Domestic use only
Recent efforts by Stephen King and WZON listeners have generously produced $240,000 towards the current $32.6 million shortfall in Maine heating oil assistance funding.
However, it is difficult to ignore the elephant in the room here: Our nation has no coherent strategy to promote affordable energy and energy independence — 40 years after the gas shortages of the 1970s.
Furthermore, it is unhelpful for our elected leaders to shrug their shoulders, act like mere spectators in all of this or to tell us that they have a sizable household heating oil bill, too. That doesn’t make any senior citizen — with a thermostat set at 60 degrees — feel any warmer.
Undoubtedly, energy efficiency is part of the solution here. But merely insulating our homes and pumping more air into our tires is not enough. We also need more supply to bring prices down. To this end, Congress can easily pass legislation designating any oil we can receive or extract as for “domestic use only.”
A good start in addressing supply would be for the president to sign off on the Keystone Pipeline. If not, this Canadian oil will be sold to China instead and we will have Chinese tankers off our shores, with all of the attendant risks and none of the benefits from this oil.
Perhaps our elected officials will speak out on behalf of this legislation and for beleaguered consumers, particularly those with little, whose lives are being turned upside down by high energy prices. That would be quite a Christmas gift, indeed.
David D. Wilson
Levant
Not for the better
I find I can no longer ignore the ongoing debate concerning MaineCare that is currently occurring in our Legislature.
Having been in nursing for 35-plus years, I have seen the need people have for access to quality health care. It has become very apparent that as a society we have fallen to a lower level of compassion for our fellow man and woman. The main reason given is that we “can’t afford” to continue with MaineCare as it now exists.
Of those who advocate the radical changes now being pushed, I have one request. Please be upfront and say that it will be acceptable for some of the people who will be denied health care to die. This is what will occur when people are moving out of assisted living facilities or cut off from primary care providers.
It would be a shame for us to be denying care to some of the sickest and poorest among us while providing care to our part-time legislators. Besides, most of these people will end up in emergency rooms and the costs will be higher than they presently are and the costs will be absorbed by our already strapped and overwhelmed hospitals.
I urge our representatives and senators to use extreme caution when planning and voting on changes to MaineCare. They will affect us all, and if we are not careful, the changes will not be for the better.
Robert Simpson
Rockport
Free TV time
I read the Bangor Daily News every morning and always look to the Letters to the Editor section to find out how people feel on a variety of issues.
One particular letter caught my eye earlier this week entitled, “Less TV time.” The writer gave a passionate argument about wasteful government spending, highlighting a television spot that features me advising drivers on the documents they need in order to renew or obtain a Maine driver’s license.
Given the financial situation our state is in, I completely understand this frustration, which is why I want to respond to the letter and clear up any confusion there may be on this matter. The advertisement in question is actually a public service announcement and is running on local television channels for free.
Maine broadcasters air PSAs on behalf of government agencies or nonprofit organizations at no cost in order to provide information to the public. In this case, the PSA is intended to make drivers aware of some relatively new requirements regarding the application for or renewal of their Maine driver’s licenses.
I appreciate the inquiry and the opportunity to let Mainers know that when they see this information on TV, they can be sure it isn’t at taxpayer expense.
Charles E. Summers Jr.
Secretary of State
Burned by Congress
A history lesson and a today lesson to our out-of-touch House and Senate from the New York Post, Saturday, Jan. 19, 1935: “Hitler Abolishes Job Insurance: Public Charity System Fails to Solve Relief Problem for Germany,” (a series on conditions in Nazi Germany by Richard Shafter, Federated Press).
“One of the first steps of the Hitler government toward that well-advertised goal of ‘National Socialism’ was to abolish the last vestiges of the unemployment insurance system, which had been created under the pressure of the German workers. Care of the ever growing army of unemployed has since been left entirely to public charity.”
And how well did that work? The article went on to state over 2 million were unemployed, though Hitler’s government said there were few. It said photos showed Hitler and Goebbels in public squares accepting goods like “benevolent mendicants” for the unemployed. It was called a Winter Aid drive: “Organized beggary thus had taken the place of unemployment insurance,” the story said.
