Offshore Delusion
[image courtesy Architecture 2030]
To those of you who visit my blog for the photography, and who are offended/bored/confused by my political postings, I can only say this is democratic discourse! A democracy is totally reliant on open discussion of issues between its citizens - otherwise it becomes an oligarchy, a select few who tell the rest how things are gonna be. As it stands now, the level of true open political discourse between citizens is so low that it's considered impolite or improper to even raise such topics in mixed company.
But that's exactly how we end up with lies and distortions of the truth served up to us as gospel. That's how we end up believing that offshore drilling might really be the solution to our current gas crunch. This is nothing more or less than delusion.
The graph above is fact, and should by its very existence put the argument over whether or not to drill anywhere and everywhere we can in America as a solution to our gas woes to pasture. The rabid cries of Republicans to "Drill here, drill now" reveal a staggering ignorance of reality, an ignorance happily nurtured by McCain/Bush style politicians who would otherwise have no arguments in their favor. The facts, as has been pointed out, have a distressing liberal bias.
The reality, folks, is that the US uses 25% of the world's oil supply. We sit on perhaps 3% of the world's reserves, give or take. The core argument of the "Drill here, drill now" crowd seems to be that we can and should rely solely on US oil and that will solve our problems. Pure fantasy! This should be obvious. There is simply not enough oil beneath our feet to do it. Here's more from Architecture 3030:
According to the US Energy Information Administration, oil production from drilling offshore in the outer continental shelf wouldn't begin until around the year 2017. Once begun, it wouldn't reach peak production until about 2030 when it would produce only 200,000 barrels of oil per day (in yellow above). This would supply a meager 1.2% of total US annual oil consumption (just 0.6% of total US energy consumption). And, the offshore oil would be sold back to the US at the international rate, which today is $106 a barrel. So, the oil produced by offshore drilling would not only be a "drop in the bucket", it would be expensive, which translates to "no relief at the pump".
What part of that is so hard to understand?
Labels: politics
