The problem with your fungible argument is that domestic US production will reduce price fears because it is dependable. It also means that the US military has access to that oil, which adds global stability to the whole market.

Don’t underestimate how important US involvement is on both ends of the equation. Otherwise, you will, and have, overstate your case.

The majority the GOP had was not wide. The democrats could, and often did, use the modern, wussy filibuster rules to hold up lots of stuff.

The other problem was that many of the GOP candidates were what were called RINO’s, or Republican’s in Name Only.

However, what exactly have been the terrible ecological outcomes of the period you mentioned? I couldn’t care less about what laws were, or were not passed, let’s talk about reality and results. Seems to me that the US has been doing better than most of the world.

The GOP had congress in 1994. The wanted to open ANWR up to exploratory drilling but Clinton vetoed it. Given the 10 year time frame it takes to bring oil resources on-line we could have had oil production there since 2004. From 2002-2006 votes to open ANWR were blocked by Democrat filibuster in the Senate. Oh and the environment is just fine. ABC reported that long term the air and water in the US and Canada has been getting cleaner as time goes by.

You have to ask yourself a question, if the oil companies want the price to be high, why would they want to drill for new sources, that would eventually lower the price. So I don’t think it’s a conspiracy on the oil companies part. They want to make sure they have a product to sell.

Kevin is right about the effects on price for a small increase in supply for something with an inelastic demand like oil. But it may not be just a small in increase in supply. China is drilling for oil off the coast of Florida (where we aren’t allowed to!) and Chevron has discovered a large deposit in the Gulf of Mexico. And Brazil has just discoverd what may be a huge find of oil off the coast of there country. If you add ANWR to thses finds you could find oil back in the low $3 range eventually. This won’t mean SUV’s will be king of the road again, but it will help us to adjust to higer gas prices thru conservation, alternative fuels, and more efficient autos.

If OPEC does have excess capacity and is constraining supply thanks to cartel discipline (I dunno, but neither do you), then the mere fear that oil prices will start falling could trigger a avalanche as OPEC producers try to grab all the money they can before oil gets too cheap.

BTW the idea that Congress will give itself the authority to police other countries’ governments engaging in “antitrust” activity is silly.

FUNGIBLE. FUNGIBLE. FUNGIBLE.

It’s amazing how many people who call themselves Republicans and think Democrats are socialist idiots can simultaneously be such economic illiterates.

Seriously – the GOP held the House and Senate from 2002-2006. (Elections).
With wide majorities, and together with the White House they ran a bulldozer through the environment. The reason that ANWAR hasn’t been drilled is cost, logistics and an unwillingness to accept that the price of oil was headed to a level where extracting oil there was economically viable.
And you’re welcome to the oil from the shale deposts, similar concerns apply as far as price is concerned, but this “resource” will be exploited, in spite of the drawbacks. (Even Hitler Germany considered it the worst of the worst way of securing fuel for its war machine.)

I hope there will be a lot of new technologies for motive energy, and that we’ll preserve the remaining oil for the many compound, beneficial and essential materials we derive from petroleum. Generations down the road will thank us profusely if we do, and the Saudis will get well paid.
A unit of gasoline costs less than a comparable unit of Coca-Cola. A cup of gasoline will transport four people in a mid-sized car along a distance of two kilometers. What does your can of Coke do for you?
A unit of petroleum which has been processed and turned into something more useful (explosives, paint, artificial hips, insulation) becomes a lot more valuable.

Do the math.

The Saudis know that $140 oil makes many alternatives economically feasible enough to get a toehold in the market and amortize costs so that when oil inevitably drops when speculators move their money somewhere else and due to competition from those same alternative technologies, the new technologies will still be able to compete with cheaper oil.

As for World Net Daily sarcasm about being a “trustworthy site” well – it does depend upon your world-view.

If you believe that there is ultimate good (God) and ultimate evil, and that there is a single ultimate sense of right & wrong vs what might be described as post-modern thought (one of which versions says that whatever is right for you, is fine – essentially because there is no god), well you won’t “get” anything written in World Net Daily, will you?

http://www.theoildrum.com/node/4153#more

It’s really worth going through.

The fact is that we’re now in what the old school British called ‘a sticky wicket’ and it will take a lot more than the obligatory finger pointing to get us out of it.

Oil exploration and the development of alternative energies (and perhaps lifestyle changes) will have to be implemented if we’re to get out of this mess.

It’s time we once again became a civilization of builders rather than one overrun by bitchers. Just remember when those Germans bombed Pearl Harbor. Did we quit then? Hell no!

Who’s with me…

As opposed to wholesome white Christian Americans who never lie. Thank the Lord for blessing us with public officials who never lie, are never on the graft, with a public that never cheats, and businessmen who never double-talk for business purposes.

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=67063

You know, normal Islamofascism – it’s just that they retain a business relationship with us that the Iranians don’t. That business relationship is one where we spend trillions of dollars over decades to defend THEM and their kingdom, while they persecute Christians and hate on Jews. And this helps them to sell oil to us and bankrupt us.

Hey, I never said the world made any sense, now, did I?

There is a big debate in the Peak Oil aware community whether Saudi Arabia can increase production and if it can, whether any of it will reach the export market.

Saudi Arabia domestic consumption is rising fast. Not only that, if any more oil can be extracted it is the heavy sour kind which isn’t in as much demand. That is why Saudi Arabia says the market is well supplied. The market doesn’t want heavy sour crude.

The Saudi’s have said many times before that they can increase production. But they don’t or can’t do it for some reason.

Some think it is just a stalling tactic or a negotiating tactic. The king has said that he wants to save oil for the next generation. And of course with rising prices, oil in the ground gets more valuable all the time.

The Muslim world has a different view of telling the truth. If a lie advances the will of Allah then its okay to lie. And all Muslims do the will of Allah.

What is true, is that there is no direct connection between what a barrel of oil is going for, and what you are paying at the gas pump, but that’s because society as we know it would fall apart if the price at the pump was true to the trading price of crude.

At any rate, Bush was there a while ago, he got 300′ off the bat, they’ve now upped it to 500′ — let’s see how long they can deliver. There are serious doubts about the capacity of Gawar, and what’s no secret is that there’s a lot of salt water in what used to be the purest, lightest crude going.

The Saudis are swimming in money, as are the Emirates (the largest investment funds in the world). Whether they get paid now, or ten years down the road (when oil is even more expensive) matters not a whit.

The Saudis understand that if prices stay this high, the demand for oil is going to start to fall. The trend of demand growth is already slowing, and the Saudis are afraid that consumers facing high prices will begin to make permanent changes in their consumption styles (i.e. behave more efficiently) to such an extent that it results in lower long-term oil demand.

At the same time, everyone in OPEC is tempted to cheat. This is a very nice way for the Saudis to increase their piece of the oil pie while the getting is good without upsetting their fellow cartel members. If they can point west and say, “But America made me do it!” then they don’t look like cheaters.

The OPEC cartel was brought to its knees in the early 1980’s when the temptation for its members to cheat added supply, while the price of oil shrunk demand, which collapsed the price. The Saudis don’t want that to happen again. They would prefer that the bubble deflate a little bit than burst completely.

wonder if this had anything (or nothing) to do with the whitehouse begging the saudis to pump more oil a couple of months ago…