McCain promotes drilling for oil off U.S. coast

[Ban Hammer 14,295]

blah blah no difference in 5 years......so let's just sit on our hands and stay the course.

[mendeleev 69]

blah blah no difference in 5 years......so let's just sit on our hands and stay the course.

Maybe a better strategy, charles, would be to invest aggressively in energy technologies that will make a big differences in those five years, rather than babble about off-shore drilling.

[Ban Hammer 14,295]

blah blah no difference in 5 years......so let's just sit on our hands and stay the course.

Maybe a better strategy, charles, would be to invest aggressively in energy technologies that will make a big differences in those five years, rather than babble about off-shore drilling.

those won't pan out in 5 years either.

how about........we drill and invest in alternative sources?

[Sassy1natl 0]

McCain called Obama the "Dr. No" of energy.

So Obama will be trying to disrupt NASA space launches while crushing his political opponents to death with his metal hands?

You funny.

[mendeleev 69]

blah blah no difference in 5 years......so let's just sit on our hands and stay the course.

Maybe a better strategy, charles, would be to invest aggressively in energy technologies that will make a big differences in those five years, rather than babble about off-shore drilling.

those won't pan out in 5 years either.

how about........we drill and invest in alternative sources?

Charles, given the fact that deep water rigs are booked out for five years, drilling won't get you anything for 8-10. To put that sort of idea out there as though it matters any time soon is ... not responsible.

[Ban Hammer 14,295]

blah blah no difference in 5 years......so let's just sit on our hands and stay the course.

Maybe a better strategy, charles, would be to invest aggressively in energy technologies that will make a big differences in those five years, rather than babble about off-shore drilling.

those won't pan out in 5 years either.

how about........we drill and invest in alternative sources?

Charles, given the fact that deep water rigs are booked out for five years, drilling won't get you anything for 8-10. To put that sort of idea out there as though it matters any time soon is ... not responsible.

do you really think we'll see any decent results in alternatives in 10 years? i don't.

[peejay 327]

And what's wrong with drilling offshore?

Well, ruining our precious environment and shorelines for one.

I posted this before, but there's this great radio show, This American Life, and they had an episode on this island called Nauru. Basically it was an island paradise, with fish and fruit and fresh water. Then they started selling their phosphate. And they sold ALL of it. Then they had nothing left and had ruined their island. They now have to import EVERYTHING, including water, and they make their income by providing tax havens and money laundering services.

We can more easily achieve similar gains in available oil by using the technologies we already have and investing in new ones.

Well...we have been ruining our precious environments and shorelines for years by over-immigrating our country. We've added 100+ million people to our population since 1970 primarily from over generous immigration policies. We are set to add another 100+ million to our population in the next 32 years if trends continue unabated. And you are worried about drilling for oil in offshore waters? You need a reality check.

Take time to read this and educate yourself: http://www.susps.org/overview/numbers.html

And all those extra soles will be burning energy too.

[peejay 327]

OP post should know the problem -- even if offshore sites are opened for drilling, there is a five year back log on availability of drilling rigs.

Is it possible that both McCain and Peejay, the OP, who admits to working in this industry for over 20 years, are both demagoging the issue? Looks to me the answer is *yes*.

http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/2008...806190306/0/APN

I still don't think you get it.

#1-I'll have a job in the oil industry until I retire whether we drill in these areas or not. But I live in America too and the post Peak Oil world will not be a nice place to live in if we are not prepared for what is coming.

#2-I could give a ####### if your Hummer is costing you an arm and a leg to fuel up as you drive back and forth from the house you bought way out in the sprawling suburbs. I hope the price goes even higher and stays there. It will finally wake the American people up to the fact that our lifestyle is not sustainable. Oil is a precious and finite endowment. There is nothing in the wings to replace it now and no guarantees a replacement will be found in the future that is comparable to oil.

