Drilling for oil in the Alaska NWR

Hopefully we will develop a new unlimited renewable energy source. But if we develop it tomorrow, we will still need oil for quite a while. Everyone is not going to go out and buy a new car the next day.

Even if there is not much found, it may be enough to affect the markets and bring down the price of oil by the barrel.

 

The cheaper oil is the less incentive there is to develop alternatives, the less incentive there is to conserve what remains.

 

Yes, I support it. It is a viable mid-term solution untill the remaining hurdles with alternatives are dealt with. It's also another source other than the middle east. That said, I would also support stiff regulations, and an unprecidented fine structure for any spilling in the area. Make the cost of making a mess so expensive, that it would be cheaper to do the job right.

 

I think I read somewhere that the expected reserved in the NWR would keep the U.S. going for about ten days.

And no matter what the fine for spilling, the present administration / courts would probably rule that it wasn't the oil company's fault, it was an act of god, and nobody could have prevented it, so no fine.

The only way to prevent an environmental disaster is to leave the oil where it is. Hey, what's wrong with leaving just a little oil for the next generation?

Anyway, the U.S. has plenty of renewable energy right now; what we don't have is the political will to develop it: I'm talking wind. My former state of ND could supply the entire country with electricity, if the coal companies did not own the power grid AND the legislature, effectively barring wind energy from the grid.

But of course, every American has an inalienable god-given right to drive a 12-mpg SUV on city streets with just one person in it. I'd like to see gas tax of $10 a gallon (on top of the underlying price) and use the revenues to build alternative infrastructure.

Of course, it won't happen. We'll fritter away the time and the oil until the market price is $10 a gallon and we'll have nothing to show for it but maybe a year or five of cheap ($3/gal) gas.

Revised: make that $25/gallon for the tax. Does any person really have the right to squander a finite resource and leave the Earth barren for the next generation? Our grandchildren will curse us. But of course we'll be safely dead and they can't rouch us. *Sticks out tongue at unborn generation*

 

Daniel:

We usually approach this problem from different sides but almost always appear to reach the same conclusion.

Given my career, I think it's absolutely criminal that we're pissing away so much crude oil on transportation. A lot of folks appear to forget that crude is a valuable source of ethane, ethylene and many other alkanes and alkenes very important to industry as a whole.

Derivatives are also critical for agriculture, for example where do you think NH3 -ammonia - comes from? Take away those organic chemicals and a lot of us go hungry.

I won't get into a long, technical, and boring discussion on organic chemistry, cracking, hydrocracking, aromatics, and residuals, but needless to say we have to pay attention to more than just fueling up gas guzzling SUV's

jay

BTW sorry I never did visit you in Fargo. It wasn't that far of a drive from Winnipeg. Work, moving, etc got in the way.

 

the amount of oil is expected to last maybe 5-7 years WHEN we get it out. unfortunately, the duration of profitable returns is only expected to last 2-3 years.

 

Jayman: Yep. We agree. Petroleum has many uses. I can't remember who it was who said that if we could have a dialog with our grandkids it would go something like this: (Starting with them) "Where did all the oil go?" (Us) "We burned it." (Them, flabergasted) "You burned it?!?!?!?!?!?" (Us, hanging our heads in shame) "Yep. We burned it." The conversation ends with them cursing us in language I won't use on this board.

I, too, am sorry we never got to visit, and I accept half the responsibility: it's as close one way as the other.

 

No, for reasons 5, 6 and 7, plus the probability that drilling for and consuming more oil would contribute to additional global warming. I would rather see a much greater commitment to the conservation of fossil fuels and development of alternative energy sources.