I am at the Life On Wheels RV Convention at Lewis-Clark College in Lewiston, Idaho this week, but had a few more thoughts and questions on drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).
(1) If we need ANWR’s oil so much, why haven’t the oil companies drilled the 65 million acres they already have leases on?
(2) The oil companies answer is that they don’t have the people or the equipment, that it is all busy in other places.
(3) If that is the case, where will they get the people and equipment to drill ANWR?
(4) Will they pull it from other locations that are already pumping oil? Best to get the oil in ANWR if and when they can get it, before public mood changes. After all, they will still have the leases, even after they drill ANWR.
(5) Why should the oil companies look for more oil, when that oil would increase supply and could lower the price. Is lower prices what they want?
(6) Do you think oil prices will ever come down while China’s and India’s economies are surging ahead and they are willing to buy oil at any price to keep their economies booming? And don’t forget, they subsidize their fuel, so their citizens don’t pay market prices for gasoline. (Check fuel prices in India or China).
(7) If the oil companies do produce more oil, will they, in their patriotic fervor for the USA and their altruistic feelings toward producing cheap fuel for our RVs, sell the oil cheaply for domestic supply, or will they instead sell it on the open market at current stratospheric prices. Guess.
(8) Can anybody produce a credible source that feels that we can satisfy our domestic needs with domestic supply?
(9) We will still need to develop alternative sources of energy if we want to stop depending on foreign oil and the whims of OPEC countries. Then why aren’t we subsidizing those new sources, rather than continuing to subsidize the oil companies whose profits are already ridiculously obscene.
Just a few simple questions to ponder.