#3-Educate yourself. Ignorance is bliss. Read the Hirsch Report. Also read the book "The Long Emergency" by James Howard Kunstler. If we are not prepared when this happens, we will see who will be demagoging.

http://www.energybulletin.net/node/12772

[mendeleev 69]

blah blah no difference in 5 years......so let's just sit on our hands and stay the course.

Maybe a better strategy, charles, would be to invest aggressively in energy technologies that will make a big differences in those five years, rather than babble about off-shore drilling.

those won't pan out in 5 years either.

how about........we drill and invest in alternative sources?

Charles, given the fact that deep water rigs are booked out for five years, drilling won't get you anything for 8-10. To put that sort of idea out there as though it matters any time soon is ... not responsible.

do you really think we'll see any decent results in alternatives in 10 years? i don't.

In ten years, with aggressive development, cellulosic ethanol, and more advanced biofuels, derived from wood, switchgrass and the like could displace 30% of domestic gasoline consumption and put a bigger dent in petroleum imports than any other option out there. Those developments will put the oil/food debate on its head and put corn ethanol out of business, because they won't be able to compete on price.

[Ban Hammer 14,295]

blah blah no difference in 5 years......so let's just sit on our hands and stay the course.

Maybe a better strategy, charles, would be to invest aggressively in energy technologies that will make a big differences in those five years, rather than babble about off-shore drilling.

those won't pan out in 5 years either.

how about........we drill and invest in alternative sources?

Charles, given the fact that deep water rigs are booked out for five years, drilling won't get you anything for 8-10. To put that sort of idea out there as though it matters any time soon is ... not responsible.

do you really think we'll see any decent results in alternatives in 10 years? i don't.

In ten years, with aggressive development, cellulosic ethanol, and more advanced biofuels, derived from wood, switchgrass and the like could displace 30% of domestic gasoline consumption and put a bigger dent in petroleum imports than any other option out there. Those developments will put the oil/food debate on its head and put corn ethanol out of business, because they won't be able to compete on price.

30% is nice, but we still need oil. and agreed on corn ethanol.

[Scott & Lai 12]

This is like, I'm a heroin addict and my problem is I don't have enough heroin. We're addicted to oil and the solution is to get more oil?

So, you are "addicted" to the freedom to travel where and when you need to, including flying to your SO's country? You are "addicted" to having light in your home between dusk and dawn? You are "addicted" to heating your home and cooking your food? You are "addicted" to the countless non-energy products that also come from petro-chemicals?

Until we can find alternatives for fossil fuels, we will either have to keep using them, and therefore find more sources for them, or we will have to so drastically change our lifestyles that they will be completely unrecognizable to us and unlike anything we have known since the early 19th century.

Edited July 31, 2008 by Scott & Lai

[Peikko 1,575]

We could dramatically reduce our consumption without going all Victorian. What we can't do is maintain the type of growth we have become used to, nor can we sustain current levels indefinitely without a new source of fuel.

Whether or not we continue for the time being to substantially spend US dollars outside of the US is such a fatuous argument. We've been doing it for years it's called being part of a global economy and even should the US simply quit buying oil from elsewhere, oodles of $'s will continue to fly out of the US while ooodles more fly in. #######.

[Niels Bohr 72]

This is crazy. No matter if we drill of shore or not, here are the results.

If this is not an indication of the oil company profit hunger by drilling for more oil, then, the US Government is being whipped by them hard to drill for more oil. ROFL.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

blah blah no difference in 5 years......so let's just sit on our hands and stay the course.

Maybe a better strategy, charles, would be to invest aggressively in energy technologies that will make a big differences in those five years, rather than babble about off-shore drilling.

those won't pan out in 5 years either.

how about........we drill and invest in alternative sources?

Higher fuel efficiency standards and beefing up existing mass transit would have the biggest and most immediate impact. Do I hear a 'yes' from the Republicans on this? Nope.

[Niels Bohr 72]

Who still want McCain for office? If there's more drilling, Exxon will profit even more. What we need to do is heavy conservation! Conservation is the key to unlocking lower gas prices, not more supply.