Oil Is Lifeblood of Capitalism- Yes We Can Drill Our Way Out - On the way to changing over

Thank you T Boone Pickens For Taking Lead on National Discussion!

I dont agree with you here. We have billions of gallons on US Soil and Lands. We are being held hostage by the EPA, Democrats and Liberals in our own country.

Wind, Nuclear and Solar will not drive our cars, trucks, trains and ships.

We have to give incentive to oil companies to drill now in Anwar, Off Shore and Oil Shale. The President should declare a national emergency and take control away from the Congress.

It will take decades to switch to Natual Gas. In my area the closest station for National Gas station is 70 miles away.

We must drill NOW. We are held hostage by the muslim countries and dictators around the world. We can drill our way out.

It was the DOT COM BOOM, followed by the HOUSING BOOM...and now the OIL BOOM......all ended up busting.......

This will BUST the moment we start pulling oil out of the ground.

Go to the grocery store. Every item in the store took OIL to get it to the store. It took OIL to produce it. It took OIL to get it home.

This is NOT an electricity problem. It is an OIL problem.

Drill Now Drill Here and Pay Less.

American Oil, American Lands, American Companies and American Jobs.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Mr. P on July 8, 2008 at 11:33am: Electricity is part of the total package - we need to expand availability of all sources to take the load off of the area(s) of shortages. It is obvious that we need more crude refined in the short term to allow us to build in other areas in order to salvage a future. Increased production should just be a stepping stone to moving away from the long term reliance on crude. We have the infra-structure to distribute liquid fuels and need time to build more infra-structure for other sources. Every elecrical generation site must be connected to the "grid" in order to be of value to anyone outside the immediate region. We should not try to put all of our eggs in one basket but we do need to extend effort in areas where we can. If we could get our "leaders" to realize that they are supposed to serve the people and not just themselves, we can accomplish everything we need to do.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Carl Carlson on July 8, 2008 at 11:35am: Tim,

You do understand that draining all of ANWAR and the Offshore reserves will produce enough oil to keep the USA running for four months?

You do, right?

Carl; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Tom on July 8, 2008 at 11:37am: You are incorrect Carl. Very. Do more research. Not "reserves"....you might be confusing "reserves" with untapped oil.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Mark Werner on July 9, 2008 at 10:16am: Fossil fuels and especially oil are causing cancer and respiratory disease. If for no other reason we should be on a path to clean energy sources. Wind and solar are endless clean energy sources. Why are we not united in a Manhattan style project to stop the madness I will never understand? Anyone who is against clean energy should stand in their garage with the car running for one hour a day for the next year and let us know how their doing , if they are alive !!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Charles Hall Jr. on July 9, 2008 at 10:46am: You know more about the oil business, so you think, than a man who has been in the business for over fifty years and made billions. Your an Idiot!!!!!!!!!!!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Charles Gelardi on July 9, 2008 at 10:51am: You sir , are a fool.
Finally, a known Republican, T Boone Pickens, with a brain.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by JD Polk on July 9, 2008 at 10:55am: Why so short sided , yes what you are saying is true, but......
you and i both know that it is not forever and we will use it all up.....
maybe not in 2010 or 2030 but by 2050 IT WILL BE GONE.......
SO SHOULD WE WAIT TILL WERE AS CNN PUT IT SO WELL ON THE SPECIAL
"OUT-OF-GAS".........; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Mark Werner on July 9, 2008 at 11:14am: I worked the Alaska pipeline back in 75-79. In Prudhoe bay the stacks were burning off NG 7/24, 365 days a year waiting for a 24" gasline to be built. IT never was built, I wonder if all that gas has been wasted all these years?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Carolyn Fletcher on July 9, 2008 at 11:15am: I couldn't agree more, but we have to explore all energy sources and without delay.
If we continue to wait on government to solve the problem, we will NEVER get anywhere!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Tim Ganey on July 9, 2008 at 11:26am: America is about capitalisim and free markets. Not socialism. Get our tax dollars and troops out of the energy business and let it truly be free. Do you really believe in the free market?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Lyn Baker on July 9, 2008 at 12:46pm: I applaud Mr. Pickens for starting this discussion. In my opinion, this is neither a political nor economic issue even though it affects and is effected by both. Frankly, it is much more serious than that, it is an issue of life or death for us and our civilization. Our country has been built on at least these two fundementals: the ability to borrow money easily and cheaply, and the availablility of abundant, cheap energy. Without either one, we would not be the leader of the free world that we are today. Cheap energy is a desparately at risk. There have been a few visionaries who have seen this crisis coming, but to our detriment our leaders both in the public and private sectors have ignored the warnings, and now we are caught.

One of the most fantastic photos taken in the 20th century was the photo of Earth taken from the moon by our astronauts. The idea of standing on another celestial body and looking back on the one and only planet that we know of that's capable of support our lives was awesome, but terrifying too. It struck me, as I looked at the photo, that the Earth is only so big and is capable of producing only a finite amount of resourses for sustaining the life that lives on it. A finite amount of water, soil, air, and oil. Rich or poor we are all on this same planet and niether our wealth nor our intelligence will protect us from catastrophy as we blindly use up these resources.

It is my understanding that there are 6 billion people living on this finite piece of life we call Earth right now. I don't think I've ever seen 6 billion of anything in any one place at one time, but I understand that that's gotta be a lot; a lot of anything! I also recongize and realize how much I personally consume on a daily basis; maybe you realize the same about yourself. Now, multiply that times 6 billion times 365 days times your life expectancy. That's a lot of consumption. I read recently that people are now consuming more in one year than the Earth can replenish in that same amount of time. If this is correct, it now takes the Earth 14-15 months to replenish what we humans consume in 12 months. That can't be good.

I say all of that to say this: We have the technology, the resources, and the intelligence to change not just our dependence on foreign oil, but our dependence on oil period. In my opinion, the first country to rid itself of the use of oil will be the country that leads the world, in all respects, into the future. The real question is, do we have the common sense, the vision, and the leadership to make it happen?

I know for sure, that right now, we are missing two of the three ingredients above and maybe all three! I have not heard anything from our presidential candidates that addresses the urgency of this issue.

This issue is also much more complex than we realize. One of the bloggers has mentioned our immersion in all things oil like production, packaging and delivery of food to the very asphalt we drive our cars across. Many of our miracle medicines are derived from petroleum as well as the many computer components in the PC you are sitting at right now. Think about it. It's mindboggling! The question: What are you willing to do without? Gasoline for your vehicle or all of the other things that oil is used for to bring us a high quality of life? My point is that we also need a national policy to prioritize the use of oil. Personally, I'd rather be driving an electric car than doing without some of the other things I enjoy.
I agree with Mr. Martin. This is an oil problem; there is less of it every day. We know that eventually there will be no more. Mr. Pickens' is spot on in leading this discussion with his plan, a plan.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Joe Lalumia on July 9, 2008 at 1:57pm: I agree with your post entirely-- we have lots of coal, natural gas, on shore and off shore resources and shale-- all can be converted to usable energy. (and of course wind and solar) --- don't forget nuclear which is the actual solution to our electric requirements-- imagine that Boone is correct and we now get 22% of our power from wind--- AND 70+% from Nuclear, which is entirely possible to do, if the ACLU and environmentalists would get out of the way. (the greens should be very happy almost 100% of USA electric generation with ZERO CO2 emissions!); ▶ Reply to This