Comments on: Alaska, Nukes, and You

By: Stan Hamilton

Stan Hamilton — Thu, 08 May 2008 18:56:51 +0000

I agree that we need to drill for oil here including the offshore sites and in AMWR. This can be done safetly and fairly quickly. I do not agree it will take years to get things flowing as long as we do not allow unreasonable environmental concerns or legal issues to get in the way. For all concerned about ANWR impacts on the wildlife, I dare any of you to try live there and survive off what you can find and catch on the small area of land where the drilling is proposed. Not exactly a vacation spot, a scenic spot, or a wildlife spot. I also agree that drilling will send a strong message to OPEC.

I agree we need to pursue nuclear power very aggresively. It it safe and is not effected by bad crops, lack of wind or lack of sun. They should be built on the coast to have reliable access water so they are not dependent on stream flow from rain and snow.

We absolutely need to continue to find cleaner and more efficient ways to use coal. We have tons of the stuff.

Converting corn to ethanol is dumb and dumber and needs to be stopped.
A) There is marginal gain in energy. It takes almost as much energy to make it as it produces.
B) We are burning up our food supply to produce it.

Producing fuel from any crop source puts pressure on converting grasslands and forestland to cropland. Not exactly things that help CO2 problems. Heck, you may plow up Gore’s carbon credits – what will he do then?

All the other alternatives sound fine, but a lot more needs to be done to make them cost effective and to be done on a scale that will have a significant impact on our energy needs. Of course, we should continue to do research in all areas, but in the near term we are going to need energy from our traditional sources so we will have the ability and time to develop these other alternatives.

Lastly, we need to continue to become more efficient in use of all our energy. As an example, I see people all the time stomping on the gas to race to the next stop light only to hit the brakes. Hard on the car, hard on the brakes and a major hit on your gas mileage. If everyone stopped doing this, we would probably reduce gas consumption by 10% or more.

By: Edward Hamilton

Edward Hamilton — Tue, 06 May 2008 12:16:00 +0000

We need to drill now and explore now. There is also evidence a ton of oil up around Montana which is another place to drill. I think anything we can do for the security of our country. The more we give money to many of these OPEC countries, the more money they have to threaten us. And I really think we need to move to alternate energy of any kind that is not oil in the long run. Security needs to take a front seat. And inflation of energy prices need to be more in our control (and that too is a security issue). Lets also help countries that like us, to grow crops for ethanol. We need to make OPEC feel the heat.

By: BILL MILLER

BILL MILLER — Mon, 05 May 2008 23:33:11 +0000

OIL, GASOLINE, we’re talking ISSUES here!! By November gasoline will be $8 (eight) a gallon. NO DEMOCRAT is going to vote for a canadate that doesn’t go for drilling and pumping for OIL regardless ot the excuses he or she might make. Obama and Clinton want to take Oil Company profits to pay for things that will NOT increase the volume of OIL.
Who knows what the price for substitue oil will be; how about $10 or $25 a gallon? I say lets have the Republicsans put up a bill to release the hold on drilling anywhere and for building refineries. There are a lot of Democrat congressman that ran in 2006 as conservatives and won; how would they vote today with their job on the line? Clinton voted seven (7) times to halt oil drilling and Obama also voted ney. Lets get them on the record: everybody wake up; our government is KILLING US, we can’t put up with there excuses for delay in drilling anymore. I would like to see a ground roll start slowly and build up to a 80% demand (including democrats and republicans) our congress pass the law or we’ll throw the ass out of that club for life we call the US Congress.

By: David Anderson

David Anderson — Mon, 05 May 2008 20:23:27 +0000

The price of oil per gallon, as I understand it, is determined by numerous factors:

1 – it is tied to the value of the dollar, the weaker the dollar, the more expensive oil is;

2 – supply and demand, obviously, with demand in China steadily growing and OPEC’s lack of interest in increasing supply.

3 – investors and futures speculation.

4 – unrest in the middle east – which, it has been alleged by a political opponent of Putin’s, the Russions constantly encourage to help keep the price of oil high for their own monetary benefits.

I am no energy expert but, while I see how nuclear plants could cut back on the need for coal, I do not see how this impacts oil. We need to satisfy the supply problem – by drilling in all of the locations you mentioned, the demand problem – by researching alternative fuels other than corn based ethanol (we need that for food – ask the Somalis), the value problem by supporting economic policies that will strengthen the value of the dollar.

By: John

John — Mon, 05 May 2008 19:14:40 +0000

Great. Drill in ANWR, but…Also drill off the coast of Florida and California, too! Don’t ban drilling in offshore areas just so some rich homeowners have their “views”. Also, more needs to be done to alleviate the NIMBYism that has prevented more refining capacity in the US. Tis not going to do us any good to have more raw oil, if we don’t have the capacity to refine it. Environmentalists AND Big Oil should be taken to task on this issue!

By: Will

Will — Mon, 05 May 2008 14:05:21 +0000

OPEC is incapable of increasing production, or they would. They don’t want people to become enraged over fuel prices, and the increases in prices for everything else that must be shipped around the world, and around the country. They don’t want change. People will refuse to pay these prices for fuel, because of budget shortfalls. Lifestyles will be cramped, and that in the end will cause change, not concerns over the environment, although I hope that can be added as “fuel for the fire” of change.

By: querin

querin — Sat, 03 May 2008 00:01:02 +0000

I worked in petroleum for 25 years,(Reservoir Engineer). IMHO the reason ANWR is not open is simple; had we drilled it 25 years ago it would be empty and sold for $15 bucks a barrel. The US has decided VERY properly to burn as much of the other guys oil as we can. It will be very bad to run out of oil: It will be very much XXXX to run out first. All these times people talk about how long it will take; 10 years plus is XX. If the government wants it, all they have to do is; cut all the red tape and say: DO IT. I know alot of people who can drill wells and lay pipe so fast you had best get out of the way.

By: Doug Meyer

Doug Meyer — Fri, 02 May 2008 17:02:12 +0000

The failure of the U.S. to invest in and adopt nuclear power generation on a major scale is one of our greatest failures. The environmental lobby has succeeded in scaring the public with bad science to the point of absurdity. Ironically, it is their fault that we are in such an energy quandry today. If we had built modern nuclear plants to generate our electricity, we would not be creating the greenhouse gases they fear so much by burning coal. We would not be depeleting the available oil at the rate that we are by burning oil and natural gas to generate electricity. More people are killed in coal mines every year than have ever been even injured by commercial nuclear power since its inception. The dangers of spent fuel are completely overblown. The quantities of dangerous by-products of nuclear power generation are much less and more short lived than claimed by the greenies. No drilling in ANWAR? More bad science. It makes me crazy!

By: PM

PM — Fri, 02 May 2008 16:50:41 +0000

If people knew how much radiation was put into the atmosphere by the process of burning coal to produce energy, they would be shocked, not to include all the particulate matter. Nuclear should become our primary electricity producer.

By: Linda

Linda — Fri, 02 May 2008 13:59:13 +0000

I wish we stopped talking and take some action. In an election year candidate makes such great promises and then they fizzle out. We have been talking about this now for over a year and still nothing is being done. The enviromentalists can be applauded for no new refiners and the politicians can be applauded for their “speak about it and do nothing attitude”. It would be nice if Congress could get their act together, stop worrying about who they are sleeping with and do something constuctive.