One of the most outstanding, cogent letters to this paper I have ever read. I would only add that Cuba is actively planning to drill for oil in the Gulf of Mexico very close to our own shoreline, adding insult to injury. My compliments to Dr. Pilgram!

It makes sense to drill where the oil is, HOWEVER, a shortage of oil has nothing to do with the price, we are paying, high prices are mainly due to speculators, driving the prices up. Watch this youtube video to see how to teach those greedy bastards a lesson!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=UOpcPfAarjY

Steve-O

Great letter Doc. I miss you as my dentist.

The way to cut the cost of gas an oil isn't by drilling more land and futher dmaging our already weak ecosystem. The answer is through conservation. Reduce the demand and you reduce the cost. Lower the speed limits on the interstates and highways like they did back in the 70's. Carpool. Buddy up on errands with friends or family. Use public transportaion when it's available. Buy vehicles with better gas milage or hybrids. Cut back on plastics which require petroleum products to be manufactured. Use synthetic oil for oil changes. You don't really need to take that trip to Disneyworld this year either. Unfortunately, there are still too many rich, arrogant morons who who don't care as long as they can still afford to pump their Hummers full of gas and fly along at 75 mph. There are also fools like Dr. Pilgram here who want to take the easy way out and continue to rape our planet in order to benefit from cheap gas. If you look around you will see we don't need to be drilling more anyway. There are enough oil wells capped off around the US that could be opened back up but the government is sitting on them. Dr. Pilgram seems to have adopted the same attitude of our ecoterrorist warmongering president, GW Bush, who also happens to be a big time oil man himself. What is your job description with the oil companies, Dr. Pilgram?

I see that the enviro-wackos have started crawling out of their slime.

Sounds like someone's jealous that they can't afford a Hummer.

Reducing the demand here does nothing to lower the demand in other countries. Gas might go down if you could get China,India,America and Europe to cut back on gas. Tell me how that turns out.

dalearch-
I'm not an enviro-wacko but that doesn't mean I run around willfully wasting every resource we have either. However, I've already stated it's not just about the environment. There is just no need for it when there are oil wells across the country that are capped off and sitting idle. We have the oil already. It's just up to the oil companies to start pumping and refining it. Also, we need to stop selling what oil we do produce to foreign countries. And no, I'm not jealous I can't afford a Hummer. If I had that kind of scratch, I'd have a Jag or two.

Dude-
I'm not isolating one or two people in my original post. I'm talking about every person, company and country across the globe that ignores the problem and just goes on consuming like there is no end. Yeah, it's not going to be easy to get them to listen but if we don't, eventually it's all going to be gone no matter where we drill. The oil is simply not replenishing as we drill it and we do not have an infinte supply. You clearly know the problem, so how about thinking up a solution other than sucking the planet dry?

We are thinking of things and thats great and all but how far down the road are they. Until we have a permanent answer we should be drilling. For all we know we could run out of gas with no options and be worse off. So we do some drilling along with tons of research to actually set a standard so there's no gap between gas and next standard.

What part of we don't need to drill don't you understand? We already have access to plenty of oil across the US that isn't being pumped. What oil we are pumping is being sold to foreign nations. Pump what we have and use it here instead of shipping it to some 3rd world developing country or selling it to a bunch of Arabs who will turn around and sell it back with a huge markup. Drilling Alaska or the coastlines is completely unnecessary. It's just too bad there is more money in research than there is in actually solving a problem. Otherwise we would have the solutions already.

WilliamB, I have been reading about all of these capped wells you speak of, and they say that most of them are basically depleted, like they were only producing less than 10 barrels a day, and many were only producing only 1 barrel per day. They may have some oil still available but have gotten down to the really thick stuff, or Heavy Crude, and the cost to retrieve it is way more than drilling. I am certainly no expert on this but if it takes more work to get the oil out than it will benefit us, what good are they?
Watch the YouTube video that I put the linc in here for, Newt says in one area alone we have 3 times the oil of ALL Saudi Arabia, I say that's worth going after. Watch This
http://youtube.com/watch?v=UOpcPfAarjY

WilliamB:

Even though GW is not my favorite person, I find myself defending him again. This time against your statement “Dr. Pilgram seems to have adopted the same attitude of our ecoterrorist warmongering president, GW Bush”.

I’m not going waste time addressing the ignorance of your “warmongering” statement, but for you people who don’t know what snopes.com is, they research urban legends, email claims and other such things.
There is an email circulating that says that Bush’s private residence is much more eco-friendly than that self proclaimed defender of the environment, Al Gore. Snopes.com says it is true.

Go to the link below, read, and make your own decision.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/bush/house.asp

b6799955-
I did watch the video and the one part I do agree with is we need to release some of our federal reserves. Drilling Alaska and the coastlines is not the answer. We have destroyed enough of the planet for our mass consumption and convenience. It's nothing more than man's own arrogant selfishness that creates this "need" for oil in the first place. Real solutions are needed and they are needed now. They are out there but development is being held back by red tape and people in the oil industry who wouldn't benifit from these changes.

dalearch-
Dubya's private home may be eco-freindly but what is he doing publicly? Calling for the drilling of protected wilderness areas. His house can be as eco-freindly as he wants it. It won't make a damn bit of difference if he goes tearing up the planet and drilling for oil wherever he feels like it.

