Does this not make sense?

Question

If you were living on the streets, but you were in the process of building a house (usually takes six months or so), and had the means and opportunity to purchase a tent to keep your head dry in the interim until your house was built, wouldn't you do it?

You know the tent is NOT the final solution, and at some point you know that tent will end up useless and in the landfill, but you also know it'll keep you warm and dry until a better solution (house) comes along. Wouldn't it make sense to buy the tent in the interim?

Then why don't we go for the oil that we have on our own U.S. territory and use it, reducing our dependancy on foreign oil, while we work towards the other solution of alternatives? I mean, I know why we don't (because the "Save the spotted owl" whackjobs won't let us) but why don't we say s***w them and do it anyway?

Answer 1

Look at it this way:

The view from the front porch of that house you are building is of snow covered mountains.  Every evening, there is a gorgeous sunset to be seen as you sit in your rocking chair.

5 miles down the road there is a desert area with oil wells providing almost enough oil to meet the demand.  To meet the current extra demand, oil company A, with oil drilling rights to your whole town comes in and builds a 5 story oil derrick in the middle of the street directly in front of your house.  Now when you sit on your porch, you see steel piping, dirty men working and dirty trucks bringing in supplies.  You green lawn is now dark brown.  The oil company A does not offer to buy you out because they don't want houses, just oil.  No one else offers to buy your house so you are stuck there.  And when the well is dry, the company leaves everything there in case future tech advances allows more oil to be found here.  In this case, tell us all that you would NOT become one of those "not in my front yard whackjobs?"  (front yard = spotted owl, house=world).

Answer 2

so let's shoot the kitten to save the puppy.

why not just wean off the foregn oil, while going green, as opposed to all out autarky? the rising prices will push people green anyway, as opposed to cheaper us oil. besides, you might need it in the future.

Answer 3

No not really

you are right

It does not make sense

Answer 4

I'm sorry to say that 'going for' our own oil won't make a h**l lot of a difference in gas prices. We've already reached our peak oil production, meaning that it costs more and more money to extract the rest of the oil reserves. In most places it isn't cost effective, so the companies don't. Even in undeveloped areas where suspected oil deposits are, costs are still going to be high because demand is. Remember that these companies, Exxon, BP, Shell, etc, work internationally and can sell the oil to countries other than the US. Even if we drill, it doesn't necessarily mean we will be using the oil extracted from those areas.

Answer 5

We already went for the oil on our own territory. We used to produce all the oil we needed right here. Then we got more and more cars, and drilled more and more wells, then the first wells ran out and we drilled more. Then they ran out and geologists searched and searched for more, and most of what they found was in other countries or too deep to drill for or of poor quality or whatever. There are thousands of dry wells all over the country. All used up. All the oil gone. We went from importing a little oil to importing more and more until now it is like 60% and growing.

Also, your analogy is flawed, since the new house will last as long as you need and not get used up while the oil gets used up and we need to keep finding more. But there is not infinite oil in the world, and some day it will be all gone. The tiny dribbles left in the US that are off limits due to environmental concerns are not enough to supply demand. Not nearly enough. Even if all laws against drilling were lifted and all known oil was tapped, we would STILL need to import oil. Lots of people do not believe that. You may not believe it. But truth is that which does not go away just because you don't believe it.

Answer 6

Because the environmentalists have the power.

Answer 7

In this analogy, the alternative is of course to rent an apartment, which is what most of us would do.  And I suppose you could say the apartment is like foreign oil, since it belongs to the landlord.

I do agree domestic oil is better than foreign oil, although I'm not sure if the tent would cost less than the rent.

Answer 8

False premise.  There isn't enough oil here to make a difference.

We were warned in 1973 that we needed to start doing something about it, but we didn't.  Whose fault is that?  I lost a lot of so-called friends in those days because they thought I was nuts, total eco whack job.  

Gee whiz, look where we are now.  But now that it's too late we should "reduce our dependency on foreign oil, while we work towards the other solution of alternatives".  

Great, thanks for the heads up.  Your ilk did and still are s******g everybody and doing it anyway.  But it's just postponing the inevitable.

Answer 9

perfect sense, most people are to stupid to understand that

Answer 10

because our country is so worried about pleasing everyone that it can't decide who is the "majority" anymore. they are idiots