Sunday, August 17, 2008

Letter to the Editor -- Cheap Oil will not return.

Sam Graves and the Republican Party continue to hammer away on their demands to drill for oil off shore and in the Alaskan National Wildlife Reserve, ANWR. The issue is being used to convince Americans that plentiful oil supplies are available, and we can continue our complacency regarding the need to conserve energy, and to find new sources of fuel. Sam speaks with determination on the subject, hoping to dupe American voters into believing that if we vote Republican, our energy worries will soon be over. Nothing is further from the truth!
We have learned that Sam Graves has accepted $61,583 from the oil industry, and supported the oil industry in 91% of selected votes. Sam suggests that gas prices will return to previous levels as soon as drilling in the ANWR and off shore is approved. It is general knowledge that any oil obtained by that route would not be available to consumers for up to 10 years!
Scientists tell us the total world-wide supply of oil was 2 trillion barrels before humans started using it. Since mid-nineteenth century the world has consumed nearly 1 trillion barrels of oil. The half that remains is the hardest to get, lowest quality oil. The United States passed its peak oil production, about 11 million barrels a day, in 1970, and has dropped steadily since then. In 2004 it ran just above 5 million barrels a day. Yet we consume roughly 20 million barrels of oil a day. Cheap oil prices will not return!

Shirley Yurkonis
Savannah, MO

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