Panelists make their cases on offshore drilling

You aren't the only one with delayed posting. The problem is I don't have a clue what I did wrong in my comments. The pilot wait's so long posting them, they have become irrelevant.

What I'd like to know (and can't find the answer anywhere) is how those hydrogen fueling stations in L.A. are powered. Also, is refueling free? You seem to be he man w/the answers. Got any guesses?

Hydrogen makes up most of the matter in the universe, but except for inside of stars, it is nearly all bound up in water and organic compounds. To get gaseous hydrogen to use as fuel, it must be separated from those compounds. That requires energy, more energy, in fact than you will get back when you use it in your car.

Since alternative energy like solar and wind can't even meet our base electric load, that energy will have to be obtained from either nuclear or coal, and we are decades away from having enough nuclear available to meet our base load, so the electricity that will be used to separate hydrogen from its compounds so you can use it WILL come from coal.

Oh, and there hasn't been an oil rig spill since the 60's, all the major spills have been from transporting oil in ships.

Just how many times do I have to post to get back on the nice list? I thought it was 15. Surely I've ranted that much since being made a pariah.

Sincerely,

Mr. Fabulous

Yes, it is pitiful that so many have been hoodwinked by the lies the pro-drill folks spout. Glad to see you've come 'round. Going to see the 'skins/Browns game in OCT - hope to see you there. :)

That's pitiful Mr. Fabulous.

The only way to solve our energy woes, is for the American people to conseve energy, and stop being so wasteful.

You could crash that Honda into a lifeguard stand and it still won't pollute the beach. Can you say that about an oil rig spill?

Honda Clarity leases for $600 per month for a 3 year lease (SoCal only). I spend $200 a month on gas as it is. $600 is not too bad.

The Honda hydrogen car costs $3 million to produce right now. We are at least 7 - 10 years away from that car being affordable and mainstream so we should just give up (using the same argument you used about drilling for oil).

Hydrogen vehicles run on gaseous hydrogen which combine w/oxygen to make electricity. Coal is not a factor here.

Too bad we can't power vehicles on hot air. I suspect you could make a fortune.

"Maybe we would have a start to a oil solution if the house Dems didn’t take a 5 week paid vacation while Republicans are still at the house demanding Pelosi and Dems get back for a vote"

Pelosi did the right thing, and actually it's good to see the Republicans squirm for awhile

Where do you think the hydrogen will come from?

There are basically two ways to get it, electrolysis of water and splitting methane. Both require a lot more energy than you will get back from using the hydrogen in your car. The energy will come from burning coal, because that is the only readily available source of extra electricity we currently have.

So, in effect, a hydrogen car is really a very fuel inefficient coal burning car.

The majority of the country is tired of the ignorance of the left and politicians that cater to their idealistic (fantasy) beliefs about how the world works. VOTE OUT every candidate that is against maximizing our fuel and energy production capabilities (all types, including fossil fuels). We must save our country now or your children will live their lives and witness the fall of our great nation! Our country's security is at stake!!! Those that disagree with me, I'm glad you're ALLOWED to voice your hypocritic opinions...wake up!

If you are the conservationist you claim to be perhaps you should read up on how offshore rigs spill more into the water from transportation from the rig than the actual extraction process. Check out the results of drilling mud, produced formation water, air pollution, and greehouse gas emissions - then talk to me about conservation and being a good steward.

I suppose that the environmentalist argument falls on mostly deaf ears around here. Perhaps I should put it into the language most seem to grasp - real dollars. Major spill = billions in clean-up and lost forever tourism dollars. Would you vacation her after a major spill? I wouldn't.

Maybe we would have a start to a oil solution if the house Dems didn’t take a 5 week paid vacation while Republicans are still at the house demanding Pelosi and Dems get back for a vote. I think the Dems are just waiting and hoping gas prices will subside then the people will be silent. It is time to voice your opinions and let them know they are in office to serve the public no to serve their own desires (Ms Pelosi)

Oh by the way why isn’t our great Virginian Pilot Covering that story probably told not to by BIG MEDIA.

I see a lot of hatred here for "Big Oil." How many of you have thought about who owns the Oil Companies? Less than 2% of oil company stock is held by oil executives.

Most oil stock is held by pension plans, 401K's and insurance companies. If you have a pension plan or own mutual funds, those obscene profits are contributing to your retirement.

You are Big Oil.

As there is already a shortage of drilling rigs worldwide moving them would make little difference. The most optimistic guess suggests one million barrels per day will be extracted. That number is likely to be be less than half that total but, for the sake of argument, let's say 1 mil. That number would increase global production by only 1%. As oil is traded on a global market this would only reduce prices 3% over the long term - hardly a viable solution.

Hydrogen cars, people. Honda already has a model for lease in SoCal that runs on hydrogen. Folks refuel at numerous stations throught the area. Soon portable refueling stations for your garage will be available. That is the future.

