Tuesday, August 19, 2008

You Can't Force Oil Companies To Drill Off Shore


The Associated Press reports that nearly two million off shore acres of oil and natural gas leases went up for auction today. The area was in the Gulf of Mexico near Texas. The Department of the Interior said they got 423 bids from 47 companies willing to explore for oil and gas. What was not expected, given all of the recent rhetoric from oil companies, congress and presidential candidates that we need to drill, drill, drill, was the fact that only about 10 percent of the leases made available today were actually bid on. You can offer the coasts of the United States to these companies but you can't force them to exploit it.

If what republicans and pro oil people are saying is true, that we must drill our way out of the energy problem, it is not going to get done through the private sector. If this is really what the country needs, then we should nationalize the oil companies and get the job done.

We offered the leases and there weren't many takers. Put up or shut up!

This should tell us all that the oil companies will do what is best for the oil companies and not what is best for the U.S. We need to get serious about alternative forms of energy and stop playing games with the oil companies. They are making record profits and laughing their asses off at all of us dumb citizens that buy into the political bull sh*t.

Nationalize the oil companies or get serious about solar, wind, geothermal and hydrogen.

11 comments:

Old Glory Radio said...

You want the same people who have managed our Social Security funds and Public Education to run our nation's Oil Companies?

Tom Sebourn said...

Actually, I want the private sector and the republicans to quit complaining that they can't drill off our coasts because the democrats won't let them. It was a republican that signed the order to stop off shore drilling in the first place. It has been two republican governors, Florida and California that also object to ruining their coast lines. If drilling off shore is so important to our national well being, and the private sector can't get the job done, what else can we do other than nationalize the oil companies. In truth, I think drilling California and Florida's water to lower gas prices is like digging for change in the couch when you are 6 months behind on the mortgage.

Old Glory Radio said...

Well, the left doesn't want coal...they don't want nuclear, they don't want oil.....and I almost forgot....no wind turbines where they can see them. Unless you are interested in buying a horse, I suggest we drill our own oil and kick out the lefty radicals in the congress that will never....and I mean never allow us to even come close to providing for our energy.....they want, and you are aware, to re-wild America. I feel sorry for the average democrat. You and I can afford the gas when it goes to $10 bucks a gallon....they can't. Kids will go hungry, but they don't care. They don't and every lefty here reading this know it. What matters most to them is...the forest. Oh and I forgot the fish. It's a bed the Dems have made and will be the death of the party. Sooner or later the average low income democrat is going to get tired of taking the bus.

Greg Sebourn said...

It IS the Dems AND the Repubs! You can't point your finger at just one side. If you want energy, pass a local ordinance that requires ALL NEW BUILDINGS to have solor panels on at least 50% of the roof. Mandate it like everything else...

Greg Sebourn said...

By the way, I can't wait for you to come south... I have a cold beer waiting for you!

Tom Sebourn said...

Today the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors is seeking public comment during a meeting in which they are expected to approve a measure to send Gov. Schwarzenegger to change state policy and allow oil exploration and drilling in the county.
The board has no power to approve new drilling itself.
The modern environmental movement was started in 1969 when a large oil spill off shore destroyed their beaches and slowed tourisim there for decades.
It is possible the supervisors were either stoned out of their minds or too young to remember what happened there in 1969.

Oil to sell on the international market will do what for Santa Barbara County? Excuse me?
I agree with pls8395 about solar pannels. They would actually do something good for that county.

Tom Sebourn said...

As I said in the title of the story, "You can't make them drill."

You can however put up solar pannels and there isn't a thing they can do about it.

Old Glory Radio said...

You can cover every square inch of the state with solar panels and it won't move one truck down the road. Would not generate enough power to replace one natural gas fired ele generating plant. Wishful thinking about how great it would be won't help one single mother put gas in her tank and get to work. It will however, depress the econony enough ensure generations of welfare rats to come content to sit in their yurts waiting for their block of free government cheese. Look Tom, of course we need to get going seriously on alternative energy, but to doom America to another 100 years of depending on FOREIGN oil is silly and against our national interest. Put your energy into wresting control away from the fringe radical element that owns the democratic party. You might then get something done. This is the problem with the left....nothing but dreaming and wishing....we live in a hard real world....it runs on oil.

Tom Sebourn said...

Actually Old Glory you are completely wrong. Solar panels can produce enough electricity to power an air compressor that can be used to power trucks or a bus. India has had compressed air powered busses since the year 2000 and they work fine. If one can power a bus, one could power a truck. Natural gas can power cars and trucks also and this doesn't pose a problem even if drilled off shore as a natural gas spill won't stick to the beach, fish and dolphins. We have lots of natural gas in this country and it is being explored. There is a shortage of oil drilling equipment and crews to run them. This needs to be addressed before we give away more of the commons to the oil companies.
Solar panels make sense because they create power during the peak demand times. This allows the existing power plants the ability to handle the load during hot sunny days. Solar panels don't harm birds, fish, people or republicans, (I just had to throw that last part in).
Installing them will create many blue collar jobs and all that money can't be outsourced. If we build them here, the money doesn't go over seas to our enemies, it stays here and grows our local economy.
It might be better to install wave generating fields off shore than oil platforms. The waves are almost always there, even more reliable than wind.
Shell oil company tried to shut a refinery in Bakersfield a couple of years ago. The state stepped in and kept it open until they could find another company to run it. It is open, making gasoline and a profit, no thanks to Shell. Left up to their own devices, the oil companies will do what ever they can to keep the price of gas and diesel as high as the economy will allow.

Old Glory Radio said...

The problem is the bridge and the will to do it. It will take 10-15 years to make the changes you suggest. We need oil and a governmnet to insist it happen. The problem isn't with the republican party, it is with the democrat party. The dems are so beholding to the enviro whackos that you will never .....ever....get a comprehensive energy policy through. And you know it. They want to re wild America. I stand by the prediction that absolutely nothing will happen despite people like you making reasonable suggestions. It's one reason I like you....for a lefty you actually think. The whackos will never agree to anything that doesn't involve horses and walking. Never. The dems will get there, but it will take $6.00 a gallon gas to get the dem base to throw out the liberals now running the party. By next summer should do it and the election of 2010 will be the changer. In the mean time....sit back and watch as the poorest among us suffer the most at the hand of the very people they put in office. Like hurting the poor....vote Obama...vote Democrat.

Greg Sebourn said...

I personally know three homeowners who have installed solar panels here in Orange County. All of them run their meters backwards all day while they are at work and the power they consume in the evening is minimal at best. Considering how many homes are uninhabited during daylight hours, we should be able to generate enough electricity to take several COAL-BURNING generators offline. Then when we burn oil in our cars and trucks, we aren't compounding the dirt in the air. The north coast is blessed with a constant gentle sea breeze that the inland communities don't have. If each home that sits on 2 acres or more also had a wind turbine, we might be able to take our energy production to the next level. California already has laws on the books that require developers (mainly architects and civil engineers) to design homes to maximize passive heating and cooling by orienting the roof, doors, and windows in a manner that allows the house to breathe while being sheltered from the elements.

The reason Santa Barbara wants the state to give them the go-ahead on offshore drilling is because the County officials think that they can regulate the methods, equipment, and operations related to drilling. Someone is likely getting their pockets lined and it isn't me!