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10 Energy Questions for the US Senate

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May 292008

Rather than dealing with real solutions, politicians in Washington hold show hearings in hopes of distracting us from the fact that they are the problem. Every time we fill up our gas tanks, we must remember that Congress is to blame for our current dilemma and we must tell them that we are on to them.

Top 10 Energy Questions for the US Senate

1. Do you understand the fundamental economic principle of supply and demand for commodities pricing in the oil market?

2. Oil is a global commodity, bought and sold on the world market. Given that the nine largest private oil companies hold less than 5% of the entire world’s proven oil reserves, isn’t it more likely that the law of supply and demand is “manipulating” current prices than the five corporations represented at your witness table?

3. As a U.S. senator, you have control over oil production on U.S. federal government lands. Taxpayers own these lands and the energy that lies beneath them, but 97% of the federal OCS and 94% of onshore government lands are not being used. Are you willing to help increase the world’s supply of oil — and thus reduce the price of oil and gasoline — by allowing more U.S. energy to be produced from these lands?

4. The corporations represented at the hearing today produce roughly two million barrels of oil per day in America, for American consumers, with an American workforce. How many barrels of American oil, based on Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates, have each of you voted to produce?

5. How often have each of you voted against supplying American consumers with 10.4 billion barrels of oil from ANWR, 85 billion barrels of oil from the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), and 2 trillion barrels of oil shale in the West?

6. For those of you who have voted to restrict American energy supplies, especially during periods of increased demand, how are your actions any different than those that you have frequently ascribed to OPEC?

7. The sum of the American resources noted in question five is 2.095 trillion barrels of oil. The total proven oil reserves in the entire world is 1.3 trillion barrels. Which number is bigger?

8. As the gap between supply and demand expands, oil prices increase, and oil company profits rise. What’s the best way for oil company executives to send the entire U.S. Congress a “thank you” note for keeping energy supplies down and corporate profits up?

9. At today’s prices, the United States is sending $1.5 billion overseas — per day — to import oil from foreign countries. Do you think it would be a good idea to spend at least a fraction of that sum producing oil here in the United States?

10. When was the last time you filled up your own gas tank?

Cartoon Of The Day

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May 292008

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Congress Responsible For High Oil and Gas Prices

Quote Of The Day

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May 262008

Oil company executives met with Congress yesterday.

Oil executives talking to politicians. I believe they set a record for the most number of lies ever told in one room. – Jay Leno

Man Drilling For Oil In His Own Backyard

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May 202008

Let’s see… oil is at about 127 dollars a barrel and he is producing about 3 barrels a day. That comes to $139,065 a year. It sounds like an investment that pays for itself. Where can I buy the equipment to drill my own well?

God bless America!

Indiana Man Operates Oil Well in Backyard, Producing Three Barrels of Crude a Day

It’s just a drop in the global oil bucket, but an eastern Indiana man is operating an oil well in his backyard in an effort to capitalize on soaring crude prices.

Greg Losh’s rig produces three barrels of crude oil a day, though he told FOX News that he hasn’t started selling it yet. For now, he and his partners are keeping it in storage containers.

He declined to say how much oil they’ve collected in the two weeks they’ve been pumping.

But as oil is going for about $127 a barrel on the international market, three daily would yield just under $400 a day for Losh on the global spot market — or 1/100,000 of the daily production increase the Saudis agreed to earlier this month.

Still, in spite of those returns and the $100,000 it costs to drill a well, it’s worth it to Losh considering the current price of oil, he told WISH-TV in Indianapolis.

The oil his well produces comes from the Trenton field that fueled the growth of east-central Indiana cities more than a century ago, he told the station.

He expects to drill four more wells soon on his property in the town of Selma about 55 miles northeast of Indianapolis.

“It’s a money maker. It is paying off,” Losh told FOX.

The oil is stored in a tank and transported to Ohio for sale, he said. His oil well also produces natural gas to heat his home and several others.

Congress Responsible For High Oil and Gas Prices

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May 182008

I think the explanation for why the Democrats are always on the wrong side, choosing to keep oil in the ground and punish us with higher gas prices is finally coming to light.

The Truth about Oil in America is that we have over a trillion barrels. Why then would Democrats constantly be opposed to us using any of our own fossil fuel to lower prices here? There can only be one logical answer for this. The Democrats are being paid by OPEC leaders to stop development.

Let’s look at the facts. OPEC has money, a lot of money. OPEC and the Islamic Middle East really have only one thing the world wants and that’s oil. If we take away that oil revenue and allow the USA to become “energy independent”, or even not as needful or dependent on OPEC , then OPEC and the entire Islamic Middle East are in deep do-do.

So, the logical thing for OPEC to do is spread some of that oil-money around. Just buying them a little insurance, you know?

OPEC shrugs its shoulder at the fact that Americans pay $4 a gallon for gas. Why would they care? After all, it’s not like any one’s forcing American politicians to take this money.

Crude Mistake

Energy: With the price of oil spiking above $127 a barrel, the search for scapegoats has begun. Some point to the Saudis, OPEC’s No. 1 producer. Others blame the oil companies. We have a better candidate: Congress.

As President Bush traveled to Saudi Arabia to ask the House of Saud to open the oil spigots a bit wider, Congress showed once again how clueless it is when it comes to energy policy.

Underscoring its failure to grasp the nature of our current problems, the Senate Appropriations Committee on Friday refused to end its moratorium on oil shale development in Colorado.

“If we are really serious about reducing pain at the pump,” Colorado’s senior senator, Republican Wayne Allard, said, “this is a vote that would make a difference in people’s lives.” He’s right.

But the shale proposal went down to defeat with Allard and 13 other Republican members in favor and 15 Democrats opposed. Once again, Democrats were on the wrong side, opting to keep oil in the ground and punish you with higher prices as a result.

This was no minor thing. Estimates put the amount of oil locked in shale in both Canada and the U.S. at more than 1 trillion barrels. Pulling out even a tenth of that would quadruple our current reserves.

This is the same Congress that refuses to allow drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which holds up to 20 billion barrels of crude, or offshore, where another 30 billion await.

Meanwhile, Brazil — which recently made a major oil discovery almost in sight of Rio’s beaches — announced that it has leased 80% of the world’s deep-sea offshore oil rigs. In other words, Brazil unlike the U.S., isn’t dithering as prices soar. It’s drilling.

If you think Congress’ decision-making on energy couldn’t get any worse, think again. While Bush was in Riyadh urging the Saudis to pump more oil, congressional Democrats were busy undercutting him, threatening to halt arms sales to our Mideast ally.

It was a politically peevish move with consequences both for U.S. energy security and the balance of power. If we don’t sell arms to Saudi Arabia, Russia will. The result would be a loss of American leverage with the Saudis, who, like many, feel threatened by a nuclear Iran and the menace of al-Qaida.

At least Bush convinced the Saudis to boost output 300,000 barrels a day. That helps. But we still have to do more ourselves.

The U.S. uses about 21 million barrels of oil a day. But only 8 million come from our own sources. That leaves a 13-million-barrel-a-day deficit that, at $126 a barrel, will cost us $600 billion to plug this year. That’s more than two-thirds of our total trade deficit.

Congress could reduce much of our oil shortfall by drilling for more on our own territory. This would lower prices and increase security. Yet, Congress seems dead set on doing the opposite.

With its failure to tap the vast supplies in ANWR and offshore, its passage of costly global-warming legislation and now its refusal to exploit our massive resources of oil shale, Congress has set us on a path to less energy, higher prices and weakened national security.

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