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Poll: Americans Don't Think More Drilling is the Answer
redgreenandblue.org — The poll finds, the American public overwhelmingly believes (76% to 19%) that policymakers should focus on investing in new energy technologies including renewable fuels and more efficient vehicles rather than expanding exploration and drilling for more oil.
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- sustainablogger, on 07/25/2008, -2/+16Most Americans get the timeline here... if we start drilling now, we're looking at decades before these wells can ramp up to full production capacity.
- TheCash, on 07/25/2008, -2/+4Wrong. According to the Big Three producers, new oil could hit the market in as little as 2-3 years in some cases.
Sure, you could argue that they would say something like that, but who am I going to believe: Companies who stand to make a profit by getting new product to market as soon as possible, or anti-oil pro-alternative energy special interest groups who have a vested interest in locking down any kind of exploration/new oil sources?
The decade-to-market timeline is a myth.- claybodie, on 07/26/2008, -1/+3Yeah I know, that damn anti-oil pro-alternative special interest group called the DOE:
http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/servicerpt/anwr/result ...
"In all three ANWR resource cases, ANWR crude oil production begins in 2018..."
"...ANWR oil production is not projected to have a large impact on world oil prices." - davidryal, on 07/26/2008, -0/+1Stop taking the government out of context! Who are you, Job Stewart?!
- GonePostal77, on 07/26/2008, -1/+1While ANWR may take 10 years, offshore drilling can be faster.
Wanting to get off oil is a fine goal, and one we should strive for. But to ignore ways to drop our dependence on foreign oil and a way to drop prices is short sighted and part of the reason gas costs so much to begin with. And if we were allowed to drill in ANWR 6 years ago, we'd only be 4 years away from production. People need to think long term, if we're going to be Energy Independent we don't get there by magically wishing oil needs away. Until alternatives become cheap and reliable, we need to explore all options, including new oil drilling AND nuclear power. - 10stackz, on 07/26/2008, -1/+0We already have that Alternative fuel its called hemp. not to mention is solves a lot of problems with america too..
About 45% of our jails and prison poplulation would decline freeing up billions of dollars in tax payers money. You can use it to produce ethanol, you can use it to make clothes, paper, rope, and the seeds can reduce cholesterol in arteries. It also makes oil.
I'm sick of the politicians that are forced down are throat that continue this failed war on drugs. Drug use has increased over the past years. All it would take is for the correct information released by the government to easily change everybody's mind. - motivatedmama, on 07/26/2008, -0/+1Realities of offshore drilling:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?story ...
Worth the 17 minutes I assure you.
- claybodie, on 07/26/2008, -1/+3Yeah I know, that damn anti-oil pro-alternative special interest group called the DOE:
- TheCash, on 07/25/2008, -2/+4Wrong. According to the Big Three producers, new oil could hit the market in as little as 2-3 years in some cases.
- B00Radley, on 07/25/2008, -2/+5dugg!
- briscuits, on 07/25/2008, -0/+7Lets see the poll questions before we jump that gap. Some people say drill until we have renewable energy, some say cut off all oil and change or die, and others still say oil today, oil tomorrow, oil forever. All but the last could be construed into that 79%, not so epic news then.
- briscuits, on 07/25/2008, -0/+7Done.
"Of course, you should take this data with a grain of salt. As indicated by the footnote, the margin of error is 3.5%, which indicates that the margin between the percentage of Americans that don’t think more drilling will reduce gas prices (54%), and the percentage of who Americans that do think more drilling will bring lower gas prices (46%) is virtually nil." - ElementDesigner, on 07/25/2008, -1/+10It just seems like a much more sound investment to develop alternative sources of energy. Because otherwise, even if, in a decade or 2, we reduce our dependence on foreign oil, the fact is, we'd still be dependent on OIL.
- Bukowsky, on 07/25/2008, -1/+11The solution is RENEWABLE ENERGY!
- GonePostal77, on 07/25/2008, -4/+5Well, we should have been digging offshore AND in ANWAR 10 years ago. It takes about 10 years for a rig to come online. But 10 years ago hardcore environmentalists said it would take too long (10 years, or course), and Clinton, always looking to the short term (his biggest flaw as a politician) folded like a deck of cards.
Also, why does it have to be one or the other? While we know we have to be energy independent and go after renewable energy, we don't know the time frame. You can drill for oil and invest in renewable energy. It's not an either/or scenario. And even if the US is energy independent and on renewables in 20 years, will the rest of the world be, especially China and India? Why not have something to sell them 10 years from now? - cbown75, on 07/25/2008, -2/+7It is just the government and the oil men thinking the citizens of this country are stupid and that we fear change. It is not an answer, maybe an option in 20 years when the rest of the world is out of oil and the US becomes the oil rich nation. The money should be spent on solar and new technologies to generate power.
- TheCash, on 07/25/2008, -7/+3How dumb were the people whom were polled anyway? Did they not notice how the price of crude dropped significantly after the president and others in DC started seriously discussing new drilling, driving the national average price per gallon back down below $4.00?
If even simply talking about new drilling has this sort of effect on the price of oil, imagine what actually making serious strides towards new oil would do?- stealthc, on 07/26/2008, -0/+2That wasn't the only factor, but what you're saying is true.
