A Conversation at 38000 Ft

[rsmith6621]

Well on my way back home from Orlando for a weekend of rest and regroup the passenger sitting next to me on my right side was talking across the aisles to another passenger about the cost of fuel. He was saying everything except anything about taking responsibility....

He said that the fuel prices would be lower if we would drill the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and we would become less dependent on Saudi oil then he made the mistake of looking at me like he wanted my opinion so I had to speak.....

I said yes we do need to get off of dependence on Saudi but we must be responsible about doing so...I said we have a prez who speaks of developing alternative fuel sources but has not shown any leadership and has failed to give an account of the programs he has spoke of in the last two SOTU speaches.I then said I would be in favor of drilling the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge but only after Detroit significantly raises performance numbers and is obligated to higher benchmark for the next one hundred years. Also since it is National Forest land they pay a dividend to each taxpaying citizen from their profits not just those in Alaska.


He said the word WELL about twice and then about 4 passengers around us said they agreed with me and appreciated the thought out reply...


We live in a land of many pigs.

[Muttocracy]

1. good for you!

[Redstone]

2. Welcome to America, The Land Of The Self-Centered.

Redstone

[villager]

4. the land of the enraged and the infantile!

n/t

[EVDebs]

3. Nixon era planning for what we're going thru today.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=3120923&mesg_id=3125968

Also, see the movie Three Days Of The Condor. The NYTimes didn't print the story Redford's character wanted put out, instead the NYTimes gave us Judy Miller et al.

Besides, simple arithmentic:

World oil supply remaining (per industry TV ads recently) = 1 trillion barrels

World oil consumption daily = currently 85 million barrels, soon to rise to 120 million (est. for 2020), split the dif and say 100 million barrels

doing the division you get about 27 years of oil remaining, and you can expect competition and war for the last drop. Instead of oil companies pushing and investing in the alternative energy sources you have them suppressing them.

My sis lives in AK and benefits mightily from the Permanent Fund royalties but you never heard a more conservative rightwingnut. Go figure.

[Arctic Dave]

5. Every time I hear the ANWR magic bullet argument I

just roll my eyes. I don't know how many times I posted about this but I will say it again.
1. No one knows how much oil is in ANWR. Anyone who says they do is full of it.
2. The Trans Alaska Pipeline will only pump, at its peak 30 years ago, 2mb a day. Not even close to suppling US oil needs.
3. If the oil companies are hurting for new fields to produce why don't they drill in the NPR-A which about 5 times the size of ANWR.
4. Without significant reductions in our consumption by the time any oilfields in ANWR are brought online they will be outpaced by demand.

For the record, yes, I do work in the oilfields in Alaska. I have for the last 14 years.

[SidDithers]

6. What's the NPR-A?...nt

Sid

[Arctic Dave]

7. National Petroleum Reserve - Alaska

It is located west of Prudhoe Bay. It was set aside during WWII for the sole purpose of having reserves for the navy in case of interuption. It was opened up for developmemt a while ago. Exploratory wells have been drilled the last couple of years but the results are not made public because that way the oil companies can negotiate a better deal with the state by claiming the need for tax breaks, yada, yada, yada. Most of the times they just sit on the lease until it suits the needs of the company not the needs of the consumer.

[SidDithers]

10. Thanks for the reply...

cheers.

Sid

[lonestarnot]

8. Excellent. Did you have to do a second demonstration of the oxygen mask?

:toast:

[DCKit]

9. "We live in a land of many pigs."

Perhaps, but at one in six, I'm beginning to like our odds.

[lostnfound]

11. Yay. Great job. "We need to drill more" is a mantra at the oil companies

I don't work for an oil company but the ceo of one of the oil companies spoke at a conference that I had to attend, and his preacher-brimstone-speech was disgusting. "We need to drill more" for the sake of America, and practically crying (in an arrogant bully way) that his company's hands were tied and prevented from saving America. It was insulting.

[elehhhhna]

15. Baloney. ASk him why the oil co's stopped all their sub-sea explo and rig building the day

GW was selected. No, wait, I'll tell you why: the oil is cheaper to extract from Iraq...if only the pesky people there would go away and shut up.

[EVDebs]

18. See post #3 for the DoD's participation in the sandbagging of alternatives to oil...nt

[Sadie4629]

12. Just an interesting point about the auto industry

raising performance standards:

We visited Michigan Tech when my son was considering applying for admission. At the time, they were holding a contest on increasing fuel efficiency in SUV's. The students were removing the SEATS from these vehicles, in order to reduce the weight and increase gas mileage! Besides the fact that the large comfy seats make travel more enjoyable, they are designed to be an important safety feature.

I don't want fuel efficiency increased at the cost of safety. The most fuel-efficient vehicles do happen to be smaller, and therefore, less safe. Is there an alternative that I don't know about?

[Fumesucker]

16. Smaller does not necessarily mean less safe.

Smaller and more maneuverable vehicles are less likely to be involved in a collision in the first place.

The safest vehicle is one which is never involved in a collision.

The great majority of "accidents" are not really accidental, they are the result of carelessness, inattention, ignorance, poor driving skills or simple recklessness. I was taught this in training for my first fleet driving job back in 1970.

If you drive on the roads in the majority of European countries you will find the level of driving skills considerably superior to those displayed by most Americans. Americans, to put it bluntly, are mostly terrible drivers. The standards for passing the driver's test in most European countries are much higher than here in the US.

The recent thread about the left lane being a "passing lane" only on divided highways is a perfect example.. The sheer number of people that flatly refused to accept that it is safer if one moves over and gets out of the way of faster traffic was astonishing, or at least it would be if you hadn't driven on American highways.

[Locrian]

13. fuel prices

Fuel prices are high (partly) because oil is an import and the dollar is falling like a rock.

Guys like him piss me off to no end. Like the guy who sits across from me who owns a huuuuge Ford Expedition SUV (one driver, no kids etc no USE for it so dont flame me for SUV hating). Anyway, EVERYONE who has our (!) oil is the enemy (Iran, Iraq, Venezuela, etc). Because they "hate" us for our freedom, etc. And gee golly oil should be cheap because its only 0.10 in Venezuela, bla blab bblab.....

[Sancho]

14. Wanna bet that he drives a Hummer?

:dem:

[Lorien]

17. Drilling in ANWR would only accomplish two things:

1). Cause significant damage to one of the only environmentally pristine places left on earth, destroying it's usefullness as a control to measures all other areas against (aside from the moral implications).

2). Further line the pockets of corporations like Halliburtan with taxpayer dollars.It will take ten years to build enough infrastructure to extract oil from ANWR (which at best will only supply 1-2% of our daily needs for a few years), and you can bet good money that it will be used as yet another excuse to loot our treasury.

When RW morons spout off about ANWR as the answer to our energy needs (and they ALL do; must be a dittohead talking point) I just ask them "how much has the price of oil dropped since we invaded oil rich Iraq"?