Drilling Petitions
August 3rd, 2008 by Bill ColleySaturday was a great start. Despite rain and lightning turn-out was wonderful.
Many people are suggesting an on-line petition. My thoughts on the matter are that nothing is more powerful than your signature. I’m not at all sure an on-line list can convey the same gravity.
With that in mind, who among you would like to pass petitions?
A man from Milford explains the best places to gather signatures are on public sidewalks in front of your local post office. Or outside busy government buildings. Would your local Wal-Mart grant permission? Your local grocer? Brave souls in parking lots can keep the names on our lists growing.
We plan to deliver an initial installment late this week, however. If we’ve a large volume I’ll grab Rick or Gene or Frank and we’ll go for a drive to Capitol Hill. We’ll bring a video camera and make our delivery.
If you want to pass petitions, email me and I’ll provide a preamble that explains our mission. All you’ll need is lined paper.
And when you see your Representative or Senator just remember two words. “Drill now” is our command. We aren’t asking. We’re in charge.
billc@wgmd.com
August 5th, 2008 at 8:28 am
Bill , listener Frank reporting for duty. I am ready and willing to make that ride with you and Gene and Rick. About the only day of the week I couldn’t get off would be a Monday due to my work schedule.
As for passing the petition around , great idea, I will try and get by the station ASAP to pick one up.
August 5th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
Folks, let’s be completely honest about this push for drilling for oil: It is not a short term solution to our energy needs, as it is being portrayed.
Even the proponents admit that there will not be a drop of oil produced for at least 7 years. Also, don’t forget that we consume 25% of the world’s output but have only 3% of the world’s oil reserves that we can tap, which indicates how small an effect we can have on oil prices even 7 years down the line.
If drilling is such a great idea, why haven’t the oil companies been doing it already? That’s an important question to get answered!
Here is a short term solution: Withdraw 70 million gallons of crude, about one quarter of the total, from our strategic oil reserve, and put it on the market. Predictions are that this would reduce prices 20%, bringing gas back to $3 per gallon. Then this crude can be replaced in the reserve gradually with the cheaper crude.
To get us through the winter heating season, give a $500 per individual, $1,000 per family check, paid for by a windfall profits tax on the oil companies, with a safeguard which prevents the oil companies from passing the tax on to consumers.
Mid-term, out 7 or more years, invest heavily in alternate non-oil energy sources, so we can truly become independent of foreign oil and drastically reduce oil prices at the same time as we go through the transition. Limited drilling can also be included as a further safeguard.
August 5th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
Bill, after you get those oil wells in Alaska spewing black gold- can you launch a campaign against the criminal immigrants- you can even use my phrase ‘CRIMMIGRANTS’- keep up the good work.
August 6th, 2008 at 8:39 am
Bill, be sure you include on your petition the following conclusion on drilling by most experts, so the folks are fully informed before signing:
“It would take at least a decade for oil companies to obtain permits, procure equipment, and do the exploration necessary to get the oil out of the ground, most industry analysts say. And even then, they add, the amount of new oil produced would probably be too small to significantly affect world oil prices.”
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/06/20/new_offshore_drilling_not_a_quick_fix_analysts_say/
August 6th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
Perry do you just rewrite the Obama talking points or do you just cut and paste them directly from his web site.
Using our reserve is dangerous it leaves us a quarter short in a real emergency. Also the replacing at cheaper prices won’t work because as you take that oil off the market it drives prices up.
And even if the seven year estimate is correct which I don’t believe , the effect on prices will be immediate , just look at what announcing the lifting of the presidential ban has done. Remember what we are trying to do right now is lower prices.
August 7th, 2008 at 7:47 am
Frank, “at the end of 2006, the Republican Congress and the president enacted “The Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act,” which opened for drilling 8 million acres of the Outer Continental shelf estimated to contain more than 40 billion barrels of oil. Oil prices were only $60 a barrel then. In the two years since, prices have more than have doubled. Doesn’t that prove that legislation to permit offshore drilling increases oil prices?”
Of course it doesn’t. Nor does your claim that Bush’s action removing the ban on off-shore drilling has lowered crude oil prices. Do you think it may have something to do with reduced demand because of the high prices?
I think that Obama’s emergency oil reserve tapping (only 25%) to bring down prices, together with the $1,000 tax rebate to help citizens get through this winter with heating fuel costs, is a down to earth and workable short-term solution.
Drill, drill, drill is no short term solution, as stated in my last post. It is a political gimmick being pushed right now by you GOPers.
I express my views, Frank. If they happen to correspond with Obama’s, so be it. To me, it is the proposal that counts, not from whom it emanates.
August 7th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Three years. Seven years. Ten years.
Just how many years will it take to get that oil if we do not drill for it?
August 7th, 2008 at 5:57 pm
Pete, I did not say I was against drilling. I am criticizing the misinformation that presents this as a short term solution, and that presents this as a god-send solution, neither of which it is. Drilling, if any, must be ocmbined with a robust program of alternative energy. I think old Big Oil himself, T Boone Pickens, is on to something with his idea of wind and solar for electricity generation, and natural gas for vehicle fuel. I also think nuclear has a place, provided we solve the nuclear disposal problem: http://www.epa.gov/rpdweb00/docs/radwaste/index.html