Drilling off Florida coasts

[Erick]

I believe we need to start taking more advantage of all the different forms of alternative energy such as WIND!!!!!
We all know what wind can do for us!

[Momar]

I will say this much that I know to be true:
As part of the 2006 deal to put much of Florida's coast off-limits to drilling (including the Tampa Bay area until something like the year 2019), a part of the eastern coast of Florida was opened to drilling prospecting interests. No oil company has done any great amount of exploring there yet and none has done any drilling in that area to date.

If thing were as desperate as they lead us to believe as far as oil supplies, why have areas that are open to oil companies (including many many many acres of dry-land oil fields) not been fully utilized to their potential? Why open up more areas if those that were already opened (and presumably have oil under them) have not even been examined by oil companies?

Oil reserves are fairly plentiful today and supply is not any more limited than it was 4 years ago, but prices are double. Instead, speculative investors are putting all their money into funds that buy oil and trade it. Maybe the price will collapse (like housing prices did) on it's own before this off-shore drilling campaign gets enough steam.

FYI: this is from an article regarding the "urban legend" of China drilling off of Key West and near Florida:

"But U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., argued Thursday on the Senate Floor that there is no proof that China and Cuba are planning to drill for oil anywhere offshore.
"China is not drilling off the coast of Cuba," Martinez said. "Reports to the contrary are simply false. They're akin to urban legend."

Ditto on supporting wind power. And soon!

[conchxpress]

I wouldn't rely too much on what Mel Martinez says or does not say. Let's just leave it at that.

[onthefritz]

Interesting change in views with Gov. Charlie Crist...


http://www.breitbart.com/article.php...show_article=1

[Momar]

Originally Posted by conchxpress

I wouldn't rely too much on what Mel Martinez says or does not say. Let's just leave it at that.

On that we can agree.

[amber]

wow. this is what all our threads need to be like. People with different opinions who are being respectful to the other team. We'd get a hell of a lot more done. I do not agree that the environmental movement is focused on limiting human property and development. Working in environmental education, I have been lucky to work with some great scientists and researchers who are "environmentalists". My personal "environmentalist" attitude is to simply stop screwing the earth up so much that it no long functions as a proper ecosystem. Its all a ripple effect. Global warming = sea temperatures rising. Coral reefs have a very small window of tolerance for sea temperature. It goes up or down too high and the coral bleaches and there's no food or shelter for the fish and thus no food for the sharks and then they'll start eating the kiteboarders.
Remember when you ask for "information and facts" that 90% of statistics can be skewed to produce the wanted results.

[Danimal8199]

Yeah Amber, I heard that 85% of all statistics are made up anyway

[BigR]

not all stats, just the ones coming from our government.
do you really think inflation has been only 4%?

One nation under GOD. Gold, Oil, and Drugs.

[Sean B]

The fear-mongering about China drilling 60 miles of the coast of Florida was perpetuated by Dick Cheney's speech in which he cited columnist George Will's claims that, that was the case. It obviously wasn't because Cheney's office later admitted that the vice-president had made a mistake in his claim. China IS doing some exploratory work in western Cuba, on land, on a lease. Cuba has began leasing out blocks of water "60 miles off the cost of South Florida" to foreign oil companies for exploratory drilling. None of which, however are of Chinese descent.

IMHO....America has vast oil reserves, large enough to sustain our country until a viable form of alternative energy can be organized and implemented. Call it one-hundred years just for the heck of it. That's plenty of time with modern technology and the resources of the American government to come up with a solution. It seems logical to release portions of our own reserves to control oil prices, and in the meantime focus on alternatives. We make OPEC-nations richer while making the daily lives of many Americans much more difficult petrol-wise, all while the economy is tightening up. OPEC-Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Libya, Algeria, Nigeria, Angola, Venezuela, Ecuador...Indonesia recently dropped out. Yikes...

America needs to get off it's dependence of foreign oil producers, especially at a time when tensions with the middle east are growing. All middle-eastern OPEC nations have to do is refuse to ship oil to the west, which they have in the past, and we would be crippled by the subsequent price of crude oil. Of course, this being only one of the many problems America faces fulfilling it's oil needs. The devaluing of the dollar is contributing slightly to our price of oil, but not much as prices of oil throughout Europe have increase just slightly less than ours. The difference being the value in the dollar, since we buy our oil from the same suppliers.

Inflation has a lot to do with it. Prices of apples, lettuce, etc. have increase more than gasoline. Fortunately we can choose to eat cupnoodles instead! Most of us can't choose to ride a bicycle 20 miles to work everyday and back.

Anyways, cool thread.