Let's talk about some of the arguments:
1. China can drill 50 miles off our shores, but we are not allowed to.
This is the central issue in this debate. Why can China use our continental shelf and subject us and our land to all the intrinsic environmental hazards when we can't do it ourselves? Well, I always took these Chinese oil wells as fact. Now, I don't think they are. I realize it's really hard to prove this one either way, but where is the proof that they are there? I can't find any.
2. With todays technology it will not impact the environment at all.
I don't believe that there will be no impact. It's like the really big hippies that say they are "no-trace" hikers. Well I am glad that you poop in a baggy and carry it with you, but "no-trace" would mean that I could send a million of you through the forest in a day and not see the impact.
However, I have seen first hand how awesome the oil companies are getting at leaving minimal impact. Plus, we are going to buy the oil from somewhere, and if we get it from Middle-Eastern Companies without the environmental technology, it will damage the earth even more.
3. Oil companies have already leased 38 million acres in the U.S. and they are not drilling on them.
There is absolutely no way that this is the whole story. Does anyone actually believe that any smart business would go around buying these leases, for a minimum of $26,700 for 670 acres (which is the minimum size), and then never using them? The AP put this out to support this retarded argument. Try clicking on a state to see how much land the oil companies are not using.
I can't find the AP story behind it.
Let's think about the entire Oil process. Oil companies must do a whole lot of research. They have geologists telling them the likelihood that oil will be found in a certain area. These geologists are very good at what they do. They can tell a lot from satellite, then they can tell more from seismic tests, even more from core samples. These tests go in order. But they can only do the seismic tests after the lease has been secured. Tell me first why would you lease land just for the fun of it? Do really think that the oil companies are going to lease land that they don't think will ever produce, just because the BLM said they are willing to lease it out.
Then there is the problem calculating the cost to benefit ratio after leasing. Once the oil company decides there is a slight chance of oil being there, they get the lease so they can do more testing. After seismic testing and core samples if it does not look viable then it is still cheaper to keep the lease and not drill, than it is to drill and not get much. Now look at this map and decide what is really going here.
There is no conspiracy from the oil companies! They are businessmen. If they tell us they need to drill in ANWR, and they can make it profitable, let them. If they tell us they can get a good amount of oil off the continental shelves, and they can do it in an environmentally friendly way, then why not?
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18 June 2008, 16:44 UTCcomment by Rougen
Yea because the oil companies have really proved over time that we can trust what they say. And the same goes for Bush who is now trying to blame the democrats, though many republicans, including his brother Jebby and his pops have been against expanding exploration in the gulf for years. And I love how Bush doesn't even acknowledge the reports that came out, that stated drilling in ANWR would decrease the price of oil by 1 cent a gallon.
REPLY: He will not acknowledge it because it is not true. 30% of oil prices today are pure speculation. The day we approve drilling in ANWR that speculation goes the other way.
I don't know what the oil companies have done to be so demonized. We are not talking about ENRON. We are talking about a business that has blamed for all of the world's ills just because they make money.
22 June 2008, 20:59 UTCcomment by kate
Strangely enough, oil companies are made up of people who work for a living. Drill for oil-stop blocking progress, stop the fear.
So far every thing liberals and environmentalists have done in the last 50 years have resulted in burned forests in the states we lived in Idaho, California, Montana, Florida, Georgia, and other states, mudslides, abnormal animal populations, and now oil and energy shortage.
Democrats have had 50= years to come up with alternative energy-they haven't done it! Stop believing they will solve this.
18 July 2008, 13:38 UTCcomment by Michael
China is not drilling off the coast of the U.S. Please stop perpetuating this lie.
http://www.adn.com/oil/story/434045.html
[REPLY:]I said that they were not, thanks for stopping by tho
23 July 2008, 4:26 UTCcomment by Alex
Great little website you have here. I don't think you will change any democrats mind because like some of your comments have said, they all think oil companies are big evil corporations who like to screw people out of money. I wonder why they don't get mad at Bill Gates or warran buffet for making so much money? They make a lot more then oil CEO's do but no one hates them. Why the double standard?
Also, you should add another section on how it would actually be a good thing to drill offshore because oil seeps through the ocean floor and goes into the ocean. So if they are worried about oil spills and such, too late, its already happening but its happening just really slow. So it would actually be a good thing to take the oil out so it stops seeping into the ocean.
Another thing you could mention is how some of those pipe line in alaska and such, has actually help animal wildlife. Since the pipeline are warm, animals make nests next to them to keep warm and rear there offspring. The offshore rigs also help because they form man-made reefs for marine life. Marine life has actually thrive because of those oil rigs by creating those artificial reefs.
Then again, I dont know if any of this will matter to them because all they know is that Bush is evil and oil companies are evil.
31 July 2008, 15:02 UTCcomment by SpoonFedOpinion
They wont change their minds because the restaurant they dine in isn't serving truth or un-spun facts.
http://tampabay.com/news/environment/water/article634009.ece
this article/ link and the comments that follow is one of many examples. So many read the thing and even posted their opinionated comments filled of hate and fear that obviously didn't read the whole article or even check any of the source info used.
IMO- What makes some sooo different than others. I like to use the sports/politics analogy. I don't do main stream sports. I can't sit through an entire game or match of normal play. It boars me(sorry sport fans). I instead like the highlites. 12 hours of tv/game time boiled down to a 5 minute action pact highlite real is how i do sports. Even better an entire season in the form of a commercial- 1.5 minutes and I have seen all i need to and feel good enough to participate in sport conversations at the water cooler. (so long as they stay quick & simple)
Unfortunately how i do sports is how many do politics:( The worse part is they get to pick the winners. Can you imagine an entire season of football played. Players hurt, manipulated, drug tested, traded, arrested or promoted as MVP, community leaders and great role models on and off the field. So at the super bowl they play the entire game but now (Ha ha ha!) no one is keeping score- and right at the end they break for a commercial. When they come back the ppl in the stands and everyone in tv land are asked to vote. Me 2? Yep- my vote counts. I and many like me get to pick the winner.
What would the game turn into if this was allowed to happen? Done! Ps thanks for trying!!
2 August 2008, 8:28 UTCcomment by Everett
I agree with Alex, you can show all the facts in the world to a Liberal, but no matter what you show them, it will come down to the "Big Oil" companies some how manipulating the information. The same thing happened with the global warming argument when new information came out, people would just dismiss the information because it the research was funded by oil companies. The only good that you can do is for the people who really just don't know what to think based on all the misinformation that the Liberals spew day-by-day.
2 August 2008, 12:12 UTCcomment by redfox
Once you use the word liberal, you know they want to stop individual thought and the truth from coming out. The demand for oil is decreasing. Goldman Sacks, Citigroup,JP Morgan Chase and UBS are pushing the price of oil up due to their use of Energy Futures Trading in an unregulated maeket, on the London Futures Trading exchange. About 60% of the increase in the price of oil is due to this type of speculation because it is unregulated. The Bakken Area has 3 to 4.3 Billion Barrels of reserve available to the oil companies. They are not drilling in already leased land in Alaska because they fear it would decrease the price of oil. DAH ! There is more supply than demand right now and price manipulation keeps the price higher. Its in Big oils interest to keep the price high. $ 11 BILLION of profits tells the story. Its a big oil hoax. Wake up America. This is not a liberal v. conservative story. Its about sticking it to the American consumer. Saudi Arabia plans to increase drilling by 40%. Brizil is developing a new find of oil reserves. You do not hear about this from the Hoax pushers. Where is chicken little when you need her/him.
21 August 2008, 0:31 UTCcomment by Jim
Everybody blames Oil Companies for having so much non-producing leased land. These are the reasons:
1. The marginal leases may prove profitable if the oil price gets high enough, so Oil Companies hang on to the marginal leases.
2. It takes time to get all the permits to drill test holes. They need to satisfy all the ecology requirements ect. During that time the lease is non-producing.
3. Leases are only for the mineral rights so the land can be used for purposes the owner wants. So the cost is only $2 to $3 per acre. The land is not tied up like some people say.
4. The Oil Companies are in the business to make a profit. Dry holes are expensive. They only drill where they have a good chance of striking oil or natural gas. Why would they lease land that did not have some potential to make a profit. The more land they lease, the more chance to find productive oil wells. It all take time.
We have high price oil because there is not enough of it. We need to let the oil companies drill where they are most likely to strike large oil deposits !!!! The Democrats/Liberals have stopped new drilling, oil refineries and Nuclear Plants for more than 20 years. I want to stop sending Billions of dollars to Saudi Arabia and other countries who hate us.