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Why not embrace America's oil and gas boom to revive the moribund economy?
The Hill ^ | 09/27/11 | Bernard L. Weinstein

Posted on 09/28/2011 7:19:27 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican

Over the past three years, we have seen a dramatic rebound in America’s oil and natural gas production after a hiatus of almost 40 years. This has occurred despite falling output in Alaska, the moratorium on deep-water drilling imposed in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico oil-rig blowout last year, and extremely low prices for natural gas. New technologies for extracting oil and gas from deep under the ocean floor as well as shale formations have been largely responsible for the country’s fossil fuel renaissance.

All this is good news for America’s consumers. Though gasoline and diesel prices have jumped 25 percent over the past year, absent the 11 percent increase in oil production from U.S. fields, consumers might be paying even more. At the same time, falling oil imports chopped about $20 billion off America’s trade deficit last year. Abundant new supplies of natural gas at low cost have reduced the home heating and electric bills for millions of American households.

In a sluggish economy, energy-producing states like Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, North Dakota and Louisiana are benefiting from the job and income growth associated with the resurgent oil and gas sector. Each of these states currently posts unemployment rates below the U.S. average of 9.1 percent and each has posted job gains over the past year, led by energy.

(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...


TOPICS: Breaking News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: drillbabydrill; drillheredrillnow; economy; energy; oil; oilandgas
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To: old_sage_says
And here's how that would play out...


21 posted on 09/29/2011 4:42:31 AM PDT by StAnDeliver (/)
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To: ImaGraftedBranch
Then I realized, that the rest of the earth is depleting theirs and by the time we need it for WW3, we’ll be sitting fat and happy.

Except you can look outside your window and see that the opposite is true. Even this article says that what you posted is 180 degrees out of phase with reality.

Winning wars isn't just about energy. Through a seance ask Saddam how that worked out for him - he had all the oil, we had all the weapons, we just had to make Kuwait surrender fuel to us.

In an energy based industrial economy, cheap energy, no matter the source, produces wealth. Since it was cheaper to suck up the oil that oozed out of the ground from the ME rather than frac our own sources, or combat expensive litigation and regulation domestically, the West grew the Middle East and look what they did with the money - they bought bling.

China, OTOH, has used cheap energy to assume the premier role as world's number one manufacturer, from that they lend to the US and our interest payments to China alone will soon eclipse what we budget to build our own military.

Granted, you need fuel for your army and navy, but you need the wealth to build that army and navy first. Then when you plop down a quarter billion soldiers in a sandbox half a world away, you can intimidate and scavenge whatever fuel you need.

I don't want to live in poverty waiting for WWIII so that we can lose it all anyway because the current oil producing nations used their oil derived money to buy out our manufacturing base and build their own armies.

22 posted on 09/29/2011 5:00:40 AM PDT by The Theophilus (Obama's Key to win 2012: Ban Haloperidol)
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To: MinorityRepublican
I live in W. PA and my company does a lot of work with the gas pipelines. These companies have job openings and they pay well. It is getting harder to get a hotel room near Washington, PA and NE around Wellsboro PA.
The gas production alone is an economic boost to what was a lack luster economy. The housing market here is good.
People that were losing their farms are now becoming rich.
23 posted on 09/29/2011 5:45:44 AM PDT by IC Ken
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To: StAnDeliver
I don't think we'll see new refineries, but substantial expansion and upgrades of current refineries to increase production capacity. This will be especially true in Texas and Louisiana.
24 posted on 09/29/2011 5:52:58 AM PDT by RayChuang88 (FairTax: America's economic cure)
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To: MinorityRepublican

Cut the rules and regulations on drilling for oil and other natural resources. It would be good news for the United States and bad news for our enemies. We have an enemy of our own country as president. Obama has got to go.


25 posted on 09/29/2011 6:42:46 AM PDT by Lilly Rose
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To: The Theophilus

You missed the satire in my post, as evidenced by the bottom sentence. I should have added a :)


26 posted on 09/29/2011 7:53:44 AM PDT by ImaGraftedBranch (...By reading this, you've collapsed my wave function. Thanks.)
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To: MinorityRepublican

Because commies hate economic growth.


