Even though both the House and the Senate are letting the moratoria expire on offshore drilling, Reid is still trying to insert language into non-energy-related bills that will prohibit the harvesting of shale oil in Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah.

Charming. Read the article at Flopping Aces, and call your Senator right away.

The fact that no one in the media seems to have clued into is that energy independence in the United States rests upon having energy production (whether it's the old-fashioned fossil fuels we hope to phase out in 10-20 years, or the renewables we're in the process of developing now) rests on energy production in as many regions of the country as possible. Oil wells in the Gulf shut down when a hurricane is on its way; drilling on the North Slope of Alaska is only permitted five months out of the year. The Atlantic is no stranger to storms, and even the Pacific Ocean isn't invulnerable to extraordinary weather.

Shale oil has to be part of our Phase 1 (petroleum/natural gas/clean coal) strategy. That will buy us time to get Phase II (more versatile means of producing electricity, and innovative liquid fuels such as ethanol and methanol) off the ground.

Again—call your Senator. Explain that there are new technologies for extracting petroleum products from shale, and that you want to see this resource handled in an environmentally responsible manner, but that is a question for the engineers—rather than overzealous legislators who want to take this option off the table entirely.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 06:30 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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