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Déjà vu: Debate over offshore drilling
Why do I have this weird feeling I've been here before...
It's no surprise that President Bush's proclamation "Our nation must produce more oil, and we must start now" has sparked a heated debate between and among party leaders across the state of North Carolina and the country itself.
While offshore drilling has been a long-debated issue, the recent surge in gas prices has, shall I say, fueled the federal government to reconsider the ban on offshore drilling.
Here's the rub, though. Offshore drilling would have many cumbersome side effects, with limited positive outcomes. Firstly, you have the oil companies making more and more money, instead of investing money in renewable and sustainable energy sources. You also have severe environmental impacts on an already vulnerable coast, and although some offshore-drilling supporters envision using profit-sharing from the drilling to renourish beaches, what about all of the other environmental impacts at risk? From the Charlotte Observer:
"Fueled by $4-a-gallon gas, the growing clamor for new energy sources still faces opponents who envision oil spills, blighted ocean views and shorelines industrialized by pipelines and refineries."
I was also surprised to hear this little tidbit from Grist:
"...oil companies already have millions of acres allocated to them upon which they have not gotten around to exploring let alone drilling. When asked the delicate question, as some have been recently, why they have not explored these millions of acres to which the federal government has granted them rights, oil companies typically respond that the public should understand that oil exploration takes time."
Let's face it folks: offshore drilling would do nothing to help us in the next 7 to 10 years. We'll still be sitting here at square one--in dire straights, using the crutch of the mere potential success of offshore drilling to subsidize our energy-hungry lifestyles, which, if it came to fruition, would only provide us with borrowed time anyway.
JP Morgan is a leading Oil
JP Morgan is a leading Oil producing company. In the world market this company owns more oil future rather than others. ___________________________________________________ alizia Addiction Recovery North Carolina
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Hey Mindy, would you mind adding our blog to your blog roll?
blog: http://sierraclubnc.blogspot.com/index.html
Drilling for oil
You say it will not help the price of fuel and will be no benifits. My question to you is where will we be in 10, 15, or 29 years if we DON"T start now? I don't know about oil off our east coast shore but the natural gas deposit there is the largest known deposit in the world. The oil companys have not pushed for drilling because if they open this deposit it will flood the market and drive down the price for natural gas.
I belive in conservation but not at the expence of decent life stile.
Also, if global warming is so asured, why is there more than twice as many sicentist that disagree that it is happening? Man produces only 3% of carbon dixoide in the atmosphere each. The major cause of temperture fluctuations on earth is sun spots (cooler temps) and solar flares (higher temps).
What the US does...no difference!
Some time ago I heard about oil commodities and the J.P. Morgan company. According to the info I saw the company owns more oil futures than any other. Until they decide to sell the price will continue to climb regardless of the actions by anyone. From their webpage this info: ======================================================================= Oil JPMorgan is a leading market maker in most global crude oil and refined product markets. We focus on providing our clients with a best in class advisory, risk management and execution service. As one of the world's premier energy investment banks providing leading M&A, debt and equity underwritings, we have combined energy risk management expertise to provide our corporate and investor clients with fully integrated corporate finance solutions.
We provide swaps, vanilla options and exotic structured derivatives on the following benchmarks:
Crude oil: WTI, IPE Brent, Dated Brent, Dubai, Urals and JCC (Japanese Crude Cocktail) Refined products: Light ends (gasoline, naphtha), Middle Distillates (gasoil, diesel, jet), Fuel Oil (high sulphur, low sulphur) =========================================================================
Let's face it, the manipulation of markets by big investment companies to provide fantastic profits to pay CEO and Hedgefund Managers (who according to "The Nation" make 13 times the salary of leading generals and politicians in the U.S.}, means that we are at their mercy. When they've made enough money they will sell and the price of oil will come down. Good luck with that!