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Raymond J. Learsy

Raymond J. Learsy

Posted: May 25, 2010 08:00 AM

Oil Spewing in the Gulf: Now Is the Time for the National Renewable Energy Trust

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The disastrous oil spill in the Gulf is assuming near biblical proportions, destroying large swaths of the environment and the livelihood of thousands upon thousands of our fellow citizens. The disaster has exacerbated our complete loss of trust in the oil industry to develop our natural resources, or our national patrimony on federal lands or at sea in a way that benefits all Americans rather than simply the bottom line of the oil companies. As presently constituted the oil/concession system itself is an abomination that has benefited no one but the oil companies at great cost to the nation as a whole. As to the environmental expense of an industry as currently constituted, one need go no further than the front page of any newspaper on this day.

It is long past time that the nation's citizens reclaim their national patrimony, the oil, gas and shale oil deposits on Federal lands and the Continental Shelf. The revenues from oil and gas deposits should be channeled toward developing alternative energy sources as a cornerstone of a viable program for breaking our increasingly dangerous dependency on fossil fuels.

Such a program could be modeled after the world's third largest energy exporter (after Saudi Arabia and Russia), Norway's Petroleum Directorate. The stated objective of the Directorate is to create the greatest value for Norwegian society from Norway's oil and gas deposits. This has been accomplished safely with enormous benefits to all Norwegians.

We could do the same by creating a National Renewable Energy Trust to explore and develop in a viable and safe way to harvest energy deposits on national lands and the Continental Shelf. Such a program would be a boon to the nation, especially if proceeds were dedicated to a massively funded alternative energy program.

As a nation we are not without examples of major government initiatives paralleling the private sector. In the depth of the Depression President Roosevelt, with courage and imagination, sought different solutions and different thinking to deal with the crippling economic conditions facing the nation. He asked Congress to mandate the creation of a "corporation clothed with the power of government but possessed with the flexibility and initiative of private enterprise." On May 18, 1933 the Congress passed the TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) to revitalize the economically devastated Tennessee Valley in power generation, river navigation, flood control, reforestation and erosion control. The TVA's success in all these areas was and continues to be outstanding. To this day the TVA pursues an aggressive clean air program and is on track to meet its commitments to achieve 80-85 percent of 1977 sulfur dioxide emission levels by the end of this year. The TVA has consistently aimed to set a standard for public responsibility against which private companies could be measured.

Another example of "hands on government" in times of national need: During World War I the nation's railroads were nationalized and administered by the U.S. Railroad Administration to great effect, making a major contribution to the war effort.

The National Petroleum Directorate is a source of particular pride to the Norwegian people. Isn't it time for us to harness our national patrimony for the nation's and future generations' well being? The time for a National Renewable Energy Trust is now!

 
 
 
 
 
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12:09 PM on 05/26/2010
Big government needs to regulate big business. We shouldn't confuse that with private rites. Hence we have the deaths in the coal mining industry and the gulf oil catastrophe. And the banking industry,and the stock market mess where something is made to be profitable when it blows up,and the guys that created it keep making things that blow up because it is profitable. The Mideast is not where we need to get energy. We need to get away from using oil as a energy staple. The folks in the Mideast are really not so much our friends. Here's an example. The Saudi Red Crescent wanted to have a [HEMS] Helicopter EMS program so they hired western professionals to start the program because they tried before on their own, only to end the attempt in a fatal HEMS crash. After the western contractors successfully stood up the program, the Saudi's didn't pay,so now the program is at a standstill. Follow the story on emtlife if you don't believe me. We can't trust other nations that only pretend to be allies with us to use our good nature toward fellow man for their advantage
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Y3rMawm
veni, vidi, bibi.
09:21 PM on 05/25/2010
Another trust fund that CONgress will raid, and will employ yet another hidden tax?

We need to enforce private property rights, and get the government out of the property/mineral rights business.
DanBest
My micro bio is empty
02:25 PM on 05/26/2010
Does anyone on the right even bother to think anymore? We do enforce property rights. What we don't seem to enforce are human rights. Like the rights of fishermen in the Gulf. Or all those who profit from Gulf tourism. Where are their rights? Soon to be buried in oil. I could turn on any number of corporate friendly outlets and hear the same drivel, you parrot.
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TomZart
07:56 PM on 05/25/2010
GULF COAST OIL SPILL POEM


Overrun by war and uncontrolled greed
Our world becomes more dangerous each day.
Dishonest politicians, criminals and the media
Survive by their falsehoods at play.

Bible believers preach, that the end is near
Our world as a whole is beyond reform.
God will eradicate all, which is wicked
By His fire of eruption and storm.

To evil’s victory, I will never concede
May its supporters anguish in hell.
By the grace of God and the power of faith
The goodness of man will prevail.

What greed has done, Heaven will measure
As patriots respond to the blunders of man.
Protect and defend what we love till death
As tar balls pollute the air, sea and land.


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By Soldier For The Lord
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02:48 AM on 05/26/2010
I really hope you do not use cars. If you want to help stop that tar, help make our world more green.
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OleProfessor
"Ours is not a system based upon trust"
04:30 PM on 05/25/2010
Great idea or just Nationalize all major energy and get on with a bright future so we can compete globally cut costs by 30%, and create an economic boom!
schatsie
banks are more dangerous than standing armies
09:23 PM on 05/25/2010
Gosh if we did that we could save the 50 billion in Corporate Welfare that goes each and every year to the Oil Companies.....Come to think about it, what do we get for that 50 billion, do we get stock or what......???? if nothing, then it is time to sign us all up for CORPORATE WELFARE and so called business expenses,,,where can i get to deduct 1.2 million for redecorating my house...or just the tax write off...
04:11 PM on 05/25/2010
Seems to me that BP needs a little kick in the ass.

