Dept. of Energy: Sky High Gas Prices OK! Encouraged!

[RakuraiTenjin]

President Barack Obama's Secretary of Energy Stephen Chu uttered the kind of Washington gaffe that consists of telling the truth when inconvenient. According to Politico, Chu admitted to a House committee that the administration is not interested in lowering gas prices.

Chu, along with the Obama administration, regards the spike in gas prices as a feature rather than a bug. High gas prices provide an incentive for alternate energy technology, a priority for the White House, and a decrease in reliance on oil for energy.

http://news.yahoo.com/energy-secretary-chu-admits-administration-ok-high-gas-193900713.html



This is outrageous. Shipping rates are getting insanely high and this is killing production and manufacturing industries. We cannot afford this kind of idiocy right now. Blocking of the keystone oil pipeline and the purposely delaying of the permitting process for new drilling now all makes sense.

Fuel prices going sky high is not just about driving in your car! Everything you use has to be shipped. Everything oil based you consume, from plastics, cosmetics, simple daily items are going to keep increasing in price.

This economy cannot afford a bumbling administration that ENCOURAGES the rise of fuel prices to meet political wishes.

Every American should be disgusted by this revelation. Alternative fuels can be developed without harming the financial well being of every American. We do not take kindly to schemes to harm our pocketbooks. The mainstream media needs to pay more attention to what Secretary Chu has said here. The purpose of the Dept. of Energy is to decrease our dependence on FOREIGN oil. Not just oil in general. Get us off of the foreign oil tit, get fuel prices to an acceptable level to not devastate the recovering economy, and simultaneously focus on alternative fuels.

 

[Krynn72]

I am outraged by this revelation, thank you for bringing it to my attention. It pisses me off that we aren't raping our lands in order to continue paying less than half of the price the rest of the world does on gasoline. There is no way our economy can sustain the financial hit of higher gas prices. I mean, look at the economies of all the other countries that already pay double what we do. You can't even see their economies, because they're dead, no economies at all. Clearly there is no way for our economy to adapt to a slightly-more-expensive-gas crisis.

 

[unozero]

oh Krynn I'm disappointed...That's stuff is something Stern would spout.

 

[Bad^Hat]

You're are is right! What's a jackasses's.

 

[KiplingsCat]

Stephen Chu has a Nobel Prize in physics. He probably knows what he's talking about.

Edit: From an environmental point of view, that is. Which is what he's there for. Not economics.

 

[RakuraiTenjin]

Stephen Chu has a Nobel Prize in physics. He probably knows what he's talking about.

Edit: From an environmental point of view, that is. Which is what he's there for. Not economics.

The sole purpose of the Dept of Energy is affordable fuel management and reducing reliance on foreign oil. He is not the head of the EPA, they are the department set for environmental protection. So no, thats not what hes supposed to be there for. Either way these sort of broad policy decisions originate from the President




Krynn you do not see the larger picture. Diesel is approaching $5+. This is a huge blow to the logistics of the nation. I coordinate logistics for my work and fuel surcharges are killing business for many people. I have freight reps in complete panics due to this. This isn't just 'bike more' situation, everything you use, and the parts and raw material to make it, have to be shipped and fuel greatly affects that.

There is no excuse for not combatting high gas prices. Alternative fuels can not get any cheaper if the cost of R&D is sky high due to rising fuel and shipping costs!!


Hop on linkedin and pop into ANY freight, shipping, or logistics forum/group and take a look at the chatter and ask about the recent price spikes effects. Real talk and real examples right there.

 

[ríomhaire]

The sole purpose of the Dept of Energy is affordable fuel management and reducing reliance on foreign oil.

That's not what the official Department of Energy website says their mission is.

The mission of the Energy Department is to ensure America’s security and prosperity by addressing its energy, environmental and nuclear challenges through transformative science and technology solutions.

Sorry mate, but you don't get to decide what government departments' jobs are.

 

[RakuraiTenjin]

That's not what the official Department of Energy website says their mission is.



Sorry mate, but you don't get to decide what government departments' jobs are.

When Carter signed the DOE into existence, it was after the 70's oil crunch and it was for the sole purpose of reducing foreign dependence on oil. Environmental federal agencies already existed for managing nuclear issues. Just a quick google search will show this. There is (now) a seperate department within the DOE called the OEM which handles environmental issues, but this typically pertains to preventing spills, and dealing with nuclear warhead decay etc. The president appoints the leader of the OEM himself even though it's technically under Chu.

Chu's primary job is reducing our foreign dependence on oil. That was the reason given to the public for the DOE's establishment.

Purposely allowing fuel prices to rise to unsustainable levels is idiotic and I'd say flat out corruption and dereliction of duty. This is akin to a military stating 'we will allow ourselves to purposely incur a massive strike so we can retaliate'

I'm honestly flabbergasted that this doesn't seem to bother you guys at all. At least the Americans here. I don't think you understand the wider impact this has on the economy and recovery. It's not just a matter of personal driving or 'lol dont get SUV' there is so much more to it then that. We need a plan to return to at MOST $2.50 gallon gas.

 

[>>FrEnZy<<]

The purpose of the Dept. of Energy is to decrease our dependence on FOREIGN oil. Not just oil in general. Get us off of the foreign oil tit, get fuel prices to an acceptable level to not devastate the recovering economy, and simultaneously focus on alternative fuels.

