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There are a couple of reasons why gas prices are shooting through the roof. One, is obviously because oil companies get to make a shit load of money and they know our current government won抰 do anything about it. Another reason is because the oil companies want to drill in places they can抰. They want access to coastal areas and parts of Alaska that are currently off limits. With skyrocketing oil prices, they believe Americans will support new Congressional laws to allow offshore drilling. It抯 really an awesome win-win for the douchebag oil companies.

Sure enough, a new Rasmussen poll came out this weekend claiming 7% support offshore drilling, 64% expect it will lower prices. If true, those people are obviously retarded. Anyone who believes allowing drilling off the coast of any state will decrease gas prices is a fucking moron. I抦 going to write that one more time, just in case I was too subtle; if you believe drilling off the coast of any state will lead to a drop in prices you are an incredible retard. Got it Super, let抯 move on.

Of course, the Rasmussen poll was a complete pile of shit, because it was a push poll. Check out the second question asked.

揑n order to reduce the price of gas, should drilling be allowed in offshore oil wells off the coasts of California, Florida, and other statesbr />

Um. Hey, Rasmussen, drilling won抰 reduce the price, so why are you asking the question like that Someone slip a check into your dirty little hands

I抦 a crazy environmentalist. I抎 rather you die than an acre of land destroyed. I think you are less important. Deal with it. But this isn抰 an environmental argument, it抯 common sense.

First of all, offshore oil drilling only makes sense when prices are high. You know why Turns out it抯 expensive to drill in the fucking ocean.

If exploration were allowed, permits would have to be granted, and before that environmental concerns must be addressed. Drilling also would have to make economic sense: Offshore drilling is expensive, and the more remote the site, the more costly it is.

Remember the Texas oil boom of the seventies, when prices were sky high, and then they crashed and it wasn抰 profitable to drill for oil anymore Yeah, same thing. Prices will go down because this is an oil bubble, just like the stock bubble and the housing bubble.

If our oil offshore were to have an effect on gas prices, there would need to be a shitload of it out there. There is not.

Recoverable reserves off U.S. coasts in now-banned areas probably contain only about 16 billion barrels.

The U.S. consumes about 20.6 million barrels a day, about 60 percent from foreign sources.

Weeehooooooo! Let抯 get that shit! We might save a whole 5 cents at the pump!

Those 16 billion barrels would give us 2.5 years worth of oil under today抯 usage. In 10 to 20 years, when we actually would begin using that oil, it would obviously be a lot less. Sound good Yeah Well, how about this

The Energy Information Agency estimates that the total amount of oil in the offshore zone in question is about 16 billion barrels. If we assume that it would take about ten years from the day of authorization to get to peak production and that most of the oil is pumped out over 30 years, this would translate into a bit over 1 million barrels of oil a day.

That would be equal to about 1 percent of world production in a decade. If we assume a long-run demand elasticity of 0.3, this would imply a drop in world prices of approximately 3 percent. In today抯 prices, we would be looking at a drop in the price of a barrel of oil from around $135 to $131. If this were passed on one to one in gas prices, we might expect to see a drop in the price of a gallon of gas from around $4.00 to around $3.92 a gallon.

The Energy Industry Administration believes allowing drilling off the coast won抰 offset prices at the pump until 2030. How fucking awesome is that Of course, I抳e learned not to believe any government agency that exists under Bush, so it抯 probably more like 2040. There are quite a few problems involved in getting oil right now.

Just having the oil doesn抰 mean you can get the oil. Turns out we抳e got a ship problem. A shortage of ships used for deep-water offshore drilling promises to impede any rapid turnaround in oil exploration and supply.

In recent years, this global shortage of drill-ships has created a critical bottleneck, frustrating energy company executives and constraining their ability to exploit known reserves or find new ones.

But the oil companies don抰 care about that because they don抰 want to open up the offshore areas for drilling now, they want it for the future. If they wanted to drill for oil now to alleviate our gas problem, they could drill in areas where they already have access. And they have plenty of land to drill in.

Oil companies and many lawmakers are pressing to open up more U.S. areas for drilling. But the industry is drilling on just a fraction of areas it already has access to.