I think its time to let 'em know we're not gonna brush this aside
and hit 'em where it apparently hurts them the most.

BOYCOTT BP!
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Overtone
See bio on the Aesop Institute website
03:06 PM on 05/25/2010
YOUR IDEA FOR A TRUST IS TIMELY!

Revolutionary cost-competitive, renewable, technologies are beginning to emerge.

Moving Beyond Oil and The Brooklyn Project at; http://www.aesopinstitute.org discuss some new possibilities and the surprising urgency.

Breakthrough, inherently decentralized, technologies are moving forward in several countries.

However, the science is new and difficult to accept.

Fortunately, government and independent labs are increasingly involved and practical applications are on the horizon.

As we can see in the Gulf, fossil fuels threaten to sharply impact life on earth much more quickly and severely than is generally realized.

Another hit will be oil prices, which could exceed $100 per barrel in a matter of months. That can abort economic recovery.

With one example of new science and technology, a barrel of ordinary water can replace 200 barrels of oil. A gallon or two might power a future hybrid car 1,000 miles.

The oil catastrophe in the Gulf is an alarm clock!

Time to accelerate the development of breakthrough alternatives as rapidly as is humanly possible!

A 24/7 development program is pending and is ready to be born. It will not take much in the way of money or leadership to accelerate the birth!
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john frodo
armchair expert
03:04 PM on 05/25/2010
We are the Iraq to the Cheney BP.
02:46 PM on 05/25/2010
Like this ?



'HYDRINOS' OFFER CHEAP POWER FOR THE WORLD:
BlackLight Process concept car gets1,500 miles on a liter of water

by Joe Shea

CNN iReporter


BRADENTON, Fla., March 25, 2010 -- There's a new word in this world; it's "hydrino," and it will change us forever.

In scientific papers of such complexity that few will understand the theory, a team of American, Indian and Chinese scientists at BlackLight Power, inc., in Cranbury, N.J., have published proof of a new state of the hydrogen atom called the "hydrino" that may soon fuel everything from batteries to interplanetary travel and non-polluting, low-cost power generation plants.

The company announced March 19 that it has won a seventh contract from an Italian company, Geoenergie SpA, a subsidary of Geogreen and the RadiciGroup, for a hydrino reactor that will produce 750 megawatts of power, and $10 million in new investment to add to $61 million already raised with its prototype 50- and 75-kilowatt reactors.

http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-402579
02:27 PM on 05/25/2010
The National Renewable Energy trust will not happen unless we make bribery illegal. As long as oil, coal, and other corporations have the ability to bribe our elected officials with campaign contributions, those elected officials will do what those corporations say and not what their constituents want.
02:04 PM on 05/25/2010
Absolutely! Now is the time for rooftop pv solar, offshore wind, and waste bio char.

Only solar wind and waste bio fuels can supply all the worlds energy needs, clean, safe, cheaper in the long run, 2-6 cents now, installable in 12 years, and usable forever.

end all fossil and nukes subsides, grants, breaks, and plow that into green energy.

End the spills, the wards for oil, the Chernobyl's, and the damage done by coal.
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01:55 PM on 05/25/2010
Sounds like a great plan but only if the "renewable" energy is sited within the built environment and owned by US, not Big Energy.

The problem is that most people see the soundbytes "solar in deserts" and think "great." Meanwhile, Big Solar is HUGELY DESTRUCTIVE and COMPLETELY UNNEEDED. All we need is rooftop solar on existing rooftops, parking lots and in-city brownfields and we can FULLY POWER the US once we get improved storage solutions online. Until then, we can hit over 50% (peak loads are over 50% and roughly correspond with rooftop solar output) with backup from existing gas peaker plants.

We cannot let BP, Shell, Chevron and Goldman Sachs (who are the Big Solar companies!) permanently destroy millions more acres of healthy, functioning ecosystems for private profits. We have a shot at A DEMOCRATICALLY OWNED DECENTRALIZED POWER GRID because PV works on light, not heat. Solar of both types is LESS productive when exposed to desert heat!!

Please keep your focus on a renewable paradigm that will HELP the planet and ratepayers and PREVENT another Big Energy century!
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guveqzero
Inventor and Innovator
01:03 PM on 05/25/2010
We have lost every battle so far since Reagan. Harvard business school, our number one opponent to government managed economic security, has successfully defeated us with their free market message. Since we know our government operates only in reaction mode, I fear that we need a much worse crises than an oil spill to force change. However, we can still hope that suffering will somehow be minimized.
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alkamm
Brevity is the soul of lingerie.
10:59 AM on 05/25/2010
Yes!!! When they tried to revoke Sunoco's corporate charter in California, the free marketeers rallied sneering at the public advocates who, they claimed, had never created wealth. Although the courts declined to revoke and seize all assets (refineries, oil, cash reserves), they agreed that the state could do so. Just imagine if an individual had acted like BP and picture how long that individual would be protected from personal financial ruin.
BP, like many of our modern corporations, operate with impunity and pay billions in fines in exchange for despoiling the environment mercilessly.