Charity is a wonderful gift from people to people, but I hope we have more than potatoes and canned goods for our returning military when they become unemployed, with the rest, in the future. I do not like how our House and Senate keep holding an ax over the necks of unemployed Americans, using them for political points for re-elections. Both sides! We, the people, are a candle, and our government is burning us from both ends.
Fran Drabick
Eastport
The book’s ending
BDN columnist Gwynne Dyer’s piece “Religion doesn’t equal morality” is aptly named. He speaks, of course, about Christianity and the Bible mixed with politics and/or self-righteousness.
The past 2,000 years of Christianity has developed its warts, pimples and moral shortcomings as a religious faith with spiritually imperfect and “unholy” believers. It is rightfully blamed for wars, conflicts, injustices and has its share of immoral Christians including Henry VIII, Lucrezia and Cesare Borgia (Banquet of Chestnuts). But if anyone wants to know what will happen when mankind universally attempts to live without Christianity just read the Book of Revelation.
Richard Mackin
Millinocket
A couple of things about the politics amaze me but should be expected;
1) The right wing nuts demonize those opposed to the pipeline as left wing radical enviroterrorists. In fact, many in opposition are the ranchers and farmers and republican leadership in the states involved. Ranchers and farmers are not exactly known for being flaming left wing radicals. They are simply trying to protect their businesses and property. One would think other politically conservative individuals would see their point of view.
2) When it comes to the US economy which is a supply (taxes)/demand (expenses) situation, conservatives want to reduce the demand side by reducing expenses. When it comes to the US energy situation, conservatives want to increase the supply side (production through drilling more) and do nothing about the demand side (oil usage).
The fact is that with the difference between what we produce and what we consume we will probably always need to import oil. We currently import about 60% of what we consume. With the increase in consumption by China, India, and other emerging industrial countries and a slowly decreasing supply as reserves are used up, oil prices are going to continue to rise. It is an internationally traded commodity. We will probably never be able to produce as much as we consume at the current rate of consumption. Therefore the emphasis should be on reducing consumption by investing in alternate sources of energy. Yet the political conservatives are opposed to development in other energy sources.
All this leads me to be suspicious of any statements in favor of drilling or further oil production.
North America probably has more oil than the middle east. This country could easily provide all of it’s oil supply but won’t because of NIMBY and environmental activists. I am for a clean environment…I am for a good economy. There is a way to tap the supply safely and cleanly. But the environmental groups only look at one side…the environment. They are so adamant in their positions that they prohibit just about every activity from occurring. It can not be a one way street. If the environmentalists do not want to come up with solutions that work for the environment and work with everyday folks who need jobs and domestic commodities, then we are going to have to oppose them at every level to keep the economy working.
You are wrong about the amount of oil in the US, and even if so, the companies have no legal obilgation, (and no morals at all) to sell the oil to the US. THere is one deposit in the States that people are saying to drill htat the technology needed to extract it from where it is does not exist yet.
Sorry about that “me Bucko”… the United States has the largest energy reserves in the world. This report issued this month by the Congressional research office specifically states what the reserves are and if anyone cared this would have been the top news story of the year. But lord forbid the environmentalists would want anyone to know this!
http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Files.View&FileStore_id=04212e22-c1b3-41f2-b0ba-0da5eaead952
Further all the technology exists to extract these energy reserves.
U.S. proved reserves of oil total 19.1 billion barrels, reserves of natural gas total 244.7 trillion cubic feet, and natural gas liquids reserves of 9.3 billion barrels. Undiscovered technically recoverable oil in the United States is 145.5 billion barrels, and undiscovered technically recoverable natural gas is 1,162.7 trillion cubic feet. The demonstrated reserve base for coal is
488 billion short tons, of which 261 billion short tons are considered technically recoverable.
We consume 60% of the oil that comes out of the ground world wide every day and we are but 4% of the world’s population. Do you actually think that this is sustainable? What is going to happen when the emerging economies in China and India start pulling up to the pump? $10 a gallon gas?
Very simple the country can convert to natural gas. vehicles can be converted, gas stations, home heat, and it can power everything. It is clean and reliable. The USA has
trillions upon trillions of cubic feet of natural gas. Oil is limited. Why we are not converting totally to natural gas is because the oil companies are using us. Why would they want to when they can claim short supply, run prices up and maximize profits.
