Excuse Me, I Have Gas
I’ve seen a lot of Tweets* today about gas prices. We’ll probably see a lot more, especially after today when crude shot up ten bucks to an all-time high of $138.54 a barrel.
So, a few observations about our current situation (props to George Will):
- In 1995, a bill to allow drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) was vetoed, preventing what could be a million barrels a day of our OWN crude flowing right now.
- Congress has also declared 85% of our offshore territory off-limits to drilling…with an estimated 86 billion barrels of oil sitting out there. (oh, and did you know that there IS drilling going on 60 miles off the coast of Florida? China is doing it.)
- And yes, I know the environmental concerns. But hurricanes Katrina and Rita damaged or destroyed hundreds of offshore rigs without a large spill. In fact, there hasn’t been a significant spill from an offshore U.S. oil rig since 1969. Our technology has progressed dramatically.
Just a few things to think about next time you pull the trigger on the pump. Our country could make some changes and make this better. Just my opinion.
*You know, Tweets. From Twitter. What? We’re not following each other yet? Click me!
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I’ve been to Alaska twice in the last six years (you haven’t gigged until you’ve gigged in Barrow!), and the overwhelming man-on-the-street opinion is…**** the politicians in Washington, when do we start drilling in ANWR already??!! I think a lot of the frustration has to do with the fact that Alaskan citizens resent their sovereignty being subsumed by Congressmen and Senators in the Lower 48.
Many Americans are unaware that every man, woman and child resident of Alaska receives an annual dividend from the state…yes, you get paid to live in Alaska! The Permanent Fund Dividend comes from the proceeds from mega-investments that the state made back in the 70s when oil from the Prudhoe Bay fields began flowing south via the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. The PFD is usually paid out in late summer, and varies from year to year, ranging from several hundred bucks to over a thousand. If you’re married and have six kids, that’s a lot of cash.
Of course, then there’s that living in Alaska thing.