I am willing to be that those of us who are for offshore exploration and potential drilling are indeed conservationalists and believe in being good stewards of the planet. But we are also a combination of realist and opportunist. We are not getting away from the combustion engine anytime soon, especially transporting freight/goods & services. Do you nay-sayers even have the capability of understanding what weaning ourselves off foreign dependence of oil and what new energy plants and additional sources of natural gas and oil would do for economy? Do you understand that most wind & solar projects have gone nowhere due to mostly Democrat opposition. Have you notice what has happened since we have been putting our #1 food source in gasoline? That was a brillant idea huh?

Wildhorses- That same 2007 EIA report predicts a price of just under $70 a barrel for oil today and that it might reach $101 by 2030. Aside from the fact that the EIA totally failed to predict the present cost, the increased cost of crude has drastically changed the economic assumptions on which that prediction was based,

Reassigning existing rigs from less favorable locations where they are currently scheduled will allow much faster exploitation of newly available leases than the EIA estimated, especially since their estimate was based on the moratorium expiring in 2012 rather than being lifted immediately. Substantial new production, especially in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico, could be online in less than 2 years.

I worked on pipelines in New England. The permitting process took about 18 months. The application for a permit weighed 44 pounds. And 10 of them went to the EPA. Construction of 292 miles of 36" natural gas pipeline cost approximately $350 million. A lot of that goes into the local community because the workers need food, shelter, etc. during construction. Before the pipeline was finished, 3 power generating plants agreed to purchase gas and hook up to the pipeline. More jobs/money into the local economy. And there was a second pipeline that hooked into ours to bring in more natural gas to the US. Both of these were bringing Canadian natural gas. Why don't we do this here?

It will take longer than 18 months to get the lucrative contracts to have these platforms built..And who do you all think is going to fund this operation? The oil companies? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...The investors? Laughable..Taxpayers? Most certainly. That part just hasn't been mentioned yet because people seem to think that oil will be flowing like water in 18 months and gas will suddenly go down to the cheap price of $3.00 a gallon. Look past what these politicans and oil companies are telling you. In 30 years, this will probably be another one of "The Greatest Stories Ever Sold". The oil companies and politicans are not wanting to do this to help us out. They are in it for themselves.

Imagine that...left winged, "let's give everything to those already on welfare, Bobby Scott" conducted a pure democratic-sponsored panel discussion and came up with the idiotic democratic answer to take back to Congress...amazing! We ought to fire each and every one of you standing in the way of a vote for off-shore drilling!

A stacked "panel" of three against and one in favor--classic liberal Democrat version of the "Fairness Doctrine" they're also trying to force on the media and American public. They claim too many risks, global warming and that oft repeated lie that "we can't drill our way out of this problem." Then you can't sleep your way out of insomnia, drink your way out of thirst, or eat your way out of hunger either if you adopt these people's idiotic ideas. Putting air in your tires will do nothing as well. Did these pseudo-experts cite one recent spill, do they have any knowledge of how the energy industry has progressed since the last major near-coast spill, and do they have any idea of modern technology and how it is constantly improving to make our oil and gas resources more available? NO is the answer. They ride in limos and corporate jets--they want you on a bicycle to prevent "global warming." Ain't gonna happen Bobby, Sierra Club, or anybody else.

Then let's drill in your backyard, chief. Leave the ocean alone.

What amazes me is that people actually believe the oil companies when they say drilling will be done to adhere to environmental regulations. Please. They will cut corners at every step and if a major spill happens - whoops. They'll paya pittance of a fine and keep raking in the billions. And we'll still pay 4/5/6 dollars a gallon. Only when we change how we see transportation will we wean ourselves off the oil teat - and gas hogs are not part of the answer.

takes food off my child’s plate daily. Thank you Nancy and Harry….

Isn't part of the Outer Continental Shelf. It's very close to shore in the Florida panhandle. Oil coming ashore by the hundreds of thousands of barrels a day (or more) in 18 months. So the EIA study is being taken out of context by drilling opponents. Maybe the drilling opponents can buy some air pumps and go around and inflate everybody's tires?

I have been to the website and nowhere could I find it specifically stated about prices. The statistics deal with amount of imports and their increases and decreases to 2030. What I did find interesting was that if we do nothing we will be in the same boat we are now.

And do you remember how low oil prices were in 2007? If drilling in ANWR had started when it should have--when Bill Clinton was president and he vetoed it, we'd already have at least 1.5 million barrels of oil a day available in the US from our own resources. Any effort to stop current drilling by predicting future price trends or resource availability has been proven time and again to be WRONG. The longer we wait, the more we suffer. DRILL DRILL DRILL. Those who don't want to drill want America to fail and people (all except them) to be riding bicycles like in China and other Communist countries. Ain't gonna happen!

The idea that gas prices will not be effected til 2030 is untrue and basically a lie; and that was not indicated by the Dept. of Energy. Just debating the issue over the past month has had an effect on prices. Last a recent poster indicated the leased land has been explored and there is not enough oil to even make it feasible to tap. In other words, we've been there, done that. Our electrical grid is in shambles. Additional nuclear power plants is the most feasible answer. Just look at France for Pete's sake. Democrats are against wind because you may kill one out of a gazillion seagulls. As for solar have you ever priced a replacement battery cell? What do you plan to do with the old one?