I live 11 miles outside of Bangor. Natural Gas will never be available where I live.
I wouldn’t be to sure about that the Maritimes and Northeast natural gas pipeline goes through the Bangor area. The state of Maine is getting ready to push natural gas in January to get the state off of home heating oil. Within 10 years this state could primarily be running off of natural gas.
“In January, energy is going to be a big push,” LePage said, “I want to
talk with the legislature about natural gas infrastructure. We are
gearing up now to talk with all of the natural gas companies, we want
them to come in and talk to us about what we can do to get them to
invest in the state of Maine.”
Most of the oil companies are also long on natural gas and would love to have it used more. Being a gas, handling is more difficult as a transportation fuel.
The US imports about 10 million barrels a day for a total of 3.65 billion barrels a year, about 5 years of known reserves. The Undiscovered technically recoverable oil in the United States is not a known number. It is a best guess of what might be there. being undiscovered, no one really knows how much is there. Of course, you could say that this is what scientists say, but then wouldn’t you also have to side with them on global warming? You see, most scientists are also envrionmentlists.
US geological survey has quantified the reserves. The term “undiscovered technically recoverable” refers to the prohibition the federal government policy has put in place. The resource is available …the government just won’t let us get it! Every time there is an energy crisis we are supposed to change energy policy but BIG OIL gets in the way every time. Natural gas is the way to go. For vehicles and home heating.
“In truth, ‘reserves’ is just one of several categories used to
quantify oil and, on its own, misrepresents America’s potential. To
classify a barrel as a reserve, you have to drill, prove the oil is
there, and meet strict criteria established by the Securities and
Exchange Commission. It’s not an easy process.”
This number excludes the billions of barrels of oil that’s off-limits due to restrictive federal policy, classified as undiscovered, technically recoverable resources (UTRR) and not counted with the proven reserves. According to recent government estimates, that is more than 116 billion barrels of UTRR oil on federal lands. Access
to these restricted reserves will generate American jobs, increase U.S.
energy security and provide significant revenues to state and local
governments.”
The document you quoted contradicts your position.
Estimates of undiscovered resources for the UnitedStates are made by the U.S. Geological Survey for resources on land, and by the U.S. Bureau ofOcean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (formerly the Minerals ManagementService) for resources offshore. These assessments are based on observation of geologicalcharacteristics similar to producing areas and many other factors. Reported statistics forundiscovered resources may vary greatly in precision and accuracy (determined retrospectively),which are directly dependent upon data availability, and their quality may differ for different fuelsand different regions. Because estimates of undiscovered resources are based partly on currentproduction practices, they are generally reported as undiscovered technically recoverableresources.
What don’t you get about a Congressional research report? It is true that there is not an absolute accurate way to predict exactly what the reserve are. However I can say with certainty that there are far more reserves than anyone has been led to believe especially the massive volume of natural gas.
Here is the link to the report.
http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Files.View&FileStore_id=04212e22-c1b3-41f2-b0ba-0da5eaead952
Wow, if you can say with certainty how much and where the oil is, why do we need scientists. Just tell everyone wehre it is and how to get it. You are amazing!
You are obviously a few bricks short of a ton when it comes to reading comprehension.
That is not what I stated. However I will say you would be on a par with the Governor when it comes to making broad, useless and meaningless statements. You would make a perfect politician.
I am impressed with your distortions too! First time I have ever been compared to the Governor, whcih proves you do not know me at all. In all of your posts, I still can’t determine if you are for the pipeline or in favor of trying to force other nations to stop polluting., must be my reading comprehension again! You seem the perfect Republican to me! “I can say with certainty” seems like a very broad sweeping statement to me, the stove calling the kettle black?
For once we agree…I do not know you at all…you do not know me…and I can say with certainty I am not a Republican and I certainly do not want to know you. How’s that for a broad sweeping statement.
And who knows, you may already. I am sorry to call you a Republican though, that is a low blow!