27 posted on 09/29/2011 9:12:53 AM PDT by samtheman (Palin. In your heart you know she's right.)
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To: ImaGraftedBranch
You missed the satire in my post, as evidenced by the bottom sentence. I should have added a :)

My apologies. That sentiment has passed through FR several times before. Need to keep the ideological purity levels up ;)

28 posted on 09/29/2011 10:17:11 AM PDT by The Theophilus (Obama's Key to win 2012: Ban Haloperidol)
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To: MinorityRepublican

But how are we going to fund the Arab’s weapons purchases to be used against Americans and Israelis if we produce our own oil?


29 posted on 09/29/2011 10:18:48 AM PDT by crosshairs (The U.S. has sown to the winds and now its going to reap the whirlwind.)
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To: The Theophilus

No problem. Though not a frequent poster, I have been here many, many years, and know that to which you refer.


30 posted on 09/29/2011 10:55:39 AM PDT by ImaGraftedBranch (...By reading this, you've collapsed my wave function. Thanks.)
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To: MinorityRepublican

Oil and gas are not fossil fuels.


31 posted on 09/29/2011 11:47:17 AM PDT by cork
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To: redhead

People need to answer back to people who ask stupid questions like this -

YOU’RE ASSUMING THEY WANT THE SAME THING THAT YOU DO!

They don’t. They want to bring down capitalism in America, and the best way to do that is to make energy too expensive and hard to get.


32 posted on 09/29/2011 11:49:40 AM PDT by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter knows whom he's working for)
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To: Graewoulf

I read a better word than “greenies” recently.

GANG GREEN


33 posted on 09/29/2011 11:50:28 AM PDT by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter knows whom he's working for)
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To: MinorityRepublican

The State Department is sitting on a simple solution that will create U.S. jobs and increase the supply of energy to the U.S. Help make them do it.

The Keystone XL is a $20 billion private investment by an American corporation, TransCanada. It will bring oil from Canada, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and Texas to U.S. refineries for use by the American market.

This is a good deal for the American public that could help us. Take action now and help make Secretary Clinton authorize the Keystone XL.

http://keystoneyes.org/


34 posted on 09/29/2011 1:14:51 PM PDT by WOBBLY BOB (See ya later, debt inflator ! Gone in 4 (2012))
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To: StAnDeliver
Half of the Americans over 50 would follow the "Patriotic Retirement Plan" to the letter. The other half would squander the $1 million on casinos and drugs, and within a year we'd be almost right back where we were, with the additional fun of a hyperinflation bubble set to explode.

The 80-20 rule remains inviolate. 80% of the people own 20% of the money. Therefore, 20% of the people own 80% of the money. You could put the money all in a pile and redistribute it equally but in 5 year the same ratio would again exist.

35 posted on 09/29/2011 5:52:56 PM PDT by Mind-numbed Robot
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To: WOBBLY BOB

All the oil in the world isn’t a good deal if it contaminates your water and food, such as the Ogalla aquifer. Many residents and most farmers in that area that depend on that aquifer, want a segment of the pipeline moved to avoid the potential disaster.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogallala_Aquifer

Energy independence is somewhat of a misnomer today because the energy companies will ship gas or oil to China or to any other country that pays the most. When energy went to global markets the oil that we produce is not dedicated to the USA. It goes into a big global pot.


36 posted on 09/29/2011 6:11:23 PM PDT by apoliticalone (Honest govt. that operates in the interest of US sovereignty and the people, not global $$$)
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To: apoliticalone

There is a whole other issue not considered by any of the economists. That is that in most of the Great Plains states, groundwater is used to grow the crops. That water is being depleted and not replaced. Using water to grow crops to produce vehicle fuel(ethanol) is a waste. Here are some references:

http://www.kerrcenter.com/publications/ogallala_aquifer.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogallala_Aquifer

http://www.iitap.iastate.edu/gcp/issues/society/ogallala/ogallala.html

http://www.choicesmagazine.org/2003-1/2003-1-04.pdf (Conserving the Ogallala Aquifer: Efficiency, Equity and Moral Motives)

http://www.uswaternews.com/archives/arcsupply/3scisay2.html (Scientists say drought accelerating depletion of Ogallala Aquifer)


37 posted on 09/30/2011 5:48:13 AM PDT by WOBBLY BOB (See ya later, debt inflator ! Gone in 4 (2012))
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