Of the 90 million offshore acres the industry has leases to, mostly in the Gulf of Mexico, it is estimated that upwards of 70 million are not producing oil.

Nice. And it won抰 stop them from getting Americans riled up to drill offshore.

Oil companies “should finish what’s on their plate before they go back in line,” said Oppenheimer analyst Fadel Gheit.

With prices at $135 dollars a barrel, everyone is trying to pump as much as they can, he said. But fearing oil prices will eventually fall, the industry is leery about making too many investments in the fields it has - many of which are in deepwater areas that can be pricey to develop.

Instead, they’re holding out, hoping the government will open areas closer to shore that would be cheaper to work on.

Right. See, the oil companies aren抰 making enough profit to go after the oil where it would be more expensive to get, in the places they already have access to, they want it easy and close to home. And the right wing is attempting to use the current crisis created by Bush de-regulation to get their hands on the coasts.

Maybe if Exxon would actually pay damages owed from the Valdez spill, they might be allowed to lease new land. But 20 years after the spill, Exxon seems to finally have won their battle in the courts this week - destroying the lives of many, many people. Lesson learned. The oil companies can go fuck themselves. If they wanted to get at our coasts, they wouldn’t have fought that lawsuit all the way to the Supreme Court.

Most importantly, opening up new areas for drilling is backward thinking. The time has come to move away from gas. Some countries are moving quickly to alleviate the energy problem.

The Japanese government will introduce tax credits and subsidies to encourage household use of solar energy starting next year. The details will be determined in August when the budget is created. The incentive will decrease the cost of a solar photovoltaic system by an estimated 50% within 3 to 5 years.

What a bunch of dicks. We didn抰 kill them all and then re-plant, just to have them turn their backs on our oil companies. Or course, here in the US, we are dragging our feet.

Unfazed by pressure from Democrats and the business community, Republicans for the second time in a week prevented the Senate from taking up a tax bill providing more than $50 billion in renewable energy credits and tax breaks for families and businesses.

Take your time, kids. While they are at it, the right wing is lying through their assholes. Check out Chris Wallace on Fox this weekend and be sure to stick around to the end for the name of the segment抯 sponsor.

Wallace lied, plain and simple. Katrina did extensive damage to oil platforms and refineries. Here are some pretty pictures of the oil spills from space. The right wing is shameless. Either that or Chris Wallace is a lying douchbag. Wait! Maybe it抯 both!

Hurricane Katrina’s floodwaters unleashed 1 million gallons of oil from one of the massive storage tanks at Murphy Oil’s nearby refinery. The spill spread over 1 square mile and stained 1,700 homes, making it one of the largest environmental spills to occur in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

And it was far from the only one.

A Houston Chronicle review of data from the National Response Center shows that the two storms caused at least 595 spills, incidents that released untold amounts of oil, natural gas and other chemicals into the air, onto land and into the water.

And they think we should open up areas off Florida to drilling Really I have a question: Do hurricanes ever not hit Florida

Anyone who thinks that opening up these areas to drilling will lead to a big drop in prices is a simplistic monkey. It will make no difference. This plan is only for the oil companies and the play is being made now because Bush is leaving office, with a high chance of a Democrat taking over.

The only real beneficiaries will be the oil companies that are trying to lock up every last acre of public land before their friends in power Mr. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney exit the political stage.

And if you抮e wondering how much oil is in ANWRit抯 half of the estimated 16 billion barrels offshore, which makes ANWR even more ridiculous an argument to make. If we did allow companies to drill in all these locations, the total estimated saving is$2.25 per barrel. That抯 6 cents a gallon, or as it is known by non-retards, horseshit.

I completely get why the oil companies make this type of push. It抯 what companies do. And Republicans solely serve the interests of big business, so they are also acting as they should. But the everyday idiot on the street spouting this as a solution is a fucking tool. So, next time you hear some right wing moron tell you we need to open up our coastlines and environmentally sensitive areas of Alaska, tell them to go fuck themselves. And kindly explain that they are retarded.