The movement to "Drill Here, Drill Now" seems to be gaining momentum nationally. The petition at americansolutions.com has gained some 30,000 signatures in just the last several hours (Friday evening), and as of this writing stands at 729,000 plus.
The anger and frustration at both parties in the do-nothing Congress is growing, as polls show fewer Americans believe the high cost of gasoline is caused primarily by oil company greed.
But the Pelosi-led Democrats apparently think Americans will feel better about pumping $4 gas into their tanks if they know the Congress is punishing the oil companies with windfall profits taxes, even if it doesn't exert any downward pressure on the price of gasoline at the pump.
And Barack Obama implies he doesn't have a problem with $4 gasoline per se, it's just that we got there in such a hurry. "I would have preferred a gradual adjustment", said the candidate. He says we need to take steps to help people with the high costs... "first of all, by putting more money in their pockets." Huh? Care to elaborate on just how the Obama administration might do that, sir?
Maybe from those thousands of high-paying, new "green jobs", which in addition to materializing out of congressional pork thin air, will also presumably come without the nasty necessity of commuting.
At least some Republicans are convinced that the growing sentiment about the need to increase domestic supply can be a winning issue for McCain and the GOP in November, and I'd even suggest that many Americans might just forgive McCain for a "flip-flop" if he came out for drilling in ANWR in light of today's changing realities, including the very real pain low income citizens especially are feeling at the pump.
It brings to mind the famous John Maynard Keynes quote when he was criticized for a change of mind, and responded "When the facts change, I change my opinion. What do you do, sir?"
Maybe some of those low-income Americans would be surprised to see just how lopsided the votes in Congress have been over the years, in terms of which party has supported policies to increase domestic energy supplies, and which party has opposed them.
Posted by dan at June 13, 2008 11:56 PM | TrackBackShalom Dan,
Sounds good, until you realize that we can't drill our way out of this situation because it won't be Americans who get the new oil, it will be China and India (most Alaskan oil now goes to Japan, not the lower 48).
The only people who will benefit will be the shareholders in the companies doing the drilling.
B'shalom,
Jeff
Posted by: Jeff Hess at June 15, 2008 08:15 AMIt would be a flip flop, but if McCain came out and said something like "yes i was opposed to ANWR drilling before, but now that the situation has become more dire and I am open to drilling now," it would be worth more than the harm the flip flop will bring.
McCain needs to go out everyday and talk about energy. Every day.
Posted by: Ben K at June 15, 2008 01:47 PMJeff, good to hear from you. Any increase in supply can put downward pressure on the price, regardless of which countries are doing the consuming...at least based on my rudimentary understanding of such things.
And no, we can't drill our way out of the problem, but as Mark Steyn has said, " maybe we can drill our way back to $3.25/gallon"
What is infuriating is that the Dem Congressional response to the problem is an appeal to emotion and not close to a practical solution. Domestic supply is restricted by what are largely Democratic-supported policies. Taxing profits of oil companies is a sop to their ideological (anti-capitalist) soulmates, and is a trademark leftist appeal to envy and bitterness toward successful entrepreneurs.
Its impact on gas prices can only be in the wrong direction, and it guarantees that oil extraction and refining will be done by countries who pay less attention to environmental and safety issues than we do. So prices go higher and the planet suffers, but leftists feel good about themselves.
And BTW, the problem with oil company shareholders benefitting is what, exactly?
Posted by: Dan at June 16, 2008 10:37 AMShalom Dan,
As always, it good to be on Wizblog. I wouldn't have kept you on my short list if it weren't.
If we start drilling today, we wouldn't see any increase in supply for years (if we can get the heavy equipment over the rapidly thawing tundra), so the chances of pushing gasoline back to $3.25 just aren't realistic. We just can't ramp up supply fast enough to offset demand from China and India.
This is what happens when a couple of billion people want what they think 250 million Americans have and are willing to pay for it.
The problem with oil company shareholders benefiting is that it's short-sighted. We're now dealing with a scarce resource should be shared out like lifeboats on the Titanic, not party favors at a Hummer dealership grand opening.
B'shalom,
Jeff
Except the resource is not scarce at all. What is scarce is our will to extract it, and our capacity to refine it...both solvable problems.
Posted by: dan at June 17, 2008 10:44 PMShalom Dan,
Yes, there are extensive untapped reserves in expensive-to-drill (deep ocean-Arctic/Antarctic) regions and expensive-to-extract (oil shale) reservoirs, but ultimately petroleum is a finite, non-renewable and non-reusable resource.
The present challenge is that you can't make money not selling something.
Conservation of their particular product is a non-starter for any individual unable to see beyond their own lifetime or unwilling to unilaterally restrict their own abuse of the commons for fear that others will not.
Even if we have 100, 200 or even 500 years of refinable petroleum in the ground, it is a finite and therefore scarce resource. When it is gone, there will be no more.
We are really in a race to discover how to control the helium fusion reaction before the petroleum runs out. All other energy sources are stop gaps. We might have a breakthrough tomorrow; it might take us that 500 years.
But doesn't it make sense for humanity to better shepherd our present resources until we get there?
B'shalom,
Jeff
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