Phil_Shuman's Blog

Controversy.... that's another word for '' offshore drilling'... The prez says we need to increase domestic oil production cause gas is like 9 dollars an ounce.   ... so now the argument begins again... should we sink new wells and explore like miles off shore which we'll never see,  and run the risk of an oil spill like the one in 1969... ( 30 years ago !  that's all you got for me ???)... well.. it's tough to argue against protecting the environment... and keeping beaches clean.. and fowl from becoming fouled... we're all for that.... on the other hand, should we do nothing and continue to help assorted  saudi princes buy more yachts and planes and countries ?   probably not... no easy answers... Opponents of any new energy source are formidable... case in point.. long beach's now aborted plans to build an in -port liquified natural gas terminal.   opponents raised the spector of a new terrorist target, of the risk to population, etc etc... and arguments that say, there were already enough oil tanks and other terrorist targets in the highly industrialized long beach port to create a major disaster  were not effective.  result.. no lng... 
 Any new oil drilling will require congressional approval and that  will no doubt be tied up in lawsuits if and when that permission is granted.. and i'll have great grand children by the time any oil flows off the coast of california.. or , more accurately, any new oil... oil is drilled off the coast every day, you can see the platforms off the 101 on the way up north..... an untold # of leases exist with existing permission to drill that have not yet been tapped. the prez hasn't discussed that aspect of the controversy..... and the question of 'what are they waiting for '' is an excellent and still unanswered one...... So..... folks on both sides are well meaning and make strong arguments.... but the betting here is that the ''no '' votes will ultimately triumph... in particular if barack is the new man in the white house.. that's a no brainer.  meantime, we continue to pay a small fortune for gas with no realistic alternative in the short term except not driving as much or at all.... or as far.. or as fast..... .. in covering this story about lifting the 27 yr old federal ban on offshore drilling, at a gas station today in santa barbara, it was instructive the the ''person on the street'  interviews in reaction to the prez's proposal yielded a ''yes'' from a woman who could only afford to put 25 dollars in her block long suv... and a ''no'' drill vote from a young man who was literally putting 2 gallons of gas in his small car.  so.. no easy answers.. if there were, any one could figure it out and we wouldnt be in this mess... meantime, while oil companies are making profits even larry flynt would consider obscene, as how long is that waiting list for the prius ? and figure out where you can pump up your bike tires....  later.