Coal companies and Oil companies are defining the future energy plans of this country.

We are at a key moment in our economic, political and environmental futures.  There is an increasing awareness of the need for energy independence and environmentally friendly energy.  We have an opportunity to solve these legitimate issues in a far reaching, planet saving, approach or fall back on the easy way.  I, for one, do not want to be part of a generation that takes the easy way.  We owe it to ourselves and our children to fight the right fight, however difficult that may be.  The right fight is one that makes these two issues into one issue.  We can find solutions that free us from foreign dictators AND are environmentally friendly.

Our energy plan for the future needs to be one that relies on efficiencies in our distribution and use of electricity, comes from renewable clean energy sources, and is local to the electrical users.  It will require innovation, new technology and a consumer commitment to make this happen.  The government needs to provide guidance, lofty goals, limited support where needed, and for the most part get out of the way.  Tom Friedman in his new book, “Hot, Flat and Crowded”, is calling it the ‘ET’ revolution or Energy Technology.  He compares it to the IT revolution which led to amazing productivity enhancements across our economy.

Whatever we call it, how we move forward on these issues will define us as a generation.

Drill, Baby, Drill, is a sad commentary of how things work now.  Oil companies and lobbyists, that both campaigns swear off as having no place in Washington, have made oil drilling a top topic and wrapped it in the, ‘Energy Plan for the Future’ blanket.  Although it may help with reducing oil dependency on the Axis of Oil, it does not do it in a way that is respectful of our planet. The more time we discuss this in public debates, the less time we spend on real solutions.  Solutions that can meet both goals of energy independence and renewable, clean energy.  Drill, baby, drill does not meet the basic principles outlined above, it is not clean, it is not local, and it is not renewable.

Let’s change the debate to a discussion of how we as Amercians can show humility, by admitting we have a problem, show fortitude, by applying our best resources to solving the problem, and show respect, for our planet and all of it’s residents.

LANSING, Mich. – Barack Obama put forward a broad energy plan Monday designed to end U.S. reliance on imported oil within 10 years and shore up his standing amid a tightening White House race and high-anxiety over gas prices.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080804/ap_on_el_pr/obama_energy
Obama’s new proposal, though, includes two significant reversals of positions he has taken in the past: He had steadfastly fought the idea of limited new offshore drilling and was against tapping the nation’s emergency oil stockpile to relieve pump prices that have stubbornly hovered around $4 a gallon.

Not only did Obama push for drawing from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, he also reiterated his changing position on offshore drilling — first revealed last Friday — suggesting that he could live with it if done in an environmentally sound way and as part of a bipartisan energy compromise.

See posts below;  We could impact the price of gas quickly by releasing from the SPR, or sell reserves to the oil companies for energy funds

UPDATE:

In thinking about this more, let’s kill several birds with one barrel. Or more specifically, how about we (the government) sell the oil to the oil companies at below market rates instead. After all, this was an investment the government made with our money, and for once it actually had a return. Unlike almost all other ‘savings’ plans administered by the bureacracy. The overall average cost per barrel of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is $24. Wow, $24.

So, as a mechanism to increase the supply of non-foreign imported oil, we release 50% of the reserve over the summer as stated below. We do this by selling it to US oil companies at a rate of say $75 per barrel. Whether we like it or not the existing oil companies have the distribution network, it has to get into their hands at some point. Conditions to place on this oil are that the ‘standard’ mark up is in place all the way down the distribution chain. Those numbers look something like this:  9% for distribution, 19% for profit and refining costs, 19% in taxes, and the rest, 53% for the cost of the oil.  No profit above and beyond the current mark ups. This would ensure that the gasoline price would come down at the pump.

The proceeds from this sale would net the government around 15B dollars. This should be set aside for some of the ideas listed below, such as the Conservation Corps. I am sure we can come up with other ways to use this oil dividend.

UPDATE END:

Remember the strategic oil reserve that the US has been buidling since 1975? Yes, in three hidden locations around the US, we have 700 million barrels of oil stockpiled for whatever emergencies await us from terrorists, OPEC shortages, or natural disaster. A bill in front of congress will add an additonal 350 million barrels by 2009. Do ya think that might drive up demand for oil and the price also… I must have gone to another economics class in college.

700 million barrels, we add about 100k barrels a day to the reserve from a total worldwide consumption of 82M barrels a day, so that is not the real answer. We should stop buying just to save the money. The government has spent over 20 billion on this initiative, since it’s conception.

John McCain’s plan to help you this summer is with a tax holiday by eliminating the federal gasoline tax during the summer. The fed tax on gasoline is around 18 cents or 5% reduction. OK, big whoop.

My plan is to release some of this reserve. Shake up the petty dictators and lower prices. Some ever larger percent of the $115 for a barrel is speculative BS from the market. Oh, China is growing, India, we all need oil, we all want oil. Well how about if we didn’t need as much for a few months, what would happen then. Last time we released reserves was in late 2000, about 30 million barrels. The price of gas fell 20%.

Ok, so let’s do it again. The US consumes 20 million barrels a day, about half of which is imported. The Strategic reserve estimates is can release 4.5 million barrels per day. So, let’s do that for the summer instead of the fed tax relief. Let’s release 4.5M barrels per day for 12 weeks for a total reduction of 378M from the reserve or cutting it in half.

So I am proposing reducing our imports from foreign countries for three months by %50. Do you think they would notice ? Do you think Wall Street would react favorably ? Remember we the taxpayers already paid for this, isn’t this a good time to use it? Yes, Yes, Yes.

Let’s shake it up. No more sissy ideas of tweaking around the edges. Bold ideas, Bold decisons.

This is government information from the Energy Information Administration.http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/petroleum/data_publications/company_level_imports/current/import.html

In summary, this is where our imports come from;

Obviously we have some potentially problematic sources here. Countries, with shall we say, problems with the western culture. We need to reduce, no, how about eliminate our need for imports from these countries. We have done this before.  You don’t see Iran on the list because we stopped imports from Iran awhile ago. Why not more countries?

This ‘oil economy’ creates the need for ‘oil politics’. We feel we must protect our interests by propping up these countries economies.  In most of the cases the countries are run by dictators or monarchs that spout abuse to the US, do not support human rights and make themselves rich. Later for that. Make it a priority to eliminate these sources. My Axis of Oil list would include; Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Venezuela, Iraq, Angola, Kuwait, Algeria, Congo, Chad, Russia.