Like many other social, economic or political problems, one can only recognize and identify that with which one is familiar. And, it is only based upon that view that one can possibly look for a remedy. It reminds me of that saying “If all you have is a hammer, everything is a nail.” It is also true that no matter how much wood one has, but he has not brick, it is impossible to build any brick structure, and vice versa. Yet, in many cases, many attempt to do just that. They need brick, but the only thing they do is keep collecting more wood, instead of even beginning to look for bricks.

Having said that, I know we disagree on nuclear. I believe we need to move in that direction as the primary means of generating electricity and replacing coal. We might even be able to use nuclear to power most vehicles if better batteries are developed.

We also disagree on the issue of drilling for oil in the US. I would do it to replace as much of our imports as possible. The objective would not be to increase oil usage, just to replace imports. We could raise a huge amount of money from new found oil. Someone wrote here yesterday that there are over 20 billion barrels of recoverable oil in the US. It would take 5 or more years to get the first drop of that oil if we started development now. Assume $200 per barrel and that translates into 4 trillion dollars. Put a 20% tax on that and you could generate 800 billion dollars that could go into alternative fuels. Then put an increasing tax on gasoline to make sure consumption decreases.

Now, I realize that there is opposition to drilling anywhere in the world. But Nigel, we need to make some compromises or we won’t get anywhere.

“With a tie-breaking vote by Vice President Al Gore, the Senate upheld today an Environmental Protection Agency rule requiring that ethanol and other renewable fuels get a share of the gasoline additives market.

The Senate voted 51-50 to table an amendment that would have denied financing to the agency to carry out a rule guaranteeing renewable fuels a 15 percent share of the lucrative fuel oxygenate market in 1995. That share rises to 30 percent in following years.

Under the Clean Air Act, oxygenates, which make fuel burn more cleanly, are to be added to gasoline in the nation’s smoggiest areas.

Tabling the amendment, offered by Democratic Senators Bennett J. Johnston of Louisiana and Bill Bradley of New Jersey, in effect kills it and clears the way for E.P.A. to carry out its program.

Farm state senators backed the agency’s renewable fuels rule as a way to increase demand for corn, the main ingredient in ethanol.

They also said it would keep the oil industry from locking out ethanol and creating a monopoly for methanol oxygenates made from fossil fuels.

But other senators said the rule would raise fuel prices, cost hundreds of millions of dollars in lost gas taxes and provide no environmental benefit over methanol oxygenates.

The rule’s critics also said it was a boon to the Archer Daniels Midland Company, a corn processing giant, which has more than 60 percent of the ethanol market. But supporters said new farmer cooperatives would get the added business and Archer Daniels’ overall ethanol market share would shrink. Ethanol is the only widely produced renewable fuel.

The rule is to take effect Jan. 1, when the reformulated fuels program starts.

Two oil industry trade organizations, however, are suing the E.P.A. in Federal court to try to block the rule.”

End of article.

I would also like to have the figures of how much tractor fuel in needed in the production of the corn during planting, culivating, harvesting and transporting to the purchaser compared to how much ethanol is realized. This argument would hold true also for any other farm product used in ethanol production….farm products don’t just happen you know.
Regarding Exxon’s profit’s, I just checked the market and they are paying 1.40 a share. 53% of their stock is held in funds that are the basis of 401k’s and IRA’s. If you have either one you are a stockholder. The profit figures seem obcene until you realize how many shareholders are involved. The profit margin that is commonly bandied about, not only from the oil companies but from financial institutions with no bias, is 8% of their gross. Hey folks, we’re not talking a mom and pop operation, they are BIG!

What we need to overcome is our wasteful fascination with liquid fuels, period. There is no miracle juice that will completely replace gasoline or diesel. All we can do is utilize what remains much more wisely. As I’ve expressed before, our only hope is to quickly transition into superefficient cars, trucks, planes, boats, and trains by using lighter materials (carbon fiber), improved tires, improved batteries, improved aerodynamics, etc. The good news is that much is happening on this front in the airline, semi-truck, and plug-in vehicle industries.

Imagine driving a plug-in hybrid vehicle, charged by rooftop solar and topped off with biodiesel brewed by a local out in Fruita. Suddenly you’ve more than tripled the efficiency of a typical passenger car, while leaving a few thousand barrels of crude in the ground and kept a few tons of carbon dioxide out of our shared atmosphere.

We have all of these technologies at our fingertips and on the shelf, presently, as we speak. All it takes is an educated and committed citizenry to take charge.

The profit was still enough to be the second-highest U.S. corporate profit on record, falling just short of the record $11.66 billion Exxon Mobil (XOM, Fortune 500) earned in the prior quarter. The profit in that quarter came to $1,385 a second, enough to buy nearly 382 gallons of gas at current prices.

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