2008-07-22T16:10:05Z opencongress.org tag:opencongress.org,2008-07-22:/article/563 2008-07-22T16:10:05Z Cheri wrote: All I hear is how we need to drill for more oil. No one ever seems to ask, "What about the oil wells that are being paid to keep closed? What about the ones that produce oil, but just in lower quantities than the big oil companies want, that are capped off? Seems a little oil out of a well that is already there is better than speculation on oil shale or the cost and time it will take for even more drilling. Back in the 70's we were assured our oil problems could be solved if only the oil companies were allowed to drill in Alaska. Where does that oil go? How much stays in this country and how much is sold to the highest foreign bidder? The 70"s was supposed to be a wakeup call on dwindling oil supplies, so why were the auto manufacurers allowed to produce Hummers, SUVs, and super-cab trucks? Why are we using 1.6 billion gal. oil each year just in the production of plastic bags? When sensible alternatives are brought up they're knocked down as not being feasible. One of those arguments is fuels made from grain. We're told that if the farmers start growing grain for fuel production, that the price of food grains will skyrocket, but what they forget to mention is the thousands of acres of grain farmers are paid not to harvest. Acres and acres of grain crops are left untouched in the fields every year. Why can't these fields be alotted as fuel production? I have been told (though I haven't researched it) that anything that ferments can be made into fuel. If this is true think of all the grass clippings from miles of roadside, and tons that are dumped into landfills, along with tons of spoiled fruits and vegetables hat could be used. There are power plants that are powered by garbage, yet every day in the United States, there are billions of tons of waste, polluting landfills. How many more tons are hauled out to open water to pollute there? <br/>View <a href="/article/show/563--300-Oil">Article</a> on OpenCongress tag:opencongress.org,2008-07-22:/article/563 2008-07-22T16:07:59Z Cheri wrote: All I hear is how we need to drill for more oil. No one ever seems to ask, "What about the oil wells that are being paid to keep closed? What about the ones that produce oil, but just in lower quantities than the big oil companies want, that are capped off? Seems a little oil out of a well that is already there is better than speculation on oil shale or the cost and time it will take for even more drilling. Back in the 70's we were assured our oil problems could be solved if only the oil companies were allowed to drill in Alaska. Where does that oil go? How much stays in this country and how much is sold to the highest foreign bidder? The 70"s was supposed to be a wakeup call on dwindling oil supplies, so why were the auto manufacurers allowed to produce Hummers, SUVs, and super-cab trucks? Why are we using 1.6 billion gal. oil each year just in the production of plastic bags? Then when sensible alternatives are brought up they're knocked down as not being feasible. One of those arguments is fuels made from grain. We're told that if the farmers start growing grain for fuel production, that the price of food grains will skyrocket, but what they forget to mention is the thousands of acres of grain farmers are paid not to harvest. Acres and acres of grain crops are left untouched in the fields every year. Why can't these fields be alotted as fuel production? I have been told (though I haven't researched it) that anything that ferments can be made into fuel. If this is true think of all the grass clippings from miles of roadside, and tons that are dumped into landfills, along with tons of spoiled fruits and vegetables hat could be used. There are power plants that are powered by garbage, yet every day in the United States, there are billions of tons of waste, polluting landfills. How many more tons are hauled out to open water to pollute there? <br/>View <a href="/article/show/563--300-Oil">Article</a> on OpenCongress