock!

Meanwhile, as we speak, the Great Russian Bear is laying claim to all the deposits in the Arctic Circle... China is subsidizing drilling off of Cuba.... Mexico has found new deposit in the Gulf... don't forget Brazil.... and the United States ...the United States does nothing.

Does America really want to be dependent on Russia and China for our energy resources?  The sobering fact is, if we continue on with our "no drill" policies our enemies will own us without firing a shot.

[Sarah]

I'm sure Obama and his group will come and save us all with all of his ideas for alternative energy so that we are less reliant on oil.  After all, that was one of his main campaign promises.  To help us not be reliant on foreign oil and to save the planet.   

[Anmar]

You're right in saying that there was a plethora of reasons for the expensive oil.  One of the biggest reasons has nothing to do with the government or oil companies at all.  Its known as speculation.  There was a commodities bubble because when the market started to tank, people shifted their cash from stocks into commodities, thus artifically raising the prices of things like corn, gold, and oil.

Commodities prices have since declined, the dollar has stabilized and many investment firms are projecting growth in the next year.  Your article must be old.  Oil has dropped almost $6 a barrel this week alone. 

Interestingly, I found waters' comments to be entertaining, but she didn't say what you said she did.  Well, she didn't say that the government was intentionally keeping the prices high.  Although, i wouldn't put it past the corrupt republican leadership to do it.  In fact, Bush helped Enron screw California out of billions of dollars by keeping energy prices high.

[Diane Amberg]

So do we keep looking at alternative energy sources or not? Start looking outside the box more that we already have? I saw something recently on Denmark's' electric car program. Looked very interesting.

[W. Gray]

In the Denver Post a couple days ago, was a photo of an electric Tesla that is being offered for sale in a Colorado show room this weekend.  (In the case of this automobile, the sales place is called a gallery)

The price tag is $109,000. However, Coloradans who act quickly to buy the Tesla only have to endure a net payment of $67,000 due to a state tax credit law for alternative energy and zero emissions automobiles. The current tax credit on this automobile amounts to around $42,000.

That is, Coloradans can get that amount as a tax credit before January 1, 2010, when the credit drops to $6,000 and the Tesla will wind up costing a net $103,000.

[Diane Amberg]

May I please have a pair in matching colors?

[Anmar]

Regardless of whether or not our government decides to expand drilling, Alternative energy sources should continue to be developed. 

We use about 21 million barrels of oil a day.  16 million of that is imported from other countries.  It's a falsehood to say that we buy a lot of oil directly from the middle east, however we do support them indirectly by keeping demand high.  Its in the best interests of our country to not be so dependant on oil.  I'm not sure how any true patriot, regardless of their political leanings, can support the notion that we should abandon our quest for energy independance.

Drilling in ANWR and offshore drilling isn't going to cut it.  For starters, the proven reserves are very small.  ANWR is considered the biggest untapped reserve in the US and its only 7.7 billion barrells (average estimates)  At 21 million barrells a day, it would last 366 days.  Another argument people like to use is that opening ANWR and offshill drilling will ease oil prices.  This isn't true for 2 reasons.  First, the oil deposits are so small compared to other country's deposits, that the effect on the worldwide price is minimal.  The department of Energy says it they expect that drilling in ANWR would lower oil prices by 75 cents a barrel at full production.  Thats less than a 1% decrease in price.  Furthermore, Oil prices are largely controlled by an international consortium called OPEC.  The basic purpose of OPEC is to keep prices high, so that when someone comes out and tries to sell a bunch of oil on the cheap, the OPEC countries cut their production to keep prices high.  Most of these countries have vast reserves of oil and cash so its pretty easy for them to keep the prices where they want them.

The only way out of this problem is alternative, renewable sources of evergy.  We better get it done fast, because coal is running out.  Frankly, this issue is much easier for the government to have fixed instead of starting in on health care.  It would have been easy to get some bipartisanship efforts going to fix the problem.

[pepelect]

We better get it done fast, because coal is running out. 

State your source.   We are running out of easily accessible coal.  Low sulfer coal or what are you referencing?   

I am all for alternatives but the implementation has taken for ever.  We have proven wind, documented with 10 years or test towers 4 miles from a existing wind farm and still can't the towers planted in the ground. 

[srkruzich]

We better get it done fast, because coal is running out. 

State your source.   We are running out of easily accessible coal.  Low sulfer coal or what are you referencing?   

I am all for alternatives but the implementation has taken for ever.  We have proven wind, documented with 10 years or test towers 4 miles from a existing wind farm and still can't the towers planted in the ground. 

The US has about 300 billion tons of coal that they know of.  It would take about 80 years or more to mine it out.  So were not running out that fast.
The solution to energy is going to have to be Nuclear reactors.  That is the only sustainable source for centuries to come. 

[Anmar]

I do agree that nuclear should be a major part of our energy moving forward.  Hopefully there will be a push in tech that will give us some kind of way to safely store the waste.