Energy Blog

Probably the most intimidating aspect of acting as a representative for Obama was answering the questions. Some of them intrigued me. For instance, Samema asked the position of the Obama-Biden campaign on coal utilization. Why does Biden say no to coal, while it is very apparent that Obama fully supports use of America’s most abundant natural resource (for energy)? After some research, I found that although Biden has disagreed with Obama on the use of coal in the U.S. there is more to his statements. Biden does not agree with the tactics used in China to develop coal plants. The technology over there is outdated, and so Biden does want coal technologies in the U.S. as long as they are CLEAN coal technologies. Biden has even connected coal with the use of hybrid plug-in cars, one repeated facet of the New Energy for America Plan-.“Where’s that [electricity] come from? That comes from a utility. What do utilities burn? They burn coal mostly.”

Also, Emily asked why oil companies weren’t leasing on land they already have, in response to the Use it or Lose it (if a company does not drill on their land, they have to turn it over to the government so it can be allocated to another company, etc.) tactic that constitutes New Energy For America. It’s actually a bit more complicated than I thought it would be because there are plenty of reasons I didn’t even consider. After some research, I found the following. First of all, the land may not even have oil under it. The federal government doesn’t even know if the land they lease has oil under it- they lease it out for oil companies to speculate this, and determine it themselves. And why does it come out to so many acres of unused land? Oil companies have to not only purchase the plot where the oil is to be drilled, but also all the surrounding land around it. Other reasons also prevent use of land. Shortage of drill rigs prevents oil companies from going in and drilling- apparently drill rigs are leased for years at a time too.

Hey guys, I want to apologize for what happened today. My brain seemed to have frozen when I was on stage. I have the information in my mind, but they just don’t want to come out when I needed them. So, to make sure that information wasn’t lost, here I am, making a fool of myself.
To answer Billy’s question, Alaska’s oil will not be going to New York, the cost of transportation will be too expansive. The oil will actually be going into a global market that will distribute oil around the world. In other words, we will be exporting and importing oil at the same time. It will do little to lower our oil prices because OPEC will be adjusting their oil output to make sure there isn’t too much oil in the market. The purpose of Alaska oil is the safeguard that if Middle East stops sending us oil or a hurricane wipe out the oil refineries in Gulf of Mexico, we can limit the oil crisis to a small rise in gas price.
To answer Evan’s question, fighting corruption in our country is easier than fighting terrorism oversea. The majority our imported oils came from Canada, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela. Saudi Arabia is a big target for terrorists in Middle East, and the Venezuela president is threatening to end its oil supply to US. What better to show them that we are not intimidated by producing our own supply of oil.
To answer Emily’s question, oil doesn’t come out of nowhere. Even if we don’t drill in Alaska, we still need to get oil from somewhere. If the costs of oil grow, many countries will be more than happy to sell their oil to US. Do u think they will care for their environment? If we don’t do it, others will. At least when we are in control we can put the damage to our environment at a minimum.
I really didn’t like Palin, she focused too much on resources in Alaska instead of other issues. And we all know that ANWR is a failed cause. Also, I’m sorry ___(I don’t remember your name). I still don’t know what you are asking. Now that I got everything out of my system, I’m putting a brown bag on my head.