I think we need to clarify what we mean by dependence on foreign oil.

Firstly, any discussion about oil dependence won't be complete without first visiting the concept of Peak Oil. Please visit if you are not aware of this phenomenon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_oil

If by reducing dependence on foreign oil you mean that the US should source its own oil from its own land, then this is pretty sensless as the US reached peak oil in the 1972 and has since, as a matter of necessity, changed from the largest exporter to the largest importer of oil (as oil resources have been depleted in the US).

Putting the ethics aside for a moment, If we mean the US should employ foreign actions to seize oil resources through political pressure (eg. influencing the canadian political elite to grow the Tar Sand industry) or through war (eg. with Iran) then we need to analyse whether such actions are worthwile in terms of the amount oil required to secure such resources.

If we mean the US government should subsidize the cost of oil imports - this may mean a smoother functioning economy in the short term - but does not in any meaningful way resolve the dependence of the US to foreign oil.

Also, it is important to note, that the greatest barrier to development of alternative energy (and hence the dependence of oil in general) in our current socio-economic paradigm is cheap oil (i.e. there is no economic reason to develop alternative energy so long as oil remains cheap - which is precisely why oil subsidies are so harmful to the development of alternative energy).

Fuel prices going sky high is not just about driving in your car! Everything you use has to be shipped. Everything oil based you consume, from plastics, cosmetics, simple daily items are going to keep increasing in price.

This economy cannot afford a bumbling administration that ENCOURAGES the rise of fuel prices to meet political wishes.

Every American should be disgusted by this revelation. Alternative fuels can be developed without harming the financial well being of every American. We do not take kindly to schemes to harm our pocketbooks. The mainstream media needs to pay more attention to what Secretary Chu has said here.

The point has been made earlier that American's enjoy oil prices that are extensively cheaper when compared with other nations in the world and hence the US should be more than capable of dealing with a rise in oil prices. In addition to this point, it's important to note that cheap oil prices increases demand for oil, there by stressing the supply of oil available to the US economy. This in turn results to the US resorting to the most readily available source to supply that demand (i.e. foreign oil).

In essence, the US has no significant domestic oil supply to depend on. The choice is between:

1) a greater dependence on foreign oil to meet energy demands

2) Greater seizure of oil resources through foreign political pressure and war to meet energy demands (a process that arguably, in some cases consumes more oil than it produces for the US.)

3) Less depedence on oil generally through dependence on alternative energy.

 

[Maestro]

This is about to turn into a HL2.net cluster****, but I'd like to put this in here now:

Oil production peaked in 2007. We will never make as much as we did in 2007 ever again. You can drill, frac, and pipeline as much as you like, but the ease of extraction from major fields in Saudi Arabia and other high-production regions has been tapped. Oil sands physically cannot provide the same output at the same cost level. The cost will inevitably go up over time. We might as well start working on this shit now and not later.

These typical spring/summer oil price spikes are cyclic in nature, and it will drop in the fall just like always. It won't drop as far down as it did the last fall; the inevitable fact is that gas must run out, and if we don't have an appreciable amount of our infrastructure weaned from fossil-based hydrocarbon fuels in the next 10 to 15 years, we may as well just throw in the towel now and admit economic defeat.

$2.50 gas is or will soon be a thing of the past. It is an economic fact that as the supply decreases price will increase. Like it or not the Volt is the future. It may be a shitty car, but its heritage will be the norm in 15 years.

EDIT: By "we," I mean the entire planet of Earth combined will never beat 2007's production levels.

 

[Warped Dan]

With fuel, food, etc...the world consumes its load by October of any given year. meaning anything else is taken from Earth and not reproduced. Meaning in about 50 or so years its going to be a bitch to live for anyone in the world...including the developed countries and every dozen years or so there are more developed countries out there. Rare Earth Elements in China are down to almost nothing now. Once that country depletes those resources another country will empty their load as well. Its going to be a domino effect. In all honesty we need to start spreading to other planets in our solar system and start harvesting its many minerals. We don't have much time before the world caves into a spiral of depletion. We may have even depleted elements that we never knew how to use them to their fullest. Space is only the beginning too. If there are parallel universes out there and we know how to obtain elements and oddities from those theoretical places, it would be a glorious day. You wouldn't have to even leave Planet Earth to obtain such riches.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_theory

sorry for going off the deep end but I hope more emphasis is looked into this as we spread out and look for advanced ways to enhance the human experience for all

 

[ríomhaire]

Looking to space as the immediately solution is insane. We need to stop wasting so much resources now. Unfortunately the only way that's going to happen is if we somehow get a very intelligent dictator in charge.

 

[Krynn72]

Unfortunately the only way that's going to happen is if we somehow get a very intelligent dictator in charge.

You have my sword!

 

[Bad^Hat]

I propose we somehow fuse the sincerity and tenacity of Ron Paul, the scientific acumen and commitment to education of Neil Degrasse Tyson, and the charisma of Adolf Hitler to create an all-conquering mega dictator!

But if only we could get the internet to sign off on the idea...

 

[Krynn72]

We could start an online petition!

 

[>>FrEnZy<<]

You've got my signature - not that it's much of a signature...