I have decided to support Alaskan drilling on ONE condition --

[IdaBriggs]

All oil removed from Alaska is distributed FREE to Americans.

NO ONE GETS ANY "recoup" costs from it WHATSOEVER.

Its FREE for ALL AMERICANS.

No profits for Big Oil. No donations for politicians. Just FREE OIL FOR EVERYONE.

ON SECOND EDIT: OOOHHH! Another brilliant idea -- if the oil companies don't want to do it FOR FREE, let's start a new government agency modeled on FEMA to get it out, and send it around to EVERYONE IN THE UNITED STATES for FREE!!!

Discuss.

:evilgrin:

ON EDIT: For those who find the point too subtle, let me spell it out some more (taken from Post #22):

The oil in ANWR belongs to the American People, as does the ANWR Wildlife Refuge. It does not belong to the Oil Companies.

The "fake argument du jo ur" is that we *need* the oil because we are having an oil crisis, which is why gasoline prices are suddenly so high. This is obviously untrue -- we have a glut at the moment, but the business world is in a conniption at the moment because of the political unrest in the world caused by our failed foreign policy -- but let us ignore the liberally biased reality, and "pretend" we believe that there is indeed a Terrible Oil Crisis which can ONLY be averted by Destroying the Pristine Beauty of our amazing ANWR Wildlife Refuge.

In that case, if there is indeed a crisis, then we must obviously retrieve the oil and distribute it freely to everyone in our country who needs it.

No profits. No compensation. No bribes. No donations. Just Americans coming together to help out their Fellow Americans.

The Oil Companies *must* retrieve it FOR FREE (while doing as little damage as possible to the pristine beauty of our amazing land), and then PROCESS IT for Free, and then DISTRIBUTE IT for Free, in which case I will support the drilling in ANWR because after all, there is a national crisis. (Please raise your hands if you think this is going to happen?)

But wait! (you and others say!) That isn't fair to the businesses who are being forced to give up money making opportunities!

Tough tiddlywinks, say I back. There is a CRISIS, and its a big one, and there shall be no PROFITEERING on a Crisis!!! If the Crisis isn't big enough for PROFITS to be sacrificed, then it isn't big enough to be drilling in ANWR. And frankly, if the only thing the Oil Companies care about is their financial bottom line (what a shock of a concept!), then maybe we ought to come up with a better system so they can't do something like, say, RAPE THE POCKET BOOK OF THE AMERICAN PUBLIC BY THEIR MONOPOLISTIC CONTROL OF A LIMITED NATURAL RESOURCE WHILE CUTTING OFF FUNDING FOR RESEARCH INTO ALTERNATIVE SOURCES OF ENERGY????

But that is a cynical thought process, and I'm sure the Nice Oil Companies would be HAPPY to donate their resources to help out our Country during this Crisis, right?

:evilgrin:

[TallahasseeGrannie]

1. I'm just ditzy enough to agree with you!

But I know nothing about oil and the economy.

[IdaBriggs]

4. Me either. I was just thinking about how it BELONGS TO US --

and the Oil Companies want to pull it out of the ground and SELL IT TO US????

What the heck is up with that?

Screw 'em. If they want to donate the costs of getting it out, fixing it up, and then distributing it to everyone, who am I to say no?

But if they just want to destroy my land, take my oil, and rape me for it at the pump? I DON'T THINK SO!!!

[Perky]

2. Regular, super, ultra and free?

Umm ok but who pays for the drilling...the extraction...the transport....the refining....the distribution and the retrofitting of the gas tanks as the service station on the corner which would need to be able to somehow distinguish between the fuel you pay for and the free fuel from ANWAR?



Next.

[IdaBriggs]

6. Donated by the generous oil companies who only have everyone's

best interests at heart (which is why they want to drill there in the first place).

Its most kind of them to do this simply as a BENEFIT to our country.

And I'm willing to allow them to do so -- AS LONG AS THE WORD "FREE" IS EVERYWHERE.

(Have I ever shared my plan to end the war with you? It involves removing the profit margin from the supply side of the war....)

:evilgrin:

[mdmc]

3. I will consent to this ANWR drilling plan on one condition

It must be called the IdaBriggs ANWR compromise.
:patriot:

[IdaBriggs]

10. Why thank you. I am *such* a patriot!

I salute you back!