Please provide reserves data for the rest of the world.
remember BP & the LA coastline
The US does not have any of its own oil. The US leases tracts of land to oil extraction companies that extract the crude, refine it, and sell it on the open market. If China is willing to pay BP or Exxon more than the US distributors then that oil goes to China, simple economics my friend.
IF the US wanted it’s own oil we would have to create a National Oil Company, and that would be (drumroll please…..) SOCIALISM,, the dreaded cancer that will destroy the US.
So no, WE don’t have any US oil. Oil extraced by international coorporations is a fungible commodity sold on the open market to the highest bidder.
In fact we have been a net exporter of refined petroleum products for the last year or so. Remember its not the oil companies job to provide you woth inexpensive fuel, there job is to provide maximum profit to their shareholders.
Boy are you misinformed. Congress has the power to regulate trade with foreign nations,
lay duties and tariffs on Imports and Exports. If these fools would wake up and exercise their power. A duty or impost could be laid on these exports that would make it unprofitable for these oil companies to export oil thereby reserving these commodities for the states. As it stands right now many of these oil companies ship the oil to offshore refineries and bring them back in as foreign oil for higher profit. One example is the HESS refinery in the Caribbean.
So while you think it may be simple economics you are completely ignoring the fact of what could be done to stop the practice.
So how am I misinformed??
We are conducting business exactly as I said correct? The US does not own the oil, period what part of that don’t you understand? We also choose NOT to levy duties or tariffs on the oil companies because the price would go UP, as they pass the tax onto the consumer. Nations with nationalized ooil companies (Russia, Saudi, Norway, Brazil) don’t have to contend with this because the state has claimed the oil for itself.They MAY choose to sell it foriegn if they wish, but the state owns the resource.
I guess you don’t get it. Tariffs or duties are on goods coming in or going out of the country. Not on goods produce in this country. If oil is “produced” in this country and it stays in this country there is no tariff on it. The US government provides domestic oil leases to the oil companies…WE OWN THE OIL…they choose to give it away.
Reserves data, including proven reserves (the most important and relaible data) are available and do not support your conclusions.
Insurance companies have routinely incorporated death panels as a vested way of doing business.
What we should do is stop listening to degrading human remarks like yours and stop giving the Industrial War Machine money to kill boogiemen worldwide so as to protect the “interests” of our most wealthy. We should spend those zillions on our education and our well being. The United States of Americas has lost its way in protecting and caring for its own.
I have no sympathy for those who overeat and get sick. If they cannot afford their own health treatment then too bad. Drugs and alcohol, the users either hit bottom and CHOOSE to fix themselves or they die. Not my problem. Waste of money to try and “save” them.
Equality of care is one of those feel good ideas that would be nice. but it is never going to happen in the real world. And it should not. As long as do-gooders continue to try and shield people from the consequences of their bad decisions and life choices you enable and encourage more people to make those bad choices.
You obviously didn’t read what I wrote. Drugs and alcohol are addictive; without medical treatment and supportive families, people hooked on substances will fail repeatedly. It sounds like you come from an alcoholic or drug-addicted family yourself. Get some help for your anger. If you have to scapegoat people you don’t understand, then you have the problem not them. Believe it or not, there are people who cannot change their behavior even if they want to. People get sick no matter what we want.
Hold people accountable and make insurance affordable for everyone. Give them incentives to change. What will motivate you to help yourself with your problems?
“Drugs and alcohol are addictive” Duh, isn’t that obvious?
“without medical treatment and supportive families, people hooked on substances will fail repeatedly” Hogwash. Most medical treatment is ineffectual at treating addiction and most is nothing more than substituting one addictive drug for another. What most refer to as “Supportive” families usually are enabling of the addiction. People hooked on substances will repeatedly fail until they find the strength and sufficient reason within themselves to stop. Nothing else, especially some outside influence, works.
Only in the liberal mind set is telling the truth about people labeled as scrapegoating them.
You are right, “there are people who cannot change their behavior even if they want to”. We need to stop wasting money on those people.
“People get sick no matter what we want.” Duh, again. That doesn’t make it my responsibility to pay for their care any more than it is theirs to pay for mine.
“Hold people accountable” I really have to laugh at this one after half your post is about how people are incapable of being responsible for themselves.
