RE: Newt's initiative
The info I've read has indicated that there are vast oil reserves present (ANWAR, off the Florida coast plus oil shale in Colorado). Some estimates say there is enough oil to supply US requirements for two hundred years...as much or more that's found in Saudia Arabia and some other OPEC areas. Obviously, we would need additional refineries. No new ones have been built in over thirty years (I believe is the correct time frame). Refineries haven't been built largely due to goobermint / "pseudo-environmentalist" restrictions.
No, I don't think an internet petition will sway Congress. But it may help garner attention. Maybe get the ball rolling. Just look what happened when the masses stepped in an ended the recent immigration initiative that was being pushed by Congress. Some just want to sit back and b@#*^ about gas prices, etc. If (after nothing has been done for years) this HELPS to light a fire under the politicians butts, what's it hurting?
I'd also think that if / when we start heading towards oil independence, the OPEC goons will see the writing on the wall. All our politicians have done for decades is provide lip service. Maybe, just maybe, if we actually did start now, within a few years an impact could be felt. Or, we can just sit around, cry and moan for the next 10 years. Then when the price is $10-12 a gallon people may wake up.
At least Newt is trying to be part of a solution rather than being part of the problem. Have you heard anybody else cough up any doable suggestions lately? Wind, bio-fuels, solar, hydrogen, etc. are well and good, but not nearly enough. Worldwide demand is skyrocketing. Everybody says we need oil independence, but then nothing further happens. Been that way since Jimmy Carter for sure. Rember gas rationing...odd and even licenses for gas fill-ups? It just may get to that again very soon.
There's a difference between oil companies profits and their profit margins. Why should the government be in the business of setting "acceptable" standards? Who will set these numbers and based on what? This government interference is nothing more than political grandstanding. Have you checked into profit margin numbers for other businesses lately? How about your local bank.? Rest assured it's more than the 8-10% that the oil companies make. The problem is Congress and political BS. If I've got to pay top dollar for gas / oil, I'd rather not be paying OPEC and the similar goons that want to see the US go bye-bye.
What's the old saying... either do something or get out of the way???
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If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got.
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