Apparently America still doesn't get it

I looked at that site before. I was looking at crude oil. We produce 5.3MBPD and import 9MBPD. That's what I was looking at - strictly crude oil. That's typically what is looked at from what I've seen. Although, the part that's bad of the 18MBPD is that 70%+ goes to automotive use.

 

The evidence that America doesn't get it is that anyone would vote for a politician who says 'drill, baby, drill'.

And they keep giving tax breaks to oil companies to create disincentives for alternative energy.

 

Do some homework, look up who owned ,built, and ran that debacle. Foreign international corps. who have little vested interest in environmental concerns of this country. The regulators you idolize, dropped the pooch on that also. Perhaps graft, who knows. 36 years of being around the industry, has shown me that there have been great strides in environmental awareness of those who live where we work. Can there be mistakes? absolutely, look at the nuclear mess in Japan right now. Trouble with the gulf drilling is, even if we shut it down, Cuba, Mexico, and others will and are going ahead with exploration and development in the gulf. Nothing we can do about it, except import more and more, if a total energy policy is not instituted, including developing our untapped reserves.

 

Your source references "proved reserves", the term for already explored fields, fields that can be tapped at a certain monetary price. It is the industry standard terminology for such.

 

So if you have an old ragged out F-150.... The gas contained in it could be more then 10% the value of the vehicle.

 

Got gas today, the Chevy truck before me paid $93 for his gas!!! LMAO.

 

Chevette, wow that brings back some memories. I just saw one still on the road the other day.

A friend of mines mom had a Chevette when she was in grade school. She and her brother told everyone at school that their mom drove a "Vette". Everyone thought they had a Corvette.

 

I was too young to remember the gas shortages of the 70's. But I still remember the shortage we had here in Phoenix back in 03, when I had my first Prius. Woke up on a sunday, and was headed to my part time job delivering pizza. Literally every station was out of gas. Yellow police tape wrapped around all the pumps at every station. It lasted for several days. People would park at the pumps to wait for a truck. If they saw a truck with gas, they would follow it to wherever it was going. Most stations hired off duty police officers to direct people and keep peace. Those that didn't were pure chaos. Some people would wait in line for hours, only for the pumps to go dry when it was their turn. Others ran out of gas waiting, and had to push their car to the pump. There were people selling 2 gallon cans of gas for a nice little profit. It was nothing like anything I had seen before or since.

Google Image Result for http://www.doney.net/aroundaz/DA_gas_qttempe.jpg

 

To pick a nit, we have not put anyone on the moon since the 1973 oil embargo.

The last human on the moon left on December 14, 1972.

 

The rationing of gasoline in the 70s was something that you would never forget if you lived through it, and I wasn't even 10 years old at the time.

 

I was born in 69. I will ask my folks about it.

 

The Chevy Chevette fufilled it's purpose at that time. It was a small American car that got decent gas milage for the times. It was dependable and got you from point A to point B in reasonable comfort. I got many trouble free miles from mine.

 

I was born in '69 and remember the rationing based on your license plate number. Maybe it was only where I lived and traveled? (MD, VA).

 

Not only in America
I think we are much more in the hands of Middle East politics and warfare than spiral down of oil resources.

All the spikes in pricing (which if you are like me, they are what you remember) are do to conflict of one sort or another...

 

I drive an old beat up Toyota pickup 4 cyl, 2 whl drive (my wife drives the Prius). I like a pickup because it is invaluable when you own your own home.

With that said, I do NOT want a bigger pickup. My little 4 banger takes care of 99.999% of anything I have needed a pickup for. I do NOT follow the argument of the big pickup guys - even the contractors, etc. that say they NEED the big pickups. If you look at EVERY other country - especially Asian countries, they do EVERYTHING any contractor in the US does and DON'T use big pickups.

 

Let me guess: you think global warming is a hoax.

 

Hallelujah!

I have tried putting this point across on this forum many times and been shot down many times. Perhaps its what people are used to? Perhaps people don't really want to change or consider change? Or perhaps there is a superiority factor at play "Hey I'm American, not some peasant European or Asian. I NEED a 6 litre pickup that does 10 mpg. I won't compromise".

Thing is business goes on the world over without these massive pickups. Boats and horses are towed, builders can carry their tools and equipment etc ALL over the world without these monstrosity vehicles.

Sure people are free to choose but then again if oil supply is squeezed again sometime in the future don't moan and complain when you can't afford to run your dinosaur pickup. You could run two pickups that lig13 has for the cost of one monstrosity. If America did this as a whole you could pretty much well be self sufficient in oil and NOT reliant on OPEC and scum bag countries that hate and despise the western way of life.

But it's your choice guys

 

And I will add, that driving style is important as well; I have noticed that those who speed the most, cut in and out of lanes (aggressive drivers) whether on the freeway or surface roads, are usually the larger SUV's/trucks which get the worst mileage! I laugh because I drive my Prius at a decent speed and look ahead for the traffic lights and many times I meet the trucks and SUV's at the next light (or offramp) and am able to cruise through-often ahead of them- without a full stop, whereas they are sitting at the light and wasting gas!

 

The odd/even rationing by license plate was applied only in some states. The place I then lived had no rationing, but national news coverage of it, and the problem it caused for some people, was considerable.

Wikipedia mentions this particular scheme for both the 1979 and 1973 crises, and links to a 1974 TIME magazine article listing numerous states applying it.

 

CA was one of the states where rationing was in effect in the late 70's. However an exception was made for vehicles with out-of-state license plates. A work associate at the time was from MI and would reinstall his MI plates if he wanted to buy gas on the "wrong" day.

Now that there are no price controls on gasoline, I don't believe that rationing would be an issue (other than the previously cited Phoenix incident where there was a local supply issue) as the price itself serves as the rationing mechanism.

Many of our good citizens continue to believe that it is a God-given right to buy gasoline at low prices. Hence a big increase in the federal gas tax would be career suicide for any politician who could be linked to that concept.