Your Letters, June 20, 2008
Friday, June 20, 2008
Friday, June 20, 2008
Plenty of oil
in ANWR
I need to respond to Shirley Yurkonis’ letter published on June 14, saying that there is not enough oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to make it worthwhile to drill for oil there.
I spent four and a half years as a navigator for various oil exploration companies on their research ships surveying the ocean’s floors, looking for deposits of oil. We worked the entire East Coast and Gulf Coast of the United States, the Caribbean, the north coast of Colombia, South America and the coasts of six countries in West Africa.
I still have many contacts in the oil exploration industry who tell me that there is indeed much more oil in ANWR than the environmentalists are saying. The environmentalists purposely put out this misinformation since they know that many people are too intellectually lazy and won’t challenge it, especially if it follows their political party’s line of thought.
I can state with certainty that there is enough oil in American waters to lower tremendously, if not eliminate, our dependency on Mideast oil. I’ve seen the data.
If there is as much oil in ANWR as my contacts believe, we could definitely be completely self-sufficient.
Want to know just how stupid we are? The U.S. is the third-largest producer of oil in the world. We cut back our production and go to the No. 1 producer, Russia, and the No. 2 producer, Saudi Arabia, and ask them to increase their production to help lower gas prices in America.
China, with the cooperation of Cuba, is drilling for oil 60 miles off the coast of Florida. That is closer to the Florida coast than U.S. companies are allowed to drill.
Do your own research. Don’t just listen to people following their political party lines.
Go to www.anwr.org and other places, both pro and con.
Dale Archdekin
Prairie Village, Kan.
Spreading lies
The Missouri State Democratic Committee and Kay Barnes continue to spread lies about Sam Graves and his stances on health care.
In a recent mailing, the Missouri Democratic Committee claims that Rep. Graves opposed affordable health care for children. What they are not telling us is that Sam Graves supported reauthorizing the program with an increase in funding for the children the program was originally intended to cover. The most recent bill would have added coverage for adults, children who previously had private health insurance and children of illegal immigrants.
Sam Graves is for fixing the problem, not increasing government handouts and welfare.
David Rich
St. Joseph
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Dale Archdekin urges us to "[d]o your own research. Don’t just listen to people following their political party lines." He then claims that "China, with the cooperation of Cuba, is drilling for oil 60 miles off the coast of Florida." Vice President Cheney made this erroneous claim in a speech on June 11, but he issued a correction the next day; and his source, George Will of the Washington Post, issued his own correction on the 17th. Mr. Archdekin needs to follow his own advice.
Posted by b6799955 on June 20, 2008 at 3:37 a.m. (Suggest removal)Dear Spreading Lies,,,I feel sorry for people without insurance, HOWEVER, we should NOT, in ANY WAY give Anything such as medical assistance to ANYONE who can not PROVE that they are in this country Legally, PERIOD ! When we find a way to give it to all of our OWN citizens first, then maybe OK, but we are creating a Haven for people who contribute little or nothing to our society. Charity Starts at Home, get medical care for ALL Americans, THEN IF there is anything left over worry about the others, you CAN NOT refuse health care to American Citizens, then give it freely to illegal aliens with no questions ask!
Steve-O
Posted by dalearch on June 20, 2008 at 7:47 a.m. (Suggest removal)China & Cuba hold leases to drill 60 miles off the coast of Florida. They have not begun drilling yet. I misspoke. A friend of mine works for the company that is contracted to do the positioning of the drilling equipment.
Posted by Rockchalk on June 20, 2008 at 1:43 p.m. (Suggest removal)Are the "environmentalists" referred to in this letter President George H.W. Bush, who signed an executive order extending the ban on offshore drilling or Jeb Bush who more recently opposed drilling off the coast when he was governor of Florida? Maybe it was the president who signed the original 1981 law prohibiting offshore drilling, that well-known environmentalist Ronald Reagan? Oh, and even W. signed an executive order extending the ban through 2012.
Posted by dalearch on June 20, 2008 at 3:25 p.m. (Suggest removal)Rockchalk:
The letter refers to environmentalists as putting out misinformation about how much oil is in ANWR.
What does that have to do with the Bush family and the current Governor of Florida changing their stance on offshore drilling and being in favor of it now?
Posted by Rockchalk on June 20, 2008 at 4:11 p.m. (Suggest removal)The relevance is that you suggest that this country's oil exploration has only recently been hindered, when in fact we have not done anything to enhance our energy independence substantially since the oil crisis of the 70's.
You also initially wrote that China was drilling off the coast of FL (I appreciate your later correction), implying that we could be doing so if not for the environmentalists.
I agree that people tend to look at only one party to blame, but on this issue, there is plenty of blame on both sides of the aisle.
Posted by dalearch on June 20, 2008 at 5:32 p.m. (Suggest removal)I did not suggest “that this country's oil exploration has only recently been hindered”. That is the way you interpreted the letter. If you’ll check back to some of my previous posts, you’ll see that I too feel it’s been hindered for decades.
As far as the “China and Cuba” misspeak, I should have said “is going to be drilling” since they will be very soon.
I believe that my question “Want to know just how stupid we are?” puts blame on all of us – at least that is the way it was intended.
Posted by Rockchalk on June 20, 2008 at 8:48 p.m. (Suggest removal)Sorry if I misinterpreted your letter. It sounds like we are really closer on this issue than I thought.
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