:patriot:

[politicaholic]

5. Great idea! Then we can call for volunteers to help with the clean up...

it'll community effort...

wait a second...people getting together and working toward a common goal without political or monetary gain sounds like communism.

OMG!!!! You're a pinko!

[IdaBriggs]

15. Ummm.... More on the pasty white side, actually.

I can't tan for anything. Although I have gotten a little pink once or twice in the sunburn type arena....?

Wait a minute -- you are referring to this emoticon, aren't you? :blush: I get it now! :)

[Richard Steele]

7. Great idea- that single condition would guarantee it NEVER happens!

BRILLIANT!!!!

[IdaBriggs]

11. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

At last someone notices! :blush:

[Spider Jerusalem]

8. Cost of exploration. drilling, et cetera, = BILLIONS OF DOLLARS.

Timeframe between first exploratory drilling and production being brought fully onstream: 5-10 YEARS.

Who's going to pay the inherent costs, and how much good will the paltry amount of oil that's going to result from this do anyone when it's actually produced? Estimates put untapped reserves in ANWR at +/- 10 billion barrels, which is enough to supply the US for only NINE MONTHS irrespective of other sources, and given the actual production rates involved, any contribution made to satisfying US oil demand will be nearly insignificant.

[IdaBriggs]

12. Its going to be donated by the generous oil companies who only have

our country's interests at heart. Mighty nice of them, isn't it? Especially when they are doing the whole thing FOR FREE??? With no compensation for ANYTHING??? Just because they want to help out???

Who would have thought they were such decent people who don't care about making a buck, but rather have our nation's best interests at heart? Personally, I am shocked!!! :)

[Spider Jerusalem]

20. I want some of whatever you're smoking.

It must be really good.

People in this country need to realise that oil prices are high for a variety of reasons few of which actually involve gouging by oil companies. THey also need to realise that for decades now they've been paying significantly LESS for fuel than citizens of EVERY OTHER DEVELOPED NATION IN THE WORLD, and that this is a situation which,. thanks to increased demand and supply constraints (which are becoming increasingly obvious, as the margins between world demand and total available supply are razor-thin, demand is increasing and production has hit a plateau) cannot continue. Regardless of what you seem to think, Americans do NOT have a god-given right to cheap gasoline, and people are going to have to wake up to some unpleasant economic realities.

[IdaBriggs]

22. Are you missing the point of my argument on purpose?

Or was I just too subtle?

Let me try again:

The oil in ANWR belongs to the American People, as does the ANWR Wildlife Refuge. It does not belong to the Oil Companies.

The "fake argument du jo ur" is that we *need* the oil because we are having an oil crisis, which is why gasoline prices are suddenly so high. This is obviously untrue -- we have a glut at the moment, but the business world is in a conniption at the moment because of the political unrest in the world caused by our failed foreign policy -- but let us ignore the liberally biased reality, and "pretend" we believe that there is indeed a Terrible Oil Crisis which can ONLY be averted by Destroying the Pristine Beauty of our amazing ANWR Wildlife Refuge.

In that case, if there is indeed a crisis, then we must obviously retrieve the oil and distribute it freely to everyone in our country who needs it.

No profits. No compensation. No bribes. No donations. Just Americans coming together to help out their Fellow Americans.

The Oil Companies *must* retrieve it FOR FREE (while doing as little damage as possible to the pristine beauty of our amazing land), and then PROCESS IT for Free, and then DISTRIBUTE IT for Free, in which case I will support the drilling in ANWR because after all, there is a national crisis.

But wait! (you and others say!) That isn't fair to the businesses who are being forced to give up money making opportunities!

Tough tiddlywinks, say I back. There is a crisis, and its a big one, and there shall be no PROFITEERING on a Crisis!!! If the Crisis isn't big enough for PROFITS to be sacrificed, then it isn't big enough to be drilling in ANWR. And frankly, if the only thing the Oil Companies care about is their financial bottom line (what a shock of a concept!), then maybe we ought to come up with a better system so they can't do something like, say, RAPE THE POCKET BOOK OF THE AMERICAN PUBLIC BY THEIR MONOPOLISTIC CONTROL OF A LIMITED NATURAL RESOURCE WHILE CUTTING OFF FUNDING FOR RESEARCH INTO ALTERNATIVE SOURCES OF ENERGY????

