[VanishingPoint]

Originally Posted by Tortfeasor STi

So, as much as I think government and the international community should be working together to fix these issues I don't believe the proverbial drop in the bucket that drilling in Alaska represents will make any difference at all. In fact it has been shown time and again that if we increased our refinery capacity to make up for the short fall of this in the rest of the world that we would reap greater benefits in oil prices. The reason being that there are a plethora of countries that have oil to export, but very few of them have the technology or workers skilled enough to meet modern fuel purity requirements. If we want cheaper oil, we should be investing in infrastructure. But because that costs money, the government would prefer we simply point fingers at Opec and the environmentalists for not letting us drill in our national forests.

No refinery has been built in this country since 1976. Permits have been submited but denied. Yes the eco freaks are making you pay more money for fuel.

I really am torn on the gas price subject. I dont like to see the inflation, but it maybe the only way to reduce Americas massive use of oil. If you look down the road many many years if man kind doesnt killed himself off or we dont get clobbered by a comet our population will grow. At least I hope it does to a point. For our economy to keep growing it needs to expand, more people more manufacturing and so on. This can only be supported so long and we run out of energy/materials you get the point. We need to expand our energy supply, oil is basically at capacity. Coal will help us get by but lets face it at some point it will not support all our energy needs. At some point the tank will go dry. Renewable energy will need to be brought into the mix and brought up to speed. A world without a dish washer TV or air conditioning would be a horrible thought.

America has been driving huge vehicles compared to the rest of the world. I believe you should be able to drive what you want/can afford, but do we really need such inefficient giants. Just increasing our mileage alittle would help so much. Best way to do that is with higher gas prices. I wont even get started on the size of houses.

A little reality check isnt all bad as long as its little. A snowball affect would really suck. I would really hate to see a world at war over oil.

Tony

[stiman1]

Originally Posted by VanishingPoint

I would really hate to see a world at war over oil.

Tony

Too late

[gohrsepwr]

Originally Posted by stiman1

Too late

what are you talking about? if its a referall of the support of iraq against terrorist your sadly mistaken, we get no oil from iraq period. most of our oil comes from alaska and canada and i think some might come from russia (not sure) correct me if i am wrong about 30% comes from the middle east as a whole like saudia arabis and kuwait. it has been mentioned that the iraqies could pay us back with oil for freeing them but it has been rejected by our government. we have plenty of oil that could help here in a few or maybe even ten years down the road if we start drilling/looking now while alternatives are being researched and developed. so we can start now and things get better down the road or do nothing and things continue to get worse and will never get better. i think if we start now it might cause opec to panic and bring down the price or freeze it immediatly, just a guess.

[AKhick]

Not that much comes from up here. Canada mainly, yes, but a few other countries before us. And yes, we're a country