The Things People Expect From A Blog!

Well boys and girls; as it turns out, people (Mhor) actually expect The CUnit to be accurate during a rant so I thought I would post a correction to yesterday’s entry.

A rant, being what it is, often turns into thoughts tromping over each other, with the meaning being lost in the writing. That is what happened in my discussion of domestic drilling. Yea, I know I eluded to domestic drilling being an answer to high gas prices....OK, I actually outright said it was. The fact is that there are only two conditions that would make additional domestic drilling impact prices at the pump. First, the infrastructure would have to be in place to begin pumping several million barrels a day to several idle refineries right now (all of which are a part of my imagination). Second, the oil industry in America would have to be nationalized so that America’s needs are met BEFORE any exportation takes place. Would you want our current political parties trying to co-operate on running that kind of business? Me neither, our prices would quintuple overnight.

The demand for oil in the world is such that the US could find the new wonder fuel I dream of, and the oil industry might not even notice. With demand comes speculation, and as long as there are people willing to pay the futures price, the price will keep going up. The shortages of 1973 and the accompanying price hike was more due to speculation and stockpiling than an actual cut in production or an embargo (the guys pumping the oil don’t control the destination once it’s on the boat).

If the oil industry in America had continued to grow and keep up with demand, as it did when I was a child, things may have been different. But a combination of lifting costs (what it costs to bring oil from the ground to a tank) and environmental legislation (post Santa Barbara Channel oil spills) has put America out of the oil business. We could repeal all of the legislation, however to put the industry back into production shape will take years (read at least a decade) and probably billions of dollars: money that should go toward research and development viable alternatives for powering our cars. It would be easier to repeal the laws of physics.

No, domestic drilling is not the answer to high gasoline prices; however, unless We the people of America demand a real effort to develop viable alternatives for powering our personal vehicles or learn to ride a bus, then domestic drilling needs to be a consideration. At least as a measure of protection against the remote possibility of some nut job group disabling a major production center in the Middle East or closing the Straits of Hormuz. (The US actually gets most of its oil from Mexico and Canada but any world production restriction hurts.) We would hope that the nations that depend on oil exportation could control their neighbors, but these days it’s just not a sure thing.

These are just a few of the realities of oil. If you are really interested in more let me know. I’ll be happy to supply a reading list (what can I say, I did a paper on alternative energy).

As far as SUVs go, Mr. Gunn I know you use yours the right way. It isn’t lowered and it sees the outside of the city. It’s those Supreme Urban Vehicles I see clogging the freeways, rattling my windows, and obviously will never be a Sport anything that bug the hell outta me.