Roadshow: Many reasons to drive the speed limit: better mileage, support troops

[Swanny1172]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Pinto Girl @ Jun 27 2007, 02:19 PM) [snapback]468928[/snapback]</div>

Oh, I can imagine it, all right; we'd meet about 3% of our demand for oil for ten years --at best-- before it's pumped dry and the area is desecrated forever.

Sounds like a plan, Doctor.
[/b]

Desecrated? I didn't know it was holy ground...

[MarkMN]

To me, Wildlife Refuges are a sort of 'holy' ground (and I shutter at using a religious term). It is land that the government has set aside with the preset notion of preserving it from human (and corporate) exploitation. It is land that we as a nation through our elected officials decided was worth saving for its natural beauty. Yet, now that the Repubs want more oil to support their SUV driving, suburban living lifestyle, they want to reverse that notion and extract the resources, and all for 120 days worth of oil?? What is the logic behind that? So shareholders and CEOs of corporations can make money?

The bottom line is Artic National Wildlife Refuge drilling will do so little to accomploshing anything beyond making 700 billion dollars worth of revenue for the oil industry. I probably even own oil stock through my mutual funds, but I don't want to destroy what land we have set aside for profit.

[Darwood]

"I probably even own oil stock through my mutual funds, but I don't want to destroy what land we have set aside for profit."

And there is the heart of the conundrum we are in.
I'd say, as long as we ensure ANWR oil is only used for essential economic need (Farming and delevireing food to us), then I'm OK with it. Fueling hummers, jetskis, offroad monstertrucks, shipping plastic crap from China, and many other frivilous use are not. But how do you do this? I think the oil needs to sit there until public awareness of the seriousness of energy shortage problems becomes complete.

[JSH]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Darwood @ Jun 27 2007, 01:41 PM) [snapback]468944[/snapback]</div>

"I probably even own oil stock through my mutual funds, but I don't want to destroy what land we have set aside for profit."

And there is the heart of the conundrum we are in.
I'd say, as long as we ensure ANWR oil is only used for essential economic need (Farming and delevireing food to us), then I'm OK with it. Fueling hummers, jetskis, offroad monstertrucks, shipping plastic crap from China, and many other frivilous use are not. But how do you do this? I think the oil needs to sit there until public awareness of the seriousness of energy shortage problems becomes complete.
[/b]

The best way to do that is leave it as it is. If in say 20-30 years we haven't progressed down the road oil alternatives and our nations is truly in crisis then tap it and pump it. By that time the public will understand the concern and be willing to make sacrifices to use this vital energy source to power our transition to something else. If you tap it now it will get pump now and just go on to fuel our habit and fatten the pockets of the oil companies.

I vote for option C, leave it be and find alternatives now.