The reason they *don't* permit drilling (and Alaska has amounts of oil comparable to the mideast) is because once they do it, OPEC nations will lose their motivation for sticking with the petro-dollar, and the USD will basically lose all its backing. Without foreigners buying up US debt, inflation will ravage the US economy and wreck any gains made by the cheaper oil.
Invading Iraq and saber-rattling at Iran all has to do with enforcing the petro-dollar. - motivatedmama, on 07/26/2008, -0/+2When the recent reduction in price began it was noted as being due to speculation of renewable fuels, decreased demand, down 4% in the first quarter, and hearings on speculation. The rest is political spin.
- stealthc, on 07/26/2008, -0/+2That wasn't the only factor, but what you're saying is true.
- MommaLu, on 07/25/2008, -0/+7All possible resources should be used. Looking into everything should be our motto.
- GonePostal77, on 07/26/2008, -0/+2Totally agree, This is the only rational way to go about solving out energy needs. Everything needs to be on the table.
- claybodie, on 07/26/2008, -0/+3Everything needs to be on the table but it also must be evaluated fairly, and not just pushed through by whichever lobby benefits the most from it. That goes for Big Oil as much as it goes for Big Ethanol.
- MommaLu, on 07/26/2008, -1/+1I don't care who benefits financially, as long as someone comes up with a solution.
- InvisibleInk, on 07/26/2008, -2/+8The vicious oilmen Bush and Cheney have found a way to open up domestic drilling.
1. Simply invade an Arab country, cause panic in the World's oil markets
2. Drive up the world price per barrel to insane levels
3. And force the reluctant citizens to capitulate
4. Profit!- tunapez, on 07/26/2008, -0/+4Age old tactic of governance when your objective is stalled:
1 create a problem
2 let it fester
3 wait for the masses to cry for help
4 Insert original objective
Does nobody here know their history? We were running out of oil 35 years ago and the key fear mongers were Cheney, Kissinger, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Bush(sr)... any of these names ring a bell?
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0213-28.htm
- tunapez, on 07/26/2008, -0/+4Age old tactic of governance when your objective is stalled:
- ecoaussie, on 07/26/2008, -2/+5It would be nice if the lonely superpower of the world not be filled with corrupt, money hungry oil/car lobbyists. Perhaps then, advances could be made on the renewable energy front as they have with computers and other industries.
- davidryal, on 07/26/2008, -2/+8I'm not sure why people think oil companies and related interests have any motivation other than to get every bit of hydrocarbon out of the ground wherever it exists while they still can (before investing in anything else that would dry up that opportunity for profit).
Why do you think Chevron bought up all major battery patents that they could? It's not to kill them, it's to sit on them until they can save the us from the godawful mess they created (and profit form that too).
WAKE UP. - stealthc, on 07/26/2008, -1/+2That's funny, because it is.
- TheMachine1, on 07/26/2008, -0/+9Drilling technology that the oil company's have a stranglehold on could be applied to sustainable geothermal energy production everywhere.
- mweber02, on 07/26/2008, -1/+2Drill. Wind. Solar. Biofuels. Liquid Coal. Oil Shale.
Do all of it.
Do all of it 10 years ago.
Next Question. - Troy64, on 07/26/2008, -8/+1This is a ***** poll. I have seen three or four polls, all show between 65 to 70% of Americans are for expanding domestic oil production.
- motivatedmama, on 07/26/2008, -1/+3Uh huh. They're the same ones who say we gotta fight them over there so we don't have to fight them over here.
- Troy64, on 07/26/2008, -1/+1Regardless of what you think of them, they vote.
- motivatedmama, on 07/26/2008, -1/+3Uh huh. They're the same ones who say we gotta fight them over there so we don't have to fight them over here.
- algaeturd, on 07/26/2008, -0/+3No offense, but most Americans are dumb as *****. That's why Iraq took place, that's why we've given up our freedoms for 'security,' etc. Americans on the whole just don't have the time for education, they get their 'news' from TV on a regular basis. They don't have the mind power or time to daw their own conclusions.
So thanks but not thanks...what 'the people' want anymore doesn't amount to much these days because they simply don't know what's best for them. - tomjeff08, on 07/26/2008, -0/+3Drilling is a waste of time if there are no refineries to process the oil. We have sat back and allowed ourselves to become slaves.
Your country has been systematically dismantled. You can thank the Federal Reserve and a gutless CONgress for doing so.
I'd say "see you in the breadlines" but I'm prepared and won't be in one. - noprtyaff, on 07/26/2008, -2/+2We, the U.S.A...needs to increase supply during the 10-15 years that it will take to switch the infrastructure over to alternatives. Drill in ANWAR for example. Of course, no one wants to live in an environmental dump ( some people need to apply that consideration to our rampant immigration policies.) But we can certainly remove superfluous environmental restrictions by the wackos.
Have a nice day. - nlight23, on 07/26/2008, -0/+4I hate oil.
- redcolumbine, on 07/26/2008, -0/+4O beautiful for spacious skies once sung of long ago,
Where mountain stood and living wood the strip-mine scars still show.
America, America, a President made king
Turned Paradise to oil's device that looks more like Beijing.
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