250 [censored] days worth of [censored] oil!!!
On Thursday the Senate voted 51 to 48 to allow drilling in the (Alaskan National Wildlife) refuge as part of a massive budget package; this week the House is expected to take up its version, probably with identical wording. The House vote remains too close to call, but proponents say they are within reach of victory.
“I’m optimistic,” said Bob Moran, a Washington representative for the American Petroleum Institute who says at least 5 billion barrels of oil lie beneath the refuge. “We’re on the 10-yard line, and it’s been a 25-year-plus game. The crowd is with us, and we’re going to make it.”
5 billion barrels sound like a lot? I’m sure it is–until you consider the U.S. uses 20 million a DAY! So under Alaska–according to someone who wants to drill there–is 250 days worth of oil. Or, if you want to be generous, since it’s just an estimate, let’s say there’s 10 billion barrels under there.
That’s a year and a couple months, people. Have you ever been near an oil well? I have. They’re hideously ugly, smelly, filthy, and unbelievably destructive. But don’t take my word for it, go visit one.
All estimates, for or against drilling in ANWR, say it will be ten years before that oil is available, if they start now.
So I ask you. Is it worth it? Is it really? Are you sure? Once it’s gone, it can never be restored. Go look up “pristine.” I’ll wait.
While you’re thinking about that, think about this. Lee Raymond, chairman of Exxon Mobil Corp., said he recognizes that high gasoline prices “have put a strain on Americans’ household budgets” but he defended his company’s huge profits, saying petroleum earnings “go up and down” from year to year. (Speaking before Congress in hearings regarding gas prices.)
Well, I’m glad he knows it’s a strain when one of my expenses increases by 50%. I wonder when was the last time he felt strained?
Raymond was joined at the witness table by the chief executives of Chevron Corp., ConocoPhillips, BPAmerica Inc., and Shell Oil Company. Together the companies earned more than $25 billion in profits in the July-September quarter as the price of crude oil hit $70 a barrel and gasoline surged to record levels after the disruptions of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
That’s profit, folks. Damages are already figured in, that’s profit. Profit surged after Katrina and Rita.
ConocoPhillips earned $3.8 billion in the third quarter, an 89 percent increase over a year earlier. But he said that represents only a 7.7 percent profit margin for every dollar of sales. “We do not consider that a windfall,” said Mulva.
An 89% increase in profits is not a windfall? Well, when sales is 350 billion dollars a quarter, maybe 89% isn’t a big deal. But geez, an 89% increase in my after-bills income would sure as heck be a windfall!
Is no one else appalled by this? That 89% increase in profits came out of your pocket. And now they want to drill in Alaska to reduce our costs? By a penny a gallon in ten years, is what I’m hearing.
Reduce your own costs. Buy a bike, car-pool, take the bus, only drive the SUV when the whole family is going, buy a hybrid car. Walk. Breathe. Think about gorgeous vistas and polar bears and caribou and the Arctic wolf, and plan a vacation. I’m going to get my 17-yo, 32 mpg little-red-get-me-there a tune-up, and plan on moving closer to work when I can.
But whatever you do, don’t anyone tell them there’s natural gas under Yellowstone.