Having No Energy Policy Endangers The U.S. And The World

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

Having No Energy Policy Endangers The U.S. And The World
http://saneramblings.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=151&sid=507bb94bfd6176207a2c3f2be4ab9c62

By Dick Kazan (posted with permission)

The Iraq war has taken hundreds of thousands of lives and more die every day. Why?

As bad as this war already is, it could easily spread elsewhere in the Middle East and like 9/11, its brutal repercussions could directly hit the U.S. again. Why?

Aside from the ego and arrogance of our leadership, the biggest reason is our dependence on oil. It is so vital to our Economy, that without a large, constant and dependable flow of oil, our Economy would collapse.

It is a massive National Security issue, yet ironically one that isn't discussed.

Without oil, not only would our cars not run, neither would the trucks that deliver our groceries, and our medical and school supplies and most other goods. Nor would airplanes fly or ships move.

And without oil, we would lose many goods such as plastics, some textiles, asphalt, etc. because they are made from petroleum products. And even the electricity that powers our homes, offices and factories comes from oil. In other words, the quality of life as we know it would cease.

And without gasoline taxes, federal government services including Social Security, Medicare and education would be severely impacted. And there would be a significant impact at the state and local levels too because every state heavily taxes gasoline and depends upon that revenue.

Meanwhile, the industrialized world outside the U.S. is growing rapidly. And as nations elsewhere grow, so does their need for oil and they compete with the U.S. for dependable supplies of it. China is an excellent example.

So as a result we see oil prices rise sharply and we learn that ExxonMobil earned a staggering 39.5 billion dollars last year, perhaps the biggest profit any company has ever made.

We are a nation of oil junkies dependent upon our next fix. And like those addicted to drugs, most of us don't like to discuss our oil addiction and yet that addiction is the elephant in the room that is our lives.

For some Americans, the unspoken solution is to go to war to control the oil that others possess. For other Americans, it is drilling in pristine areas, the environmental damage being an acceptable price.

But there is a far better solution. Energy Independence. Just as President Kennedy stunned the world in 1961 when he announced we'd put a man on the moon by the end of the decade, and we did, today we too can do what for the moment seems impossible....

Continued here: http://saneramblings.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=151&sid=507bb94bfd6176207a2c3f2be4ab9c62

[Alacrat]

1. What would you do to change our energy policy

Paticularly pertaining to oil and gas?
I often wonder throughout our country, why do we have so many low sulfur blends?

These numbers aren't exact, but IIRC, we have somewhere in the neighborhood of 80+ different low sulfur blends, and also IIRC, our refineries are only set up to make <10 different blends.

Why don't we choose the best low sulfur blend, and refine it for all of our cities? It seems to me this would ease refining capacity, and make more fuel available.
I keep reading we don't have a shortage of oil, we have a bottle neck at our refineries, and because of enviromental concerns, along with oil company greed, the oil companies will not build new refineries, they say refineries are not cost effective. I find this absurd with the profits these corps. have made over the last several years.
I own a gas station, and get this info from trade mags. I realize the info is biased, because the mags are funded by the oil companies.
However, if blended gas is a true problem, along with the lack of refining capacity, how would you all fix this problem?
I think the ultimate goal should be ending our reliance on oil period. We need to fully fund research on alternative fuels, hydrogen, hybrids, elctricity, etc.

If blended fuels hurt capacity, why would either side of the isle have a problem with reducing the amount of different blends?