Conservatives should embrace transit (and bicycling), but don't!

[Doctor_K]

Building an oil rig takes time, as does building a windfarm. We all agree on the latter,.......why waste money on old technology when we stand ready to use the new? That's how T Boone Pickens sees it ( he's a conservative) and that's how I see it, being an economist.

But doesn't an oil rig produce (or help produce) more energy per capita than a wind farm?  You can drill out of a well for years at a time at a solid, constant pace.  Windfarms offer no such regularity.

Also, at what point will you start hating windfarms once big oil gets behind that?  BP and the like are backing alternative energy use.  If Big Oil builds their own windfarm, does so successfully, and makes millions or billions, where do you stand then?  Hating "Big Wind" for making billions? 

It makes zero sense to hate the companies that provide the energy, be it oil, gas, or nuclear.  The old technologies, for a while to come, still are more productive and provide more power-per-punch than wind or solar.

Further:

if we start drilling today, we won’t see a drop of oil for ten years

I'm sick of this bumper-sticker argument.  If Clinton and the pooswah Republican Congress in the 90s had opened up ANWR, more than 10 years ago, we'd be benefitting from that right now.  Nope.  Environmentalists afraid of losing a moose along the way killed that.  Save the moose and go green. 

So 15 years removed from the same argument, we have a) higher dependence on foriegn oil, b) nowhere near the power capacity of green energy to supplant and replace fossil fuels, and c) we're still having this retarded argument; because d) we're all collectively too ignorant of history and stubborn because politics can't keep its damn face out of anything.

Fat effing lot of good its done us thus far, wouldn't you say?

[Tripoli1711]

A bit surly but spot on Doctor!

[Doctor_K]

Sorry.  It wasn't directed at anyone in particular, so I apologize.  It just frustrates the poop out of me that we're (all of us in general) still having this same argument twice in my lifetime, and I'm not even that old!

I'm going to go run in the Corporate 5K now, to relieve some tension.

[Ocklawaha]

Does anyone know what they are paying for the proposed leases by acre? $1,000+ would indicate a pretty decent chance of oil. But just because we sink wells doesn't mean there will be ANY oil. They might find gas or even water. Deep water wells cost in excess of $100, Million dollars, so these guys are high rollers or they think it's a pretty decent shot at either oil or gas. Once the lease is made the per well royalty is a few hundred bucks a month, but again that all depends on what they find. It could be more if they don't need pump jacks and the well flows from the tree-pipes. Out in Oklahoma State Cowboy territory, some of the wells have hit 38,000 feet! Others come in with a bang and within months go out with a whimper. It's a REAL gamble. So environmental concerns aside, I don't think your going to see another Persian Gulf spring up off Jacksonville Beach. As for production once they actually start to drill, platforms and prep take some time, the oil might be flowing within a year m/l. The only reason for the 10 year crap is if you drill in BFE you'll need a railroad or pipeline to haul it out.

T.Boone is alumni of OSU (go team), he just gave "us" the nicest football stadium in the Southwest. I think he's of the age that he figures (like an Okie) I've made all I could ever hope to spend, so he's out to have some fun with wind. I honestly think it's a toy for him.

OCKLAWAHA

[tufsu1]

maybe Ock...but he does own the largest wind farm in the U.S....and he bought a huge chunk of land along the TX/OK border, where there is a good supply of wind.

yes, he's being environmentally responisble...but he's in position to make a bunch of $ too

[Ocklawaha]

Better T. Boone makes a buck and gets R done, then for 500 of us wannabe's stomp our feet and demand alternate energy now... It's the old wish in one hand and spit in the other and see which one fills up first.

OCKLAWAHA

[Doctor_K]

maybe Ock...but he does own the largest wind farm in the U.S....and he bought a huge chunk of land along the TX/OK border, where there is a good supply of wind.

yes, he's being environmentally responisble...but he's in position to make a bunch of $ too

Which goes right back to my potential "Big Wind" argument.  At what point will T. Boone be villified for cornering the wind-energy market and making record profits (through his legacy business)?  You know it'll happen.

[Sigma]

They've already got a name for it Doc!  "Windfall Profits!" 

[Doctor_K]

LoL.  Nice.