[GailA]

There are IDLE oil wells in Olney/Lawrenceville/Robinson, Ill. The refinery there was finally dismantled and sold to a third world country. They started going idle in the early 80's. A few are still seen pumping slowly, but most are idle.

[marron]

There are a couple of things to remember. First is that strong prices are a pain at the pump, but they encourage drilling. Most new oil is not in OPEC territory, which means that OPEC loses market share by pushing prices up.

There is new oil coming on stream every day. The Chad pipeline just finished, which represents a chunk of production coming; the Ecuadorian pipeline just finished which represents another chunk of production. The Caspian production is steadily rising and yet another pipeline is underway, Iraqi production is going up, all over Africa and Latin America new production is coming on stream. Russian production is up about 10% for the year. OPEC has little control over prices in the long run.

Second is that the key to energy independence is to have a multiplicity of sources. We already have that, and the situation is improving looking ahead. OPEC can jack the prices in the short term in hopes of affecting the elections, but long term they can only pump, or not pump and see themselves replaced by other oil sources.

Gore used to promote the idea of $3 a gallon gasoline in the hopes of encouraging alternative energy sources. His hope was to see the money going into government coffers, of course. But the effect is the same as the price rises due to market conditions. Higher fuel costs encourage alternatives. It encourages drillers to punch new wells, it encourages people to shift to smaller vehicles, with no need of a mandate from Washington. And it encourages people working on new technology to push ahead.

If you are interested in job growth, all of the above puts people to work, and people in my area are running themselves into the ground working overtime as they clean out old wells and punch new ones. People have to learn to stop fearing Arabs with oil. When they say they are cutting production by 2 million barrels a day what they mean is that Venezuela can't even produce its quota due to political problems, and there is a lot of new non-OPEC oil coming on stream, and they are losing market share. Thats what it means. And the picture isn't getting any better for them.

[Spirited]

Too bad the Bush people don't have the moxey to nail Kerry with this....

[steveegg]

"We can't provide the supply of oil America needs from the Alaska wildlife refuge or from any other source in the United States, because we only have 3 percent of the world's oil reserves."

So John F'em Ke(rr)y's idea is to wait until that's the last oil on Earth before thinking about (and ultimately rejecting) the notion of tapping into it? Or, is it to enrich a bunch of murderous Islamists? Either way, bad idea, Ketchup Boy.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

(CNSNews.com) - Teamsters union chief James Hoffa Jr. has left both environmentalists and free-market advocates confused after declaring that Democratic front-runner John Kerry would "drill like never before" for oil and gas if elected president.

Hoffa made the comments during a Feb. 17 segment on Hardball with Chris Matthews . Matthews had asked Hoffa why the union chose to endorse the Massachusetts senator even though Kerry opposed drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).

"Well, we talked about that," Hoffa responded. "He says, look, I am against ANWR, but I am going to put that pipeline in and we're going to drill like never before."

The union supports drilling in ANWR and the creation of a natural gas pipeline that could stretch from Alaska to Chicago. Neither plan draws much support from Kerry's environmentalist base, however.

[snip]

[Recovering_Democrat]

KERRY'S SOLUTION:
STAY DEPENDENT ON MIDDLE EAST SHEIKS!

[bondjamesbond]

Kerry: Supply has nothing to do with price. Everything you know about economics is wrong.

[Donaeus]

bttt

[MEGoody]

Mr. Kerry, drilling in Anwar is a lot better solution to the 'problem' of gas prices than crying on your knees to the Saudis.

[INSENSITIVE GUY]

ANWR IS A SOLUTION!More drilling in other areas and the construction of new refineries are needed.It is time to to run rough shod over the environmentalists.IN THE NAME OF NATIONAL SECURITY AN EXECUTIVE ORDER TO GET THIS GOING IS NEEDED!!

[goldstategop]

Granted America may not be Saudi Arabia, but is what is wrong with drilling for more oil? I don't think John F. Seinfeld really understands what makes America great.

[F.J. Mitchell]

Kerry has a secret formula for turning ketchup into a high octomatotane fuel. It's likely to cost him a many of his liberal bharfrat bosom buddies though.

Can't you just hear the left critizing BIG KETCHUP and it's founder Ketchcup Kerry?