The debate continues as to whether or not we should lift the 1981 moratorium

and drill for more oil domestically to ease the trouble at the pump: the truth remains that this isn’t a short term or long term solution. Researchers are estimating 10 to 17 years before we ever see oil from new Alaska or offshore drilling, which is only estimated to relieve 75 cents off per gallon. This means that the big solution to the gas crisis is 75 cent cheaper gas in 10 years, and who knows how expensive gas prices will be by then?  Despite the common sense of it all, there is a surprisingly large following for this “solution.”

George Bush, John McCain, and apparently everybody down at Fox News are in full support.

To further add to the list of lopsided thinking, the billions of dollars used to pay for the new drilling will come from the gas tax. An old piece of wisdom comes to mind when I think of this debate, “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” But don’t be so quickly fooled by those fools in positions of power and control.
Renergycafe.com shares the opinion of California congressman Adam Schiff, expressing that we need a largely funded project to perfect and create renewable energies to replace fossil fuels.

The solution is to ditch the drilling projects and spend the tax money on renewable energy expansion.

In 2007, the U.S. DOE reported 9% of the U.S. energy consumed was from renewable energy, but according to a Cornell University study, the current technology could produce 50% of the needed energy. In many areas, homes can be powered entirely by renewable energies while creating excess energy, enough even to offset others who can’t. This residential reduction in fossil fuel use would reduce overall demand and naturally lower the price of gas at the pump.
You can’t convince everybody and apparently some people have the wrong impression of renewable energy. Sean Hannity seems to think it is enough to drive a Tahoe that has hybrid written on it, regardless of the miles per gallon it receives.

This also shows the state of ignorance, or possibly influence, of America’s auto industry,

when the 2008 green car of the year is a gas guzzling Tahoe that only receives 21mpg highway. One could get off course trying to sway the thoughts of a few stupid people or trying to knock common sense into the auto industry, but this is futile. As individuals of this world we need to spread the knowledge of the real solutions and let our voices be heard. Together we will find the solutions.

James Moelk 6/30/08

DOE www.eia.doe.gov/fuelrenewable.html