As for my "warmongering" statement being ignorant, you obviously haven't been paying attention. The man threw us into a war against Saddam in Iraq under false pretenses after failing to find Bin Laden in Afghanistan. Now we're wasting recources in two countries and he is constantly looking for a third fight whether it's with Korea, North Viet Nam or Iran. If he isn't a power hungry warmonger, then he's just stupid and I'm not sure which is worse.

Here is a thought? We can't we increase supply AND decrease demand in the US? I'm all for drilling and I'm all for being more responsible with our use of fossil fuels.

we had a shortage of oil and high prices (or what we considered high prices) in the 70's. that was a wake up call, and we kept hitting the snooze button. now we have another problem. so are we actually going to look into alternate energy sources, or wait until this happens a third time.

We need to do all of the above: drill, build nuclear power plants, and pursue alternative energy sources that are economically feasible. The decline of the American dollar versus foreign currencies makes this all the more urgent.

As for you, William, I would much prefer to have Mr. Bush oversee American oil drilling operations than to have Communist countries like Cuba reap all the spoils. No one can tell me that Communist countries can drill in a more environmentally responsible manner than American oil companies. My goodness, Cuba is planning to drill right next to the Florida coast! Why can't we? This is insane!

Eric-
But Cuba gets to do it, why can't we? Boo Hoo.... It's so unfair!!!

So we should be no better than Cuba and just plunge right in there, huh? You're right. Lets not give any thought as to what it will do to the natural reef barrier around Florida and the Keys. Forget the fact that it's already in jepordy of dying off. No big deal right? At least not until the next tidal wave sweeps in and the natural protection from the reefs are gone. Then we'll see who's the first yelling for goverment aid to run down and clean up the disaster.

Here is another thought. We already know that fuel systems can be made to get 75 mpg in even big vehicles, why don't we hunt down and hang the people who are responsible for blocking this from happening. There are engineers out there who have proven that this can be done, even if it added $2000 to the price of a new car, you would save that in fuel consumption rather quickly. It is for certain that we ALL MUST work together or NOTHING will happen. Let's all research this and meet back here for comments in a few days!

Steve-O

So William, when Cuba gets ready to drill for oil near Florida it's fine, but it's only when Americans do it that the environment is ruined? It's always America's fault. When Saddam deliberately torched those oil fields in the Middle East, the "environmentalists" couldn't have cared less. They were absolutely deafening in their silence.

Clearly there's nothing I or anyone else can say or do that will convince you that American oil companies can extract oil in a much more environmentally responsible way than Cuba. I expect this from folks in Berkeley or San Francisco, but not from here. Too bad.

Steve-O, I thank you for your posts here, but I am going to ask you to provide sources, links and citations that demonstratively prove your claim that fuel systems can be made to get 75 mpg even on large vehicles. Ditto sources, links and citations that prove there has been a conspiracy to prevent these fuel systems from coming to market. With truckers having to pay $1,000 per fill-up, I'm sure they would most appreciate any information you can share. The so-called "Smart" car, which makes an '85 Civic CRX look like a stretch limousine, can't even get 40 mpg on the open highway according to the EPA.

Eric, follow this link and dig deep into it, there was also a Canadian fellow in the 1930s who got a patent and the patent is still on record. I will have more links soon but start on this one, and sorry for the mistake, it was a 200 mpg carburator.
http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2003/06/07/original_blueprints_for_200_mpg_carburetor_found_in_england.htm

Steve-O

Eric, read this. It seems like oil companies have additives to prevent these extremely high mileage systems from working, coincidence? I don't think so, this technology would make them go broke!
http://www.himacresearch.com/books/secret.html

Steve-O

Here are a few issues to consider involving the current high price for crude.
1. We have a dollar that has in the past several years lost about one third of its buying power. When this one item resolves it will have an impact on what is paid.
2. Iraq - This conflict has created tensions in that region and until unrest end and stabilization return, the oil markets will continue to be volatile.
3. We have an administration that insists on putting oil into a strategic reserve that is at a unprecedented level.
Demand is demand and this practice should be greatly curtailed. In addition, the storage practices used raise question over degradation issues.
4. World demand is up.
One last thought and only a personal opinion. While some drilling for oil within our country is appropriate, I favor using everyone else's first and ours when we have to.

Thank you Steve-O, I'll check these links out!

apart from this discussion, i find references to "watch this on utube" to be laughable. that is comparable to referencing wikipedia. not exactly empirical evidence......... as to affording a gas guzzling wanna be hummer? yuck.

It's Newt Gingrich, FOOL, Not some youtube actor!!!

Steve-O