Drill ANWR? The Republican meme is we must drill ANWR and offshore resources to increase domestic supplies. But do we?
Scientists find bugs that eat waste and excrete petrol
"He means bugs. To be more precise: the genetic alteration of bugs – very, very small ones – so that when they feed on agricultural waste such as woodchips or wheat straw, they do something extraordinary. They excrete crude oil."
If true, this would more than make up for any potential increase in production by opening ANWR and offshore resources for drilling and it would be online far faster than either.
"Our plan is to have a demonstration-scale plant operational by 2010 and, in parallel, we’ll be working on the design and construction of a commercial-scale facility to open in 2011," says Mr Pal, adding that if LS9 used Brazilian sugar cane as its feedstock, its fuel would probably cost about $50 a barrel"
So. If true, by the time we've tapped the ANWR and offshore sources for 150 bucks a barrel you've got $50 a barrel bug oil.
This kind of thing is the inevitable result of hitting us in the pocket book with high gas prices. There is a silver lining in all this. It's about time that Americans were shocked out of their energy complacency. High gas prices also spur on increased conservation, makes alternative technologies more affordable and contributes to more investment and speculation in alternative energy technologies like the above oil bugs.
However, other more unscrupulous people are going to use the excuse of high energy prices to lie their asses off for the benefit of the international oil corporations.
The reality is that the current spike in high oil prices have less to do with demand and domestic production and more to do with rampant speculation of oil futures, the plummeting stock market, economic uncertainty and spiraling value of the dollar.
Of course studies have found there would be little effect on gasoline prices if ANWR were opened to exploration but this won't stop the international oil concerns and their Republican enablers from attempting to deceive the American public to get at those sources. More drilling domestically doesn't add to domestic supplies. Oil is a fundable commodity. Any ANWR oil will go on the global market. Given market conditions you might not even see a decrease in oil prices by increased production if people continue to push oil prices to expected market values.
Current demand for gas is down in the U.S. and yet gas prices and oil prices continue to rise. Certainly supply and demand is a contributor to high oil prices, but the domestic price of gas is tied to many more variables than just domestic crude oil production.
It's important that people understand both the negatives and the positives of high gas prices and don't merely buy into the Republican talking point that opening up domestic production of crude is going to do anything to resolve their current gas price woes.
And as we've seen, the oil lobby and their GOP enablers will deliver any lie to open up ANWR and offshore drilling.