But that is a cynical thought process, and I'm sure the Nice Oil Companies would be HAPPY to donate their resources to help out our Country during this Crisis, right?

:evilgrin:

[Spider Jerusalem]

28. I missed the point of your argument...

because I have a autistic spectrum disorder (Asperger's Syndrome) which causes me to frequently interpret things in a literal manner (and irony does not communicate well in a text-only medium).

[IdaBriggs]

29. My apologies!

I had thought I had laced the concept with enough irony that putting in sarcasm indicators would be redundant! I have heard a little bit about Asperger's Syndrome before (I think from a post someone on DU made a while back); thank you for providing such a clear example of the condition! (No sarcasm there, by the way!) May I inquire if the condition causes one to miss things initially only (as in, now that I have explained things a little more clearly, does it make sense?), or is this something that you just have to kind of "trust me" when I say its irony, etc?

[Spider Jerusalem]

30. I get it NOW...

but it wasn't immediately apparent at first.

I don't have any problem with USING irony and sarcasm, but I can't always immediately recognise when someone ELSE is using them. (The other day ANOTHER poster with Asperger's interpreted a comment I made that was intended as sarcasm at face value...right now I'm sort of amused as much as anything else that the same's happened to me today.)

[rememberearth]

9. brings up a thought.......

probably every one here has thought about this, but i still have to share a good epiphany when i have one.
the oil prices would be a good excuse to drill. and the alaska bastard keeps putting it on the table to get paid, so he might actually get his wish. thereby making the repubes the "saviors" in the public circle and thereby giving the election to them once again.i'm getting too good at pegging their tactics.......kinda scary....... :scared:

[NoAmericanTaliban]

13. GOP want to drill in Alaska, but not in Florida for fear of losing votes..

more hypocracy from them. If we have such a bad oil crisis then ask them why they do not want to drill in Florida. (I'm against both, but this puts them on the spot.) Bush had removed drilling before Jeb's re-election as governor so it wouldn't be a polictical issue that could backfire on them.

Also residents of Alaska get rebates from oil - about $1800 or so. Stumbled across this when filling out my taxes last year. Shouldn't we all get these breaks.

Drilling in Alaska is all about oil companies wanting to have the gov't pay for it so they can turn around & sell it to the Chinese.

[IdaBriggs]

19. Ah, but under my plan, it is distributed FREE TO ALL AMERICANS.

And no more silly talk about oil companies raping people, because under this plan they are simply donating their time and dollars to helping us all out (because businesses are more efficient than government, don't you know).

And no more tax breaks to help fund it! If they can't do it out of pure generosity, then I don't want them doing it AT ALL.

:evilgrin:

[alfredo]

14. They don't even plan on selling the oil to us.

[BuyingThyme]

16. Don't need ANWR for that.

And much of the "cost" is already being covered by you, the taxpayer.

Here's the thing: Roughly half of the oil is already being produced domestically, so the suppliers are moving oil from the rigs, to the refineries, to the gas stations, without EVER having to encounter that $75 per drum you keep hearing about. That's what they don't tell you. It's a complete sham.

The domestic suppliers are forbidden from competing with OPEC, so they just set prices according to the (unrelated) per-barrel prices.

Their costs have not changed; only the price has. There is no competition, no capitalism, nothing which can be defined as a legitimate business enterprise.

This is about a small group of evil men who are dead set on destroying our country while stuffing their wallets.

[IdaBriggs]

31. Yup. And they installed one of their own as "President."

Republicans are *really* stupid!!!

[MadHound]

17. Well, free or paid for, at the current rate of US consumption

All the oil in ANWR will only last for a year and a half, tops.

Let's see here, spoil that pristine beauty, disturb, disrupt and kill the wildlife. Spill even more oil into Prudhoe Bay, all for a year and a half's worth of oil.

Seems kind of pointless, doesn't it?

[CheshireCat]

21. That is the point!

You nailed it. Unfortunately, most people have no clue as to how limited the supply is in ANWAR. Even if it were enough for a decade, the effect on the environment makes the cost too great.

