In an act of vision and courage, given the hostage the nation has become to the oil industry, oil interests, and the likes of OPEC, the Obama administration is proposing opening vast expanses along the Atlantic coastline, the Gulf of Mexico and the north coast of Alaska to oil and natural gas drilling.
This is a momentous moment and brings to mind the leadership of another time and another president. In the depth of the depression, President Roosevelt, with courage and imagination, sought different solutions to confront the crippling economic conditions that had descended on the nation. He petitioned Congress to mandate the creation of "a corporation clothed with the power of government but possessed of the flexibility and initiative of private enterprise". In May 1933 Congress passed the TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) Act to revitalize the economically stricken Tennessee Valley in areas of power generation, river navigation, flood control, reforestation and erosion control. It became outstandingly successful in each category.
During the war years the TVA set upon perhaps the largest hydroelectric construction program ever undertaken in the United States, building 12 major hydroelectric plants to provide power to critical war industries. To this day the TVA has an aggressive clean air program and in this and many other areas as well, has set a standard for public responsibility against which private companies can be measured.
Given the massive rise in oil prices over the last decade and the distortions we have experienced in the oil markets, we as a nation have lost virtually all vestige of trust in the oil industry to develop our resources on federal lands or at sea in a way that benefits all Americans. As presently constituted, the oil-concession system is an abomination that has benefited virtually no one but the oil companies at great expense to the nation as a whole.
Clearly this aberration of a loaded system benefiting just one element of society -- the oil industry -- with its powerful and moneyed interests and influence must stop. Drilling offshore on federally controlled areas is the place to start.
We are at a crossroads for President Obama to seize the moment by establishing our own National Oil Trust. It could be modeled after our own experience with the TVA and that of the world's third largest energy exporter, Norway's National Oil Trust.
Norway's Oil Trust's stated objective is to contribute and create the greatest public value for Norwegian society from Norway's oil and gas deposits. Profits from the Norway's oil and gas operations accrue to the Norwegian Government's Pension Fund and is invested in conservative bonds and investments.
Were we to have a similar program, the trust could be mandated to direct its revenues toward developing alternative energy programs and to expand mass transportation, thereby becoming a cornerstone for energy independence and combating climate change.
Norway's Oil Trust is a source of national pride and accomplishment. So too would a sense of pride and accomplishment accrue to us with our own National Oil Trust. President Obama, now is the moment to build on Roosevelt's legacy!
Learsy's article is a mere joke.
This foolish Obama's decision smells like a dead rat, all of it being politics, just like the stupid wall between Mexico and the US which today has been stopped.
The same will happen to this BS probably, and it's just a gimmick for Obama win some Republican votes for the next elections, while he loses even more with progressives.
In any case we won't see a drop of oil from those still inexistent oil wells for at least ten years, and if we do, they mean nothing for the total consumption of the country.
It's a red hearing.
But in addition, let's not forget our cattle craze, which is a huge gaseous problem: that is, methane = a major greenhouse gas. And though I loved hunting in my younger years, I must admit the slaughter house is not something we can really take pride in (but no, I still eat bugers and bacon, even though my blood chem says don't).
Point is: We just need to think beyond the horizons we were conditioned by in our youth, and sometimes that means facing tough decisions, like maybe planet overwarmth is going to be a problem for your kids and grandkids, or maybe even you.
We're all in this together--right?
Why spend $1 on oil when you can leverage that dollar further on energy efficiency or renewable sources.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-QA2rkpBSY&NR=1
Most people do not realize how close we are to a total energy collapse. I urge all to listen closely to this lecture. This guy knows what he is talking about.
I don't think it in anyway justifies the decision to allow offshore drilling, but it does remind us that we need to deal more seriously with population growth and increasing energy consumption.
Thanks for posting!
since i had first seen this, some years ago,.. i have noted that.. if this population folds in an ugly way, "they never quite grasped the exponential function.:" could be appropriately carved on their tombstone.
particularly the bacteria/bottles over doubling time exercise.. brilliant.
this is definite MUST SEE.. don't hate the lo-fi!,.. the payoff is in the DATA for this one, consume it.
thx write4u for sharing this link here. good stuff.
And remember that technology does little to overcome human failure -- such as a drunk asleep at the helm of a very large vessel.
Let's also recall that the compensation paid out 30 years later to the devastated community and fishing industry was a drop in the proverbial oil barrel, and many of those receiving compensation were already -- you guessed it -- dead.
So please fill me in as to exactly where the benefit of further oil burning is going to help the global warming problem ............. unless it was a corporate bottom line issue all along.
The last time we watched his chess playing it turned into a lackluster draw at best. Maybe he's learning? Hope so, but I'm not too comfortable.
He gives a good speech, as they say, but Bobby Fisher? Doubt it -- not bettin' my money.
B. This is no "new idea" as Roosevelt had, this is the same old Republican talking point from decades past. There's nothing brave about embarking on this voyage.
Tis all.
My prediction is that proposal this will be pulled off the table in an orchestrated huff when Republicans do not support Cap-And-Tax, or some other freedom-starving efforts. Mark this down.
The day I take energy advice from a commodities trader and Regan-appointee, please, hang me from a tree like the traitor that I have become.