new offshore drilling?????

[BrendaQG]

At that point it will make financial sense to own a horse. But then all the bio-fuel craze will have made corn and oats to feed a horse so expensive anyway! (Many people do not realize but just about every major american city has laws on the books that specify what a person should do with a horse in the city. It would be totally legal to ride around on a horse. Totally legal.

The only city where I have ever seen that in my life was in a little town called Arleta, CA in the San Fernando Valley. The next door neighbors had chickens too. If we were all smart we would do likewise.

[chefmike]

I'm really thinking about buying a Vespa. So what if it looks nerdy as hell.

[trish]

Just bought a Prius about a month ago. Aside from the fact that I average 40MPG in the city, I simply love driving it. What I haven't looked into is the overall footprint the thing makes on the environment. How much energy does it take to produce one. If large numbers of people drive them, will battery disposal become a big ecological problem? (I also ride a bike back and forth to work and my favorite coffee shop.)

Brenda's right in that we need to be open minded about all forms of energy, including nuclear. (Obama isn't dismissing nuclear energy options). But we also need to scrutinize their risks carefully.

[DSpar]

In my opinion the only answer is nuclear. Nuclear poses two problems though: 1) if vehicles were nuclear powered the would be no need for gasoline as it pertains to vehicles (it still has other uses). That event would singlehandedly wipeout most of the top oil companies 2) The safety issue/ home land security. Somebody is bound to drop rhetoric about how you could turn a car into a nuclear bomb (although theoretically they would have valid concern). Or what to do about the radiation.

[trish]

Nuclear powered cars is just waaaaay too problematic. Nuclear power plants, on the other hand, we already have. We just need to seriously review the safety constraints, the waste problem, the proliferation issues and environmental impact.

[thx1138]

Firstly the oil is going to stay where it is because there's a serious shortage of oceanic drilling rigs until 2012 (estimated). Secondly how do we know what's down there is "sweet, light crude" (low sulfur content? There's plenty of high sulfur content crude oil around but very few refineries are able to process it. Why drill it if there are no refineries that can handle the distillation? This is one of those phony solutions to a problem created by the Republicans frienship with big oil. If McCain is elected these offshore drilling proposals will quietly fall into the memory hole.

[qeuqheeg222]

in louisiana the refineries really stank up the whole countryside next to them...cancer alley.....i think we need more refineries in some place like long island or connecticut...god forbid in the investment bankers back yard.....

[thx1138]

There's plenty of open space around 1600 Pennsylvania avenue to set up a refinery. also the proposal to create 45 new nuclear generators is bogus too. Where are they going to get the uranium to power them? Is there enough enrichment capacity to turn raw uranum into enriched uranium suitable to generate enough heat to power up these 45 plants?

[JelenaCD]

When you don't build new oil refining plants or nuclear power plants and don't drill your own oil resources in 30 years and China, India on rapid growth you get higher prices , and all americans flush with real estate gains over the years buy big gas guggling SUV'S , now it all comes down ! The environmentalist should love high gas prices anyway because it saves us from global warming so be happy to pay for global warming ! it's just the begining of gov't taking over our lives to address the global global warming hoax ! high gas prices are the begining of cap and trade , you are evil to have a high carbon footprint and you pay the price you criminal !

[trish]

Actually environmentalists do love seeing gas prices in the U.S. finally reach the level of the world market. It will in force American's to think about their rate of energy consumption. The government does indeed need to regulate oil companies because global climate change is not a hoax. For the first time in millennia the Northwest Passage became navigable. Northern nations are now arguing about who has claim to the Arctic. I not sure if I would characterize a multi-corporate entity with an enormous carbon footprint as evil, but I would say their behavior could be a threat to the survival of our energy intensive, consumerist civilization. Yes, if we continue to fuck up the environment, we all will pay.