“make insurance affordable for everyone.” The only way to make insurance affordable is to control costs. As long as you insist on mandating increased access and treatments cost is going to be out of control.
pretty harsh, isn’t it? There are lots of good people who have some hard times in this life
The Keystone XL pipeline will be moved to avert being run over the Nebraska Aquifier. The reason Environmentalists are using the term “dirty oil” is because they can not protest the origin of the oil in Canada. There are many oil pipelines across the USA. What makes this one different..the label. Hope your heating oil price is working for you and hope the “dirty oil” gets shipped to China to help advance the economic destruction of the country.
This is not the same oil as what you see gushing out of wells in the movies. It is considered dirty oil because:
Extracting oil from the tar sands is a nasty, polluting, energy-intensive business. To get at the tar sands, oil companies must first cut down huge tracts of the boreal forests that cover Alberta before deploying huge, industrial-scale shovels and draglines to dig up the tar sand itself – a black goo that resembles roof tar mixed with beach sand. After dumping the goo into enormous vats of superhot water to separate out the sand and skim off the oil, refiners use an expensive and complex process called hydrocracking to turn the thick, sulfury gunk into gasoline or diesel. Finally, all the water and sand left over from the process – laden with heavy metals and toxins – is pumped into giant holding areas that form massive lakes of toxic sludge. In Alberta, all this takes place on a scale so large that it can be seen from space; the “lakes” of sludge alone are among the largest human-built projects in the world.Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/is-the-keystone-pipeline-really-dead-20111123#ixzz1hcnxGmug
Dirty oil indeed. If there is not a problem with it, why did the company influence the State Department to put out fake data related to it? Where there is smoke, there is fire!
Thank you for posting that description. My posts were excessively long as is. I did not have the space to explain this complex process clearly. People are not aware of what is meant by ‘dirty oil’. You have described it well.
This is exactly my point, environmentalists in the USA can not protest Canadian environmental policy…so they protest the pipeline to carry oil. One only needs to look at the economy of China and all their coal plants polluting the atmosphere. I don’t see the environmental groups protesting in China or protesting their goods coming into the USA. So why are we protesting Canadian goods coming into the USA? What’s the difference here?
All countries need to operate on the same environmental-economic policy. But these fools would rather stiffle our industry rather than level the global playing field and it is ruining our country. Got my point yet?
There are protests in Canada.
There is no beneift for the US here. It is a beneift for Canada not to have a leaky pipeline across their country, and a benefit for the Canadian Oil Company that probablypays no US taxes.
Why is it you do not think anyone is protesting in China? Are you saying we should build shoddy Nuclear Plants like Russia? I am just amazed that you would use an “everyone else is doing it, why don’t we?” reasoning on the environment.
They also arrest peple in China for protesting, should we do that?
Hello …are we home yet? If you read my post I stated “All countries need to operate on the same environmental-economic policy.
But these fools would rather stiffle our industry rather than level the
global playing field.
Every Country needs to operate under an equal set of environmental standards. It is called fair trade. If a country is a polluter their goods should not be allowed to enter any country who does follow the standards. I guess I should have been more specific and stated it as follows . It is not up to us to lower our standards to China. It is up to China to raise it’s environmental standards or we put a 30% environmental tariff on their goods or prohibit Imports from China. If Canada is meeting environmental standards then their goods should be allowed in. Otherwise the same applies.
The reason it is called dirty oil is the nature of that particular oil reserve and the technology required to extract it. We may have more oil than the middle east, we certainly produce more making us the #3 world producer. I believe the figures are that we produce 8 million barrels/day and consume 20 million/day. As I stated, Canada does not ship enough oil to use the full capacity of the pipelines now in existence in the US. They could not possibly produce enough to meet our demand. The Keystone XL pipeline will help Canada export more of its oil to other foreign countries, not to the US.
Environmentalists have insisted on alternate energy sources. The problem is that some of them are still in the primitive technology stage, and those advocating more drilling use that as an excuse for their insistence on more drilling. We should be working to develop more alternatives and at the same time looking for ways to reduce our use of oil. (I have cut my winter oil use from 600 gal to 200 gal.)
