Sunday, June 10, 2012

Drill baby Drill

Apparently Mitt Romney dreams of the day when a drilling platform will make George Washington at Mount Rushmore look like he's wearing a hat.

Romney’s energy plan, including the fact that he would open up “virtually every part of U.S. lands and waters” to drilling regardless of whether they are national parks, national monuments, or protected in some other way. 

7 comments:

Montag said...

Funny, d'ya think maybe there's a reason why there hasn't been a new refinery built in this country for forty years, Rmoneybot?

America is already producing pretty much all it needs for transportation fuel--in fact enough that American refineries export about 30% of our output in the form of fuels and other refined products. So, punching a bunch of new wells is kind of a waste of time. I'll give the Rmoneybot a minute or two to let that sink in. [sound of fingers drumming]

Where were we? Ah, yes... refineries. Yes, we have enough excess refinery capacity that we want to pump very toxic Alberta tar sands bitumen to Texas and Louisiana, refine that and export that, too....

But, a bunch of new wells brings in a gusher of government subsidies and tax write-offs for the oil companies, especially when it's done on public lands with cheap leases, and the right sort of administration doesn't remember to ask for its cut of the royalties if the oil companies do find oil. [wink, wink]

The Rmoneybot is so transparent it ought to be invisible.

jimmiraybob said...

...whether they are national parks, national monuments, or protected in some other way.

It hardly matters to Venture Cap Mittens whether we actually need to increase domestic drilling. Venture Cap Mittens only knows to sell off assets when he acquires a struggling corporate entity. It's about wringing out immediate profits and not about long-term sustainable energy policy.

Sell off assets, run up debt, take profits, and run. I believe I've just summarized the first four years of a Venture Cap Mittens presidency. I suppose the running could be put off to the end of a second term if the hapless employees.....citizens hadn't yet caught on and there were additional profits to be squeezed out.

Oh yeah, almost forgot, layoff employees....citizens to improve quarterly profits. Oh yeah, outsource government functions to low-bid foreign companies, also too.

StonyPillow said...

Ah, yes. Stack up the deck of cards, and hold off the inevitable collapse until after the end of the second term. Almost worked for W. Imagine if the collapse had somehow been forestalled 'till 2009. Old Man McSaim would have collapsed under the pressure, and we'd have had Caribou Barbie and Todd running what was left of our economy into the ground and stuffing their pockets for the last couple of years. Good times, good times. Well, Fox manufactures suckers 24/7, and the election's in only five months.

For the scoundrels and the thieves, hope springs eternal.

pansypoo said...

is there ANY INVESTMENT in finding THE alternative to atmosphere killing fossil fuels?

Anonymous said...

Someone should plant a drilling rig on the beach in front of Lord Rmoney's La Jolla mansion. Not likely to find any oil there, but the drilling can continue for months or years.

Anonymous said...

From the Rombots point of view, protected lands are protected so no one will prevent us from drilling on them.

Joe Blow said...

Great post Montag....

one reason there have been no NEW refineries... is that we have beed expanding our plants to create new capacity.

it's just so much cheaper and easier to add on to a plant to increase throughput. esp.. if you can do it with systems changes (temps, cooling periods, etc.) and not hardware.