| One large country in South America is already independant of forien oil, they grow certain crops and convert the plant oils into automoble fuel and other uses.
It only takes an inexpensive converter for your car to use their viggie gas.
California might become the first state to take a step in that direction here in the USA.
Hemp would be the best plant to use for our fuels because it is a weed that can be planted and harvested anywhere in the USA no matter what the climate or alittude is. But the Feds fear the use of that plant for good purposes because some of it might get smoked by "stupid" people.
The big downside to drilling for oil in Alsaka is that the area they want to use is an important wildlife area and is one of the few places left on earth where you can look in all directions and see no man made structures. It would take ten years for the oil wells to yeild productive results and they estimate that the wells would only give us enough oil to last for three years of use before the oil fields are abandoned. The area they wish to explore for oil is close to important wetlands and if oil got into those waterways that would greatly impact nesting locations of many birds and other critters. It is an area containing many animals that would be forced to relocate because they have a natual fear of human beings and our machines.
The Republicans feel that oil production and nature conservation can work hand and hand without conflicts. That is a bunch of hogwash if you concider all things that would be effected in nature by the oil industry trying to operate in Alaska. Although the local political leaders of Alaska favor the new business there because of economic perks being offered to them by the oil interests. They "sold out" and no not care about the concerns of environmentalists, who by the way would take action to stop and prevent the oil companies from setting up camp. That action would bring in a new era for what the Homeland Security Department would term "Domestic Terrorism" and so that department would need to spend our tax money to send agents to Alaska to arrest Americans on charges of "terrorism". Agents that would otherwise be employed to monitor or catch real terrorists from Bin Laden types.
Also, the oil industry is an international business that operates world-wide, and so no matter where the oil is produced the internationals would still control the price of gas at the pumps - etc. Also, the cost of oil production here is more expensive then if we buy it from overseas due to local unions and so forth. That so-called independance from forien oil comes with no insurance that our local oil companies would sell the fuel at a cheaper rate.
So drilling for oil in Alaska, in my opinon, is 10 percent a good idea and 90 percent a bad idea, concidering all things. |