Thursday, March 22, 2012

Obama and all of the above

The President says he wants to pursue all forms of energy which as far as I can tell is what everyone wants. He has stopped drilling in the Gulf and has asked Saudi Arabia to increase production. Some say he is concerned about global warming but burning oil from Saudi Arabia instead of oil from the Gulf makes no difference as far as global warming. Obama followed up on a Bush pledge made in 2007 to provide government loan guarantees to build nuke power plants but the EPA ask for such large fees that companies cannot afford to build. This way the President can say he gave permission to build a nuke plant knowing that it will not be built. The President is pushing a new process called fracking to develop natural gas. Using this process we have enough natural gas to last for 100 years. He is ignoring complaints from environmentalists who oppose fracking. It would make sense to start funding natural gas stations around the country since the use of natural gas as a fuel for diesel trucks would replace all of the oil we buy from Saudi Arabia. He is pushing for electric cars but does not answer the question as to where the electricity will come from. The Obama policy on coal, our most abundant source of energy, is that we should not use it and he has proposed taxes and fees on coal to eliminate its use. Once again the concern about global warming but China is building six new coal fired power plants every month. He has pushed for solar and wind and these are good sources of energy but they are not ready at this time. To use electricity to run trains, planes and semis is a long way off. We are having problems getting cars to run on batteries.
What all this tells me is that we do not have a coherent energy policy. What should be done?
Step one. Issue permits without fees for nuclear power plants and for oil refineries and offer loan guarantees to build them.
Step two. Start drilling for oil in the Gulf and on the continental shelf in the Atlantic and Pacific. Start drilling on government lands, including ANWAR in Alaska.
Step three. Offer tax incentives and low interest loans to build natural gas fueling at all gas stations and truck stops. Offer low interest loans to purchase kits to change Semi’s over to natural gas.
Step four. Build new clean coal power plants
Step five. Provide research money for solar, wind and hydrogen energy. Then let private companies build plants to make use of new ways.
In conclusion it is necessary to separate US markets from world markets and to separate gasoline from oil. The US is in a position to reap huge profits from exporting refined products. It takes three years to build a refinery. If business knew that the country was committed to maximizing oil production and offering permits and incentives to build refineries the country could finally make a dent in our negative trade balance by selling gasoline and diesel to China and India.
It is obvious that I should be President

No comments:

Post a Comment