Farmers, Ranchers, and republican politicians in the affected states are opposed to the pipeline. These are all conservatives concerned about the potential damage to their economies. They are not environmentalists, terrorists, communists, etc. They are simply trying to protect themselves.
The “leftist” unions, support the pipeline because it will create (temporary) jobs.
This is not a left wing vs. right wing issue, as many would like to paint it. It is more of a local politicians and small businesses vs. big oil and national politicians. We all know why the national politicians say yes to anything the oil companies tell them.
You need to look at our country operating on natural gas. We have the most on earth.
…reserves of natural gas total 244.7 trillion cubic feet, and natural gas liquids reserves of 9.3 billion barrels. undiscovered technically recoverable natural gas is 1,162.7 trillion cubic feet and it’s clean not dirty.
Thanks for that info. I do not think you and I are on opposite sides of the issue. I think we are looking at it from different points of view. I post the info I have because some think it is an us vs them issue, a simple problem with a simple solution. Some do not want to delve into the complexities and prefer a one dimensional view. In the long term “drill baby drill” is not the best and only solution to our future energy needs.
In the end, no matter what side of the issue you are on, there is a finite amount of fosil fuel in this planet. At some point in time we will have to invest heavily into a combination of alternative energy, and energy efficiency. The question is when?
And how will that be paid for???? You could take every penny the wealthy have in our country at this time it would not cover our deficit. So that would mean that even with increased taxes we CAN’T DO EVERYTHING IN THE WORLD FOR EVERYONE.
I am much more interested in improved healthcare then where my energy comes from today. Unfortunately most people don’t have the luxury of vision twenty years down the road. Let’s be honest, some abstract idea is just not as important as having proper health care. If one area has to take a hit it’s the Solyndra’s of the world. If it’s that vital, that important, then certainly visionaries like Bill gates and George Soros should be supplying all the funding needed.
The sick and the poor certainly have my vote over FEEL GOOD PROJECTS that rarely show results. At least not fiscal results.
As one of many who live in Maine and work in the drilling business, it seems to me that you might prefer it if we were unemployed.
I am also a bit skeptical that the oil sands companies will be cracking the crude before pumping it south to the GOM.
I do not know how you come to think I believe you should be unemployed. patom1 below has given the answer I would.
You don’t seem to think much of drilling. If no drilling, no drilling jobs.
I do not think much of unrestrained anything. We have been aware since at least the 1970s that our energy supply is limited and growth has increased the need for reliable sources. This was well before China, India, and other countries emerged as industrial nations requiring the same resources which our economy was built on. As patom1 pointed out, at some point we will have to decide how we are going to provide that energy if we want to stay the leader as the world’s economy. The question is when. New technologies sometimes take decades to develop, as in the case of solar power (more efficient batteries for storage). I am sure oil will be necessary for at least another century.
We have also been aware that reckless destruction of the environment will have long term adverse consequences such as the health of our descendents. Let’s not endanger our food and water supplies by indiscriminate drilling in sensitive areas until the technology is there to assure the safety.
When I moved to NH in the early 1980s I was unaware that the town water was polluted with chemicals. I cooked a meal and then left the aluminum pans soaking in water. When I returned from a shopping trip imagine my surprise at finding holes eaten through the pans. While this was not oil based chemicals, the same principle applies. Fracking has been shown to contaminate well water. As one unlucky victim said, “When you can turn on your tap water and light it with a match you know there is something wrong”.
Those belittling environmentalists apparently think oil will be here forever. While many environmentalists go to the extreme also, most are realistic and simply want to look at alternatives now before it is too late. I hope that is the general idea taken from my posts.
C’mon Milo,
You know as well as I that the yards in Singapore & South Korea are stacked for the next 3 years with newbuild orders for drillships & semi’s. I can’t keep engineers on my ship because the oil companies are throwing money at them. We now have an Ice class drillship as well for arctic exploration.
As the oil gets harder to find, the technology advances and the extraction is more costly. All to the good for anyone in the drilling industry.
C’mon, Bill,
Oil companies do not throw money at engineers, drilling contractors do. I know a few guys working for the operators but the vast majority are working for companies like Noble or Transocean.
Many environmentalists would like to shut down drilling altogether – and they’ve managed it in the GOM for now. An article in RigZone today noted that rigs that left after Macondo may stay away and continue working in places like Brazil or West Africa rather than return. Better wages abroad will also make it difficult to hire experienced rig crews for the GOM. All of this hurts America’s attempts to achieve greater energy self-reliance.
Semantics Milo,
Drilling companies are contracted by oil companies. And we will never have energy independence, because we don’t own the resource. Everyone thinks that because the oil comes from the GOM its ours, FALSE. We sell leases to companies to explore areas for resources (oil) and they own the oil that comes from that lease. If BP wants to sell it stateside they can, but if it fetches more in China, they can sell it abroad. We do not have a US National Oil Company, so we don’t “own” any of the resource that we have leased out. Enviros or not the GOM will boom again once the $/barrel climbs back up.
I don’t think you have to worry about your drilling job. Oil is used for many products besides gasoline and diesel. Without oil manufacturing would colapse. It is just that heating oil and gasoline is the most dirty of the uses we can put it to.
And I agree with you. Now, if you could get more PRIVATE investment for alternative energy sources I would support them.
amcon–I’ve read that book too. It’s fiction.
The problem with the Maine care system is not that it is broke…it is broken. The waste fraud and abuse that goes on in Maine’s health system is almost three times more costly than other states. MASS, NH, RI and Conn. average cost per capita is $67…Maine’s is $168 just for child services. Why? The system is grossly mismanaged, There are way to many providers and way to many charging to much. DHHS is totally incapable of managing the financial aspect of the system. If the system were fixed, you could cut the cost of the system in half and still provide more quality services to more people. The first thing a politician sees when they
look to cut is the money. They fail to hold the bureaucracy accountable. Fail to hire effective management and fail to provide oversight of these agencies. How many times has the DHHS commissioner come up with OOPS! we’re $100million over budget in 6 weeks. How did it happen, what is the root cause of the problem. You just don’t instantly lose $100million overnight. The Health care industry is the biggest industry in Maine. What does it produce….a trail of misery.
There is a reason Canada does not want a pipeline carrying sludge across its country. The company building it already has pipelines prone to leak. This Keystone pipeline runs across water aquifiers used by several states. And what make you think this Canadian Company won’t go for the highest profit, which typically does not mean the US. In fact, read this story from Rolling Stone, here is an excerpt.
The State Department, by contrast, estimated that building the pipeline would employ no more than 6,000 construction workers – and that once Keystone was finished, the number of permanent pipeline jobs could be as few as 50.
As for the idea that the pipeline would increase America’s energy security: Much of the tar sands shipped to Texas would likely wind up overseas. Valero, one of the biggest refiners contracted to buy the oil from the pipeline, already exports six percent of its gasoline and 18 percent of its diesel, mostly to South America. What’s more, the most profitable market for refiners right now is selling diesel to Europe. “For the refiners, this is all about buying low-cost tar sands crude and selling into high-profit markets in the European Union,” says Stockman, the researcher at Oil Change International. “This oil is not going to replace oil from the Middle East. That’s not the way the global oil market works. This is not instead of – it’s as well as.” The Keystone pipeline, in short, wouldn’t increase our energy independence – it would just further fuel our oil addiction.
Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/is-the-keystone-pipeline-really-dead-20111123#ixzz1hclVCGtk
Keystone pipeline needs to stay dead in the water, it is bad for the US.
I’m not going to dispute you because you appear to know much more then I do on the subject. However, using Rolling Stone as a reference doesn’t really give me comfort in someone’s credibility.
You should look into it. They have won awards for journilism and are being quoted by a lot of major newspapers. They have a liberal swing, but the reporting seems honest. They identified the fake derivatives market almost a year before the major news outlets did. Much more accurate and honest then fox news! The article on rick Perry is a real eye opener. The story about Austrailia is scary.
Robert Simpson, I agree. Too bad that the right wingers have already preopted the death squad label to those advocating a national health coverage system.
Once again, allowing yourself to be manipulated. Just a few days ago Politifact Called “Mediscare” the LIE OF THE YEAR. By all means if all you can do is spew venom with no point then do so, just make sure yo don’t get your opinions from AL Sharpton.
