>Better late than never in responding to my posts of June 19 to Louise, ET
AL.
Well, I'll admit that I found that digest (for reasons unexplained) in my spam
folder, but I'd swear it was from 29 June, not 19 June, or I would have left
well enough alone...
>I disagree with your assumption that we cannot "tip the balance" within
>the next two decades or more.
It's not so much that we *can't* but that we *won't* -- due to the
aforementioned capitalist market forces requring a huge profit potential in
order to move (which in this case would have to be a huge gov't giveaway).
I'd rather see the incentives move the hedge fund crowd in the direction of
renewable energy. Actually, I'd rather see a few companies do it because
it's *the right thing to do* rather than require huge bribes. Exxon and BP can
surely afford to be magnanimous.
>My uneducated guess is that oil production companies could bring in
>producing wells within a couple of years from the date that congress
>passes the required legislation.
No doubt they could, but then what? Our refining capacity is operating at full
tilt now, and one good hurricane could cripple that by a third.
>It would not surprise me if the major oil companies were able to have
>additional oil refineries on line within five years if they were warranted
>(meaning an adequate return on their investment).
My semi-educated guess is that,given ample incentives, it would still take at
least a decade to augment refining capacity. I've heard that said more than
once by oil execs. And where would those incentives come from? The
govt't would have to *buy* them for them, at a minimum, because they have
no reason to move in that direction. Why spend your hard-earned exessive
profits (or even free gov't $$) on more capacity to bring the price of gasoline
down, when you can do nothing, keep the price going up, and make a lot
more money?
I'm not arguing that we should not exploit our petroleum resources as an
expedient measure while we perfect renewable sources. I'm arguing that it's
already too late, and our government is so broken, it couldn't fix this if it
wanted to (which it doesn't yet).
We could have made a big leap forward with the huge surplus we had in
1999 plus the 3 trillion we've sunk into the sands of the Middle East (to no
apparent effect). Oh yeah; hey, that corresponds to when the capitalist
warmongering Republicans took over. :^D (Sorry, Fritz, I had to zing ya!) I
will agree, though, that the Republicans aren't conservative enough for most
Republicans these days. And that's a good thing. We're long overdue for
some bold moves.
Alex
--
Alex Sproul, NSS 8086
NSS IT Committee
