--- Steve Catanzaro <stevencatanzaro@sprintmail.com> wrote:
> I see no evidence, yet, that Bush and Cheney have done
> anything utnoward to
> help the oil business. In case you haven't noticed, we
> are right on the
> brink of a major energy situation here. They increased
> subsidies for coal,
> which is a major competitor with the oil business.
>
> But the crazy policy of not allowing any new drilling for
> oil, even in an
> airport size field in some super remote area in Alaska
> the size of North
> Dakota, has led us to a very serious situation. Demand
> badly outstrips
> supply.
Aw, Steve, I wish you hadn't written this, because
ultimately I didn't really want to wade into a political
debate on a music list, but what the hell. I'll try to
keep it short.
As with most leftists, i'm short on facts, and long on gut
feelings but I'd like to think history will justify me in
the end. Anyways this supposed energy crisis could easily
have been averted (let's start by driving less, driving
smaller vehicles, and re-classify SUV's so that they have
to meet the same emissions standards - heck, safety
standards, too - as cars), but nonetheless it's mostly
bogus anyways. There was an article in salon yesterday
about it (an admitedly mostly left-leaning publication)
http://www.salon.com/politics/feature/2001/05/08/energy/index.html
Anyways, I live in Canada's most prosperous and least taxed
province, due in no small part to oil revenues, so part of
me is happy to quench the states' thirst for oil. But
knowing several farmers who have wells on their acreages
(against their will, I might add), I know that even *one*
well can cause a huge amount of environmental destruction,
not to mention health problems. Should we really be
opening up the last wilderness refuge in north america to
drilling when ultimately, most of the estimates predict all
the reserves in this area would only amount to about a 6
month oil supply for the US at current consumption rates?
I have a better idea, given that conservation seems too
radical. Accept the fact that in a 'global economy' other
countries may be able to produce goods (be they potatoes,
lumber, clothes, cars, electronics, or oil) better and more
cheaply than the US, and you may have to rely on them to
procure you with these goods (I mean "you" not in the
personal sense, but in a broad 'north america' sense). Oil
drawn from reserves in arab countries is far cleaner and
easier to extract than most of the oil in north america.
Hey, why don't we lift the inhumane sanctions towards Iraq,
and start buying their oil again. It's cheaper, probably
in the short term, and definately cheaper if you take the
long view.
=====
Marco Pringle, host of
the Fat Beat Diet - Thursday evenings, 10:30-Midnight
CJSW 90.9FM (Calgary) - in real audio at:
http://www.cjsw.com
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