Start thinking about what’s going on, HAVE an informed opinion, Don’t let someone else give it to you. By the way, i’m all for national healthcare. So no i’m not a righty. How about we get the FACTS and not partisan opinions?
Your need to continuously attack the right is pathetic. ATTACK THE GOVERNMENT Left and right. Demand answers. Don’t accept the nonsense they feed you.
Politifact called the claim that republican plans for medicare would end medicare as we know it the lie of the year. In their survey, it was actually the third choice, but they picked it over the other two. In actual fact the claim of republicans ending medicare is true. In spite of evidence submitted to them, they refused to recant their claim. That and looking at the funding for Politifact tells which side of the political aisle they sit on. I no longer use them as a source of information.
In other words if they happen to disagree with you then all of a sudden they have no credibility????
Left ,right, I don’t care… You people have got to get your heads out of certain orifices and start paying attention. It’s not the Democratic or the Republican party themselves that are the problem. It’s the system and the CAREER politician that prefer to keep things at a standstill.
IT’S NOT ALWAYS ABOUT PARTY LINES PEOPLE. GROW UP.
That’s right. I have decided to use the methods of the holier than thou bible thumping right wing nuts. If you don’t agree with me, and especially if you use veiled insults, you must be a bible toting nazi.
Seriously, look at the way they picked an obvious truth and labeled it the lie of the year. A rose by any other name is a rose, but calling skunk cabbage a rose does not make it a rose.
what does society do with an elderly person who is no longer eligible for MaineCare and is kicked out of assisted living? If this person qualified for assisting living medically, their health isn’t so bad that nursing home care is needed. where is the person going to live? I don’t believe we are ready to ME to watch an elderly person die on the street. We are concerned about people not having enough money to heat their homes this winter. What about those w/o a home?
Just a few thoughts,
Ya know that 2 month payroll tax holiday? What was that money going towards? Social security? The general fund? In other words we get the “feel good” legislature. (Really? A father not being able to afford pizza night? that’s the best you could do for an example? ) That does put a few more dollars in our pocket for a couple of months but what did we just take away from other programs?? Tax the wealthy by all means. There haven’t been any changes in the tax code in the last couple of weeks that i’m aware of though so we’re cutting off our noses to save our face. Your government is choosing to put us further in the red to garner votes. PLAIN AND SIMPLE.
One thing I fail to see getting much attention, Politifact decreed “Mediscare,Throw gramma off a ledge” To be the lie of the year. I’m pro-health care but if you can’t get your point across honestly then your just another politician to me. Both sides lie on a regular basis. Why should I believe anything any of them say?
I’ve seen reports that we send at least 10 billion a year to china for humanitarian aid. If a good portion of every dollar we borrow is coming from China then THEY ARE LENDING US OUR OWN MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!! Our politicians are nothing more then sniveling toads with a hand out in the back room o whenever possible..
Although I don’t agree with the Tea party on social issues their main point from the beginning was that our government was corrupt. They don’t understand the system. They don’t understand that greased palms and special interests are what really move the wheels in Washington,o they’re labeled obstructionists. Isn’t it funny that neither the main stream left or RIGHT likes them? They keep saying 2 plus 2 equals four and Boehner, Reid and all the others tell them, “No, no, this is the new math, WE’LL explain it to you”. Imagine if we voted them ALL out.????
To the Kings, the assistance you receive is truly appreciated. Still think he’s kind of a jerk for replacing ESPN with far left babble that probably has an audience one tenth of ESPN. And spare me, Rush Limbaugh is the righty equivalent of these baboons. ,No partisanship here. I don’t trust, or respect many if any politicians.
TERM LIMITS.
AND TELL THE FAR LEFT OR RIGHT OF YOUR PARTIES TO SHUT UP AND GROW UP.
Basic econimics and the rule of supply and demand wouild indicate that as we increase usage of natural gas, the demand goes up, th price goes up. Granted I would rather see the money go to Canada then any oil company, but I don’t see huge energy savings costs for Maine, just swapping one fuel for another. to truely lower Maine’s energy costs, the Governor should push for the renewable tidal, wind, hydro, and soar fuels.
Robert Simpson, Fran Drabick: Good letters. Charles Summers, a good letter (for a change).