I filled up my car today paying $2.69 a gallon. It felt like a good deal. I am grateful I am not paying over $3.00 a gallon. My husband and I have been car pooling some to work lately. But it requires getting out of bed earlier. Sometimes we choose cuddling.
While I am very aware of my own dependence on oil, Icannot imagine life without my car. Yet I still get angry when I see more and more headlines about how our government is scrounging and searching for more oil to take from the earth.
The U.S. Forest Service will propose regulations to shorten the environmental reviews of small oil-drilling projects in national grasslands, an Agriculture Department official said Friday.
The proposal would affect grasslands covering about 4 million acres in a dozen states in the Great Plains and West.
http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=8764
I want to scream! It is isn't total anger with the government because the American public has certainly enjoyed and thrived upon the use of petroluem for a long time. However, it does seem that the federal government is still failing us by not pouring funds and resources into alternative energy sources.
However, I also blame the idiots who have been voting for the Republicans. I want to put flyers on cars of those people with Bush bumper stickers. I want them to know they are directly responsible for our government's complete backing of the oil companies to the detriment of the American people.
We all end up paying the price at the gas pump. Not just the Bush voters. But it isn't just the economic price. We are paying an environmental price as well.
Oil exploration is off limits in some areas of the national grasslands, but where drilling is allowed, a required environmental assessment takes a minimum of six months. North Dakota Gov. John Hoeven complained some of the reviews were taking three times that long, delaying projects that could help the economy.
Mark Rey, a USDA undersecretary, outlined a proposal Friday to allow some small projects to undergo two-month reviews instead.
The projects eligible for the shorter reviews could not include more than three miles of pipeline or more than four drilling rigs, he said.
Two-month reviews? This seems like an incredibly short period of time to do an environmental review on the prospect of drilling in a certain area. The government takes many days to get water to New Orleans. Don't tell me they can truly be aware of the enviromental impact of drilling for oil in two months.
Hoeven argued that the process could be streamlined without harming the environment.
"This has been a big thing for industry, and it comes at the right time," the governor said. "It comes at a time where we recognize we need to increase domestic (oil) supply."
Doesn't it feel like our government is a drug addict? I have lead a shelter life without drug use but I always picture addicts scrounging around for any drugs they can find just to get their fix. Oil is our national fix. It is the fix we are constantly in search of and we'll sell out people and everything we hold dear to get it.
Hey, I know I am part of the problem. I don't have any intention of giving up my car. I would just like to buy one reasonably that doesn't depend on gasoline.
But I will be absolutely supporting candidates and politicians who are working towards energy alternatives. A lot of people are fed up with our dependence on oil. We need to help sell the Democrats as the leaders who do not line their campaign funds with money from big oil companies. The Republicans do. And I want every American to know it.