[mitchtv]

18. NEVER

Some things should be sacred. Wildlife refuge is self defining

[China_cat]

23. Why do they need to drill in the first place?

Just stop sending the 80% of the oil that already comes out of Alaska to Asia.

[IdaBriggs]

24. That works for me, too! nt

[MadHound]

26. Better yet, why not switch over to renewable alternatives?

Then we wouldn't need oil.

We already have the off-the-shelf technology in biodiesel to meet all of our current fuel needs. We also already have the off-the-shelf technology in wind and solar to meet all of our electrical needs. All we have to do now is start the transition. Sure, there's going to be about a ten year break in time, but all the more reason to start now.

[China_cat]

34. But for a stopgap

instead of having 6 months worth of oil 10 years from now, use our own resources for our own people while we work on other things.

I want the trains back, and decent public transportation. If I ever have the money to build, my house will have solar panels, a windmill and a grey water system. And I'll have an Amish Cadillac. (A closed buggy) Until then we make do with double glazed windows, extra insulation, flourescent light bulbs, hand knitted socks and sweaters and 1 vehicle that's kept maintained for the most efficient performance...driven to work and shopping trips which are planned in advance to do the least driving possible.

[LSK]

25. I will not support drilling in ANWR

1. Environomental reasons - enough said there.

2. It is debated how much oil is there - some say 6 months supply, others might say years. Either way, it is just prolonging the inevitable!! Peak oil is near and WE HAVE TO GET OFF OUR OIL ADDICTION.

3. Drilling will not produce oil on the markets immediately. It can take several years before the oil actually comes on the market.

4. The oil will go on the INTERNATIONAL market. It will not be exclusive to America. These are Oil Corporations we are talking about, they are in it to make money and dont give a crap about our gas prices.

5. They will not be charged to drill on FEDERAL lands. The US Government is giving them FREE LAND to drill on. Our deficit strapped budget will get NOTHING from the oil proceeds.

[IdaBriggs]

27. Stop with your silly logic, you liberal!

Next you will be spouting nonsense like "companies do not have the right to pollute my neighborhood because they are too cheap to install appropriate safeguards" and "just because a mine isn't safe doesn't mean people who want to keep their jobs shouldn't go down there!"

(Nicely arranged set of arguments, by the way! With your permission, I will be borrowing them regularly!) :yourock:

[LSK]

33. spread the word

Feel free to quote what you need.

[B Calm]

32. An oil company has been stealing our oil from the northern slope

of Alaska since 1969 and selling it for huge profits to JAPAN!

http://www.news-miner.com/Stories/0,1413,113%257E7244%257E3291591,00.html

[Lorien]

35. Will Halliburtan build all the infrastructure to get that oil for free

too?

Oil profiteering at the taxpayers expense isn't limited to the oil itself.

And from NRDC action fund:

Here are the facts: the Energy Department says that drilling in the Arctic
Refuge would save consumers only one penny per gallon at the pump in 20 years!
Meanwhile, anyone who drives will be forced to take the Senate's $100 rebate
check -- paid for with our tax dollars -- and sign it over to ExxonMobil for
their next two tanks of gas.

Only an oil company could love a bill that picks the taxpayers' wallets for $12
billion in gas money. The Gas Price Relief and Rebate Act should really be
called the "Guaranteed Profits for Big Oil Act!"

Remember: these are the same Senators who passed a pro-polluter energy bill
last summer that refused to make America's gas-guzzlers more fuel-efficient,
but instead doled out billions of tax dollars to oil and coal companies. This
latest bill is just more of the same corporate welfare.

Call your Senators right now and tell them you will not surrender the Arctic
Refuge or line the pockets of the oil companies with your tax dollars.

And if you want to do even more to expose and defeat this shameless bill, go to
https://www.nrdcactionfund.org/arctic/donate.asp
right now and make a donation so we can escalate this campaign in defense of
the Arctic Refuge over the next critical days. Thank you!

Sincerely,

Robert Redford
NRDC Action Fund

. . .

[IdaBriggs]

36. Yup. Its all part of the "free" part of the plan!

And if they aren't willing to do it all for free, then they aren't going to get the go-ahead!!!

:evilgrin: