KATU
In response to President Bush's call vote of Congress to lift the Federal ban on oil and Gas Drilling off American coast, Oregon governor Ted "tax and gauge me" Kulongoski [not surprisingly] was unmoved by the calls to open coastal waters to Oil Drilling.
Kulongoski commented on Wednesday that it would be a " short sighted response to a long-term issue of creating a sustainable and secure and domestic energy economy."
first of all, nobody said that drilling on coastal waters was the "cure all" to the energy issue, however, it is an option that is currently at hand.
While I do not think anybody disputes that the country must move towards new technologies and fuels, the problem is that is not something that is going to happen overnight.
And it is not just the fuel that we put in our cars that rely on oil. Plastics and other materials also rely on oil.
4 comments:
If there's one thing Teddy knows all about, it's short-sightedness.
There is MUCH more oil in the off shore sands than there is in the Alaska Refuge. Although I would rather they didn't drill at all, at least off shore is worth the effort.
They use the term "sustainability" like a hatchet.
Since there is very little understanding on the part of Democrats/socialists/progressives/communitarians, the have little or no appreciation for natural role price plays in developing substitutes for various inputs.
Oil will always be with us.
If you recall, there were areas in Pennsylvania where the oil was coming up without any prompting. Oil, to the 17th-century common man, was more a problem than an asset.
What has changed over time is the relative ease with which we can extract petroleum from the ground. There are a lot of existing wells that were shut down for years because the cost of pumping increased to a point where it was cheaper to buy petroleum from Asia than it was to pump it ourselves.
Now, as the cost of crude from those sources has increased, the potential profitability of these unused wells has improved. Before investing in wide-spread investment into these marginal wells, however, there must be an assesment as to whether or not the current high price is sustainable. (Ugh, that word again. But, correctly used here!)
If the world price of oil drops, those high cost investments won't be able to return profit to the cost of the investment.
Now, to a Democrat/socialist/progressive/communitarian, concerns about profitability is a sign of evility. But that's how the cupcakes get baked. No profit motive, money doesn't flow.
We're so evil, we capitalists.
Robin,
I'm assuming you meant "tax and gouge me" instead of "tax and gauge me". The former has much better rhyming capabilities and actually makes more sense if you are trying to insult the governor of this state.
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