Quote:
Originally Posted by SPF2245
...but with China's thirst for oil |
A lot of good comments here, but China is only part of the (problem). There are SEVERAL emerging economies evolving all over the world...India, Indonesia, Philippines, the entire Central American cooridor, the Caribbean, Eastern Europe. As the globalization of resources continues to grow, these other economies are placed into a DEMAND position for
oil and
oil-based consumer products (whether that's the shampoo they spread on their head or the plastic seat cover they sit on inside their econo box or scooter).
So GLOBAL DEMAND for OIL AND OIL-BASED PRODUCTS is what is driving the price. Now if OPEC were to start upping their outputs, there will still be bottlenecks at the refinery level...THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH REFINERIES TO KEEP UP WITH WORLD DEMAND. Even if Bush could get Congress to pass emergency legislation and completely open up Prudoe Bay (Alaska reserves) to unfettered exploration and drilling, there stll won't be enough refineries in the U.S. to deal with it all. So the U.S. does not have the refinery capacity to be "vertically integrated."
We need to do the following things:
1. Open up ANWAR and Prudoe Bay...the caribou will have to suffer a little.
2. Provide tax incentives to oil companies to build refineries and increase capacity. Not sure WHERE they build them, but we need them. This will take 5 years to develop and implement.
3. Provide tax incentives to corporations to develop NON-AGRI alternative fuel sources (the whole bio agenda is a joke). I'm talking about hydrogen fuel cells, better batteries, etc.
4. You simultaneously attack short term (10 year) needs (gasoline production) with long term (10+ years) energy needs for alternative fuels.
5. Give GM and Ford tax incentives to make capital investments in re-tooling so that all car frames are hydro-formed light weight aluminum (ala Corvette) and not the heavy, old school steel that they keep using over and over in the existing factory set-ups. Same goes for bodywork, etc. You can make things a lot lighter and stronger than steel, and still be safe. You just have to be able to re-tool to do it.
6. More nuclear powered electricity plants to reduce dependencies on coals and fuel oils. We can sell the coal to China because they love to burn that crap.
If you devise a plan that implements the following, within 10 years we will be completely vertically integrated and COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT on domestic fossil fuel demands. Essentially we would be able to tell OPEC to shove it. They will just sell their wares to China and India and everyone else who hasn't take the steps to be energy independent.
We don't need the rest of the world....we can do this on our own. We just have too many pig headed politicians on Capital Hill with different personal agendas.
-Dean