Crude oil, and related natural products (asphaltum, etc.) have been known to man for millennia.

We started aggressive exploitation of this resource in 1859 when Edwin Drake drilled for oil in Titusville, PA.

While there is some disagreement on exact numbers (pessimistic estimates are that we've already reached
peak oil - the peak of the availability curve - while optimistic projections place peak oil into 2030 or so) the point is its coming.

Make no mistake, we need to start doing something else for energy, and the sooner the better.

Now that we know this is coming I personally find it ludicrous we are still arguing about exploiting the remainder of it to maintain the unmaintainable, and spew this ancient juice's carbon into the atmosphere where it appears to be causing a whole other set of woes.

Are we that dead set on re-enacting the Easter Islander's playbook on a global scale?

That is some sorry-ass reasoning you have there.

Saying quadruple amputees have it worse than triple amputees does not make it OK to cut off people's limbs.

I don't see any solutions in FTR's post. Just a lot of unsupported assertions and profanity. What are we supposed to do? Lie catatonic as the price of energy soars?

Brazil seems to not have any compunctions about drilling offshore and in the heart of the Amazon rainforest despite it being so expensive and does nothing to reduce the price of gas. It makes no economic sense according to FTR, and yet they are doing it. So who is the stupid one: Brazil or FTR and the American environmentalists?

FTR's solution: less dependency on oil. Something we've been saying for ages.

As far as the comment "unsupported assertions," you want to link some factoids about your Brazil BS?

Seriously.

With demand for fossil fuels growing to accomodate the needs of 1.3 billion Chinese, 1.1 billion Indians, and hundreds of millions of people in other rapidly developing countries, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for oil prices to come back down.

There are no realistic substitutes for hydrocarbons. Nothing comes close to the amount of energy they have. The only way to meet our energy needs is to develop as many deposits as we can find and bring them to market.

Brazil knows this, and is doing this.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/11/08/business/LA-FIN-Brazil-Petrobras.php

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=aoVn_C9BuMGM&refer=latin_america

http://www.theworld.org/?q=node/18989

You do know there is a pretty big difference between America and Brazil?
America consumes 60% of the world's oil, or something obscene like that. Brazil does not.
America is already a massive economic power. Brazil is not.

If Oil Companies were to be given access to even more areas to drill (which again, they have access to plenty which they just refuse to get into), it would do nothing for the American consumer for years, and minimal assistance to our economy. Our problem is our consumption rate.

Brazil on the other hand, will get help. Its population will see a benefit from this alongside the nation.

They're not drilling because environmentalists file lawsuits and injunctions to stop them. They demand lengthy environmental impact studies before drilling, all while paying to simply hold the lease. The Brazilians, Russians, everyