Kmarion wrote:
Agent_Dung_Bomb wrote:
Why should we open the drilling when oil companies haven't even explored or exploited the leases they already had before the bans went into place?
Once they have thoroughly explored what they already have access to, and find there is no oil, or the oil isn't accessible given current technology, then we'll talk about opening more offshore drilling.
Basically, eat your vegetables, or no dessert.
Because
todays gas prices are determined by what will happen in the future. There is no shortage of oil now. The surge in gas prices was driven by the oil leases getting grabbed up. It makes no sense to drill for oil in a market that has plenty of supply. The recent possibility of opening up more leases drove down prices
immediately. Ultimately it is just biding time. We need a combination of approaches to make the transition to renewable energy.
The reality of it is the speculators. Did anyone notice that when President Bush gave his speech pushing to open up offshore drilling, that the price of oil dropped $9
by the end of his speech. Nothing was approved, not a drop of oil hit the market. But the speculators began to sell off. The huge increase in the price of oil is due to the specualtors betting that the price will keep going up.
If offshore drilling started tomorrow, we would not see a new drop of gas from them for as long as two years. But the cost of gas
would drop
now, because of the effect that future oil would have on the oil speculation market. I am not saying it would go all the way back to $2.80 a gallon, but it would take a huge dip, and hopefully let market forces work on their own.
Also, so what if we have to wait 2 years? We are still going to need oil then, too. The demand for oil is only going up. If we wait until we absolutely have to have it, we will still have to wait for 2 years before we can get any relief. That is like owning a boat, but waiting until you are drowning before thinking about buying a life preserver.