Oil Companies Balk At Following Obama's Green Lead

New York Times:

The Obama administration wants to reduce oil consumption, increase renewable energy supplies and cut carbon dioxide emissions in the most ambitious transformation of energy policy in a generation.

But the world's oil giants are not convinced that it will work. Even as Washington goes into a frenzy over energy, many of the oil companies are staying on the sidelines, balking at investing in new technologies favored by the president, or even straying from commitments they had already made.

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[rockthedeacon]

So there you have it, people - more sociopathy from the mega-corporates. I guess this tells you where their motives lie. We need to fight this with independent residence-based power generation and buying the most fuel efficient vehicles we can. Folks, the solar panels are out there and there are some do-it-yourself systems. Some electricians will collaborate with you and handle the difficult and risky wiring. But when you turn on the first solar powered light in your home, the feeling will be like no other!

[rbarry647]

I bet they still will use carbon paper and white out

[poiuyty]

I think we should tax oil companies to the point that gas reaches $43,000,000 a gallon. That will show them!!!

Who cares about people who need to get to work. A car powered by rainbows and smiles is in development.

[spandautoseattle]

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/fuel-cell.htm
With all due respect. Alternative technologies as above, for example, do work and are already on the road. Of course the oil industry is "reluctant" to help killing itself, and does its best to suppress all info on their competitors.
I've heard comments as yours over 30 years ago, and can't believe anymore that you are only one of the brainwashed, ignorant people of past times. Who, in 2009, still talks like that, knows what he/she is doing.
If you really don't know better, fine, no insult intended, but then please inform yourself and help getting the nation out of this one-way-street.

[SimJack]

A tuggable rope noose around everyones neck...

taught and strong

that'll encourage a bit of cooperation

on all levels

[PhilipTaylor]

OIL COMPANIES AND HEDGE FUNDS BENEFIT FROM SHORTAGES AND MANIPULATE THE MARKET

The Oil Speculators denied they were pushing the price of Crude to $147 a barrel this summer. In late June Congress opened an investigation of Crude Speculation, at the peak of the Driving Season, and crude DROPPED 23% in one month and DROPPED almost 80% by the end of the year!

They all L I E! It is the Nature of the Business!

[PhilipTaylor]

OIL COMPANIES AND HEDGE FUNDS BENEFIT FROM SHORTAGES AND MANIPULATE THE MARKET

The Oil Speculators denied they were pushing the price of Crude to $147 a barrel this summer. In late June Congress opened an investigation of Crude Speculation, at the peak of the Driving Season, and crude 23% in one month and almost 80% by the end of the year!

They all L I E! It is the Nature of the Business!

[Hawkman4]

Maybe they should bail out the auto companies.­..

[moUSAnMe]

BIG Oil will spend whatever is needed to try to derail the green plans. This is no surprise, There will be a fight needed for change.

[Mike4Obama]

You mean the same oil companies that are flooding TV right now with domestic oil exploration? What a surprise!

[TxAggie]

Mike- I just got back from two days in Washington where I spent time talking to legislators, lobbyists and trade associations. While you have every right to support Obama, I suspect you have done so based on the hype and excitement over "change". If you took the time to research almost any approach he is taking regarding our future, be it energy, banking, defense, etc., you would, assuming you could be objective, be extremely concerned with the future of our country. As for energy, more exploration is exactly what we need, if you would do a little research and get beyond the hype you might conclude likewise. I suggest you ck out the API and IPAA websites, A book worth reading is Robert Bryce's "Gusher of Lies". Good luck, try to get beyond the kool aid.

[skatscan]

You spent a lot of time to say nothing.

[MoeB]

More 'if you don't believe what I believe you're drinking the kool-aid' nonsense. Many of us wanted this economy to go more green long before Obama even ran for president! But it seems that some people are just big fans of catch phrases that don't really mean anything.

And more exploration for oil is exactly what we DON'T need. We need to be using LESS oil, not MORE.

Do you work for an oil company or something?

[HC4BO]

Tax their Windfall Profits ...

[Paul]

This gets to the heart of the problem.

Oil company profits are invested the way the oil company sees fit. So it's no surprise that they will invest in oil production, thus perpetuating the problem and tying up valuable capital in a technology whose time is running out.

Better to tax imported oil. We will use far less gasoline, get serious about mass transit and send less money overseas to dubious oil producing countries.

[TxAggie]

How would that work? Lets say oil is at $80 per barrel. What happens to the tax money? Wouldn't it just be passed along as an increased cost of the raw product to the refiner? Let's say we put a $10 tax so foreign oil costs $90 per barrel to import while domestic oil is $80. Does that somehow make domestic crude more desireble? We import crude from Mexico and Canada- is that considered foreign for tax purposes?
Unless we couple that with more access to domestic reserves what does that accomplish?

[TxAggie]

What windfall profits? Please define.