Obama's Energy Plan

[dan_s]

Obama is now pushing a new energy plan, or maybe we should just label it the "Boone Pickens Plan". Reducing our imports by 30 percent will NEVER happen without a significant decline in our standard of living.

Maybe his real hope is to take some pressure off him for "The Libyan Plan".

I'm surprised he is still pushing nukes as a solution. Do any of you want to live close to a nuclear power plant now that you've seen what's happened in Japan?

There are four prongs to this latest plan to reduce our dependence on imported oil. None of the previous plans have worked and it is doubtful this one will either.
1. Boosting domestic energy production
2. Using more natural gas in vehicles
3. Making cars more efficient
4. Encouraging biofuels

My take:
> None of this will reduce oil prices since oil is priced on a global market.
> Unless the Feds open up Alaska, Offshore California and speed up permit approval in the Gulf of Mexico there is very little chance our oil production will go up as fast as our domestic demand. The Democrats have done all they can to hamper domestic production up to now. Now that the voters are screaming about high gasoline prices they are suddenly all for more drilling? Are you kidding me!
> Using more natural gas is a great idea. I have been saying for years that our abundant (and cheap) supply of natural gas should be the focus of our energy policy. Finally, they get the message in Washington! However, the transition will be slow. A lot of infrastructure is needed to make it happen on a large scale.
> As gasoline gets more expensive, consumers will move to more efficient vehicles. The government doesn't need to do a thing to make this happen, but the transition of our fleet will be slow.
> Encouraging biofuels is a blantant attempt to buy the farm vote. Biofuels should be reduced as we need the farmland to produce more food. Millions of people in 3rd world countries are dying because of food shortages and the hyper-inflation of food costs. If "Joe Voter" knew how much biofuels have added to his grocery bill he would be screaming.