The Pickens "Pledge" has problems!

Comment

Comment by Scott Pugh on October 31, 2008 at 9:07am

How can Saudi with its 22% be "tied to" an additional 60%? That would be 82% total, but we already established that Canada/Mexico is over 30%. The data is clear, and the Pickens Plan is misleading in this regard. Don't get me wrong, I think TBP is a national hero, but whoever wrote "The Pledge" for him chose the words poorly.
Happy Halloween.

Comment by Frederick Wright on October 31, 2008 at 8:32am

Scott - I may not have been clear in my defense of the figures quoted by the Pledge.

My point was that although Saudi Arabia may indeed account for merely 22% of oil imports, that country and its radically violent regime is tied to an additional 60% or more of imports through its political domination of OPEC and the Gulf States.

Additionally, since crude oil is a commodity, you must consider gross production amounts in your calculations. Being a true commodity, it is largely irrelevant the exact percentage of oil we get this month or next month from Saudi Arabia or Canada. The fact is that when viewed as an aggregate, openly hostile or potentially hostile countries wield a massive influence over our economy and way of life, and it doesn't need to be this way.

As for millions of people supporting the invasion of Iraq, all I can say is that millions of people (often the same people, in fact) believe that dinosaurs walked the earth with humans. The ignorant can be persuaded to believe anything because they lack the capacity for critical thinking.

Comment by Scott Pugh on October 31, 2008 at 7:04am

Fred - we import about 65% of our oil.
Over 30% of that oil comes from North America (Canada + Mexico).
Only about 22% of it comes from Saudi Arabia.
Here is one graphic at Senator Lugar's site, there are many others.

http://lugar.senate.gov/graphics/energy/graphs/US_Oil_Imports.gif

"The Pledge" is misleading when it says that we rely on "unstable foreign nations" for nearly 70% of the oil we use each day.

Millions of people supported invading Iraq because they were convinced that Hussein had WMD, they turned out to be wrong. I'd rather be right, and I wish "The Pledge" were right also.

Comment by James "Gator" Fiske on October 30, 2008 at 10:52pm

Scott,
Over 1.3 million people have signed. I believe that supports the facts.

Comment by Frederick Wright on October 30, 2008 at 4:46pm

Scott - according to Tonto (http://www.eia.doe.gov/) the United States imports crude oil from Canada at an average of 68-78 million barrells per month for the past 5 months.

It is true that if considered as single countries, the Gulf States, Nigeria, Angola, Qatar, and Indonesia do not approach this total. However it is a bit naive to consider these countries to be independent states isn't it? Their political agenda is either dictated or heavily influenced by a very hostile (to the US, and in fact to the world in general) regime in Saudi Arabia, from whom we directly imported 48,759,000 barrels in August of 2008. Additionally, you must consider that our good friend Mr. Chavez in Venezuela sent us over 40 million barrels in the same month.

I believe that the Pledge is treating these unstable, undemocratic, and occasionally hostile governments as a single unit when arguing for energy independence. In other words, 'taken as a whole', we do import the majority (> 60%) of our petroleum from unstable foreign nations.