AmericanPapist Comments
I hear all sorts of claims that 12 billion barrels here and 18 billion barrels there are "not economically viable."
Give me the drilling rights to 12 billion barrels of oil and I'll find a way.
There are thresholds of profitability, but we are well, well above most of those now. It's something like $60 a barrel and we are cruising the $140s!
OK, assumming that the 840 billion barrels of oil are all accessible, we could theoretically match Saudi Arabia's output for, oh, 24 centuries. Yes, centuries. And that doesn't count the Clampetts getting rich in South Dakota.
Not that alternative energy sources are a bad thing, and I think the idea of hybrid cars is very cool. Abundance should not lead to waste. And living in Wyoming, I feel it is very desirable to preserve unspoiled wilderness areas. Still, that's a lot of oil, and getting to it doesn't necessarily mean throwing sagebrush and antelope into extinction or dirtying up the place. Although, oil production facilities have a long way to go to be pretty.
Just watch though: Someone is going to accuse Bush of collaborating with the Arabs to push up the price of oil, so that he(and his buddies) would have a plausible excuse for getting at the oil on restricted lands and their companies could make incredible amounts of money when they go and get it. It's a conspiracy, man! (Like the Dems don't own oil stock. They're rich, too.)
You're right, of course. And if you divert some of the money that is spent on military, perhaps, you can make economically viable drilling in hard to produce pockets, too. The potential is there. Free yourselves from the Middle East.
I believe that many of these ideas are environmentally hazardous at the very least not to mention very expensive. In Canada we have the Alberta Tar Sands but they are environmentally a disaster.
This blog site is called "American Papist". I'm a bit puzzled over what being a Papist (American or otherwise) has to do with the politics of oil but since you raise the issue it seems worth noting that under Pope Benedict the Papal plan has been to purchase and re-plant a large medieval forest in Hungary to make up for what the Vatican consumes in fossil fuels and to install solar panels on the roof of the Paul VI Audience Hall to supply all of the power consumned by that building.
It seems to me as well that hte newest Popemobiile is powered electrically but I could be wrong on that however if you're trying to bring back the days of big cars, and SUV's powered by cheap gas and running on vast expressways you will get no support from the Papacy of Benedict XVI.
I believe that the price of oil rises because of speculation. If American reserves become available, the price should drop. When will the Democrats who don't bat an eye when it comes to voting for infanticide realize this?
That said, I'm sick of people [not necessarily here] saying the government has to find alternative forms of energy. We are not Socialists! The government should give incentives and encouragement but we don't need more government interference in our lives. We need less. Let individuals invest in companies experimenting with alternative fuels.
Capitalistic competition for profit is always better than the bureaucratic solution.
Viator Catholicus,
To your 2nd paragraph: Amen! I don't know where the American "Can Do" additude went to, but every time someone cries out "Why isn't our Government solving all our problems?" a little piece of my American Hope dies.
On the other hand, a lot of economic problems in America have been the product of our government's continued path toward socialism - so, in some weird sense, maybe we have a right to cry out to the goverment to fix some of our economic problems.
Some days I look at my husband and say "Any more of this and we're moving!" - then I remember what Chesterton said about why Rome was great... (and those of you who've read Othodoxy know what I'm saying)... and I roll up my sleeves and pray for our country.
Even my misguided family members who are still members of the Abortion Party (aka Demcratic Party) are in favor of off-shore drilling, which by the way is done by the Europeans all of the time in an environmentally safe way. I could win this presidential election on this issue alone. The Abortion Party which is in thrall to Hollyweird, the Manhattanites, and other assorted limousine liberals, doesn't get that the ordinary working man is deeply affected by higher oil prices. I thought these clowns cared about the poor and the working class. Tom
As a Canadian I have to say that I can't see how you folks manage to tie abortion in with offshore drilling. Abortion is a matter of morality. It is an intrinsic evil. Offshore drilling is a mtter of economics and the environment. If it is a moral concern at all it certainoly is a prudential concern only.
Abortion must be treated as an evil in it's own right if it is ever to be overcome. You risk loosing allies if you tie it in with oil or capitalism or what not. The alliance betwen the Democrats and abortion and the Republicans and pro-life (at least nominally)is a disaster.
Commenting by HaloScan
