Some recent developments, some in the News, and some glossed over by the media.

July 23, 2008
I found this article at Wall Street Journal--"The long-awaited study by the U.S. Geological Survey, released yesterday, says there's probably 90 billion barrels of oil underneath Arctic ice. There's even more natural gas- though most of that is in Russia. In all, the Arctic has about 20% of the world's recoverable oil and gas reserves- if recoverable is the right word. The oil reserves sound pretty big - but they would supply just under three years of global consumption at current rates. Or, twelve years if it all went just for the U.S. The Arctic reserves might bring a little relief to tight markets, but they don't look like the answer to declining production in oil fields in the rest of the world."
And the New York Times had this article.
Makes me think we should sit tight on this oil and let the middle-east pump itself dry. Then our Arctic oil will be really valuable.

June 18, 2008. Recently there has been a push to open our coasts to more offshore oil drilling. Some Politicians are trying to tell us that it will improve gasoline supplies and reduce prices. I don't buy it! It may help a little 5-10 years from now but not in the short term. It is the same old story, "Rape- pillage -plunder -profit now. Screw the future." I was saddened to see Senator McCain supporting it now when he opposed it in 2000. Offshore drilling was a bad idea then and it is now.

May 9, 2008. The President has asked for a push to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil drilling. There are people opposed to ever drilling there. Others agree with the President, drill now. I am somewhere in between. I would like to let some future generation drill for it. My first reason is that future generations will need some oil, even if it is to lubricate their electric cars. My second reason is that there will undoubtedly be better, safer, less destructive ways to get that oil in the foreseeable future. I can't tell you yow much oil is left in the world. I do know that in the last hundred years we have used it at breakneck speed. Let's leave a little for future Americans.

Until recently I thought that Ethanol fuel might be a good answer. Come to find out that our diversion of corn to ethanol is already making food more scarce around the world.
It takes 22 pounds of corn to make one gallon of ethanol. Twenty percent(2billion bushels) of all US grown corn was converted to ethanol in 2006. It still only amounted to one percent of our fuel usage.source
Consider that 5 billion bushels of corn were used for livestock feed. Another 753 million bushels were refined into corn sweeteners. Corn sweeteners are cheaper than sugar but not as easily used by our bodies. Some of the blame for our rampant obesity belongs to corn sweeteners. That left about 2 billion bushels for export. The result is an increase in the price of all grains. We are not troubled much by an increase in corn or rice in America. In other parts of the world it is a disaster.
The added fact is that most of our corn is now genetically engineered. That may not be a bad thing but we don't know yet. I am not knocking corn. I love the stuff. I would just like for more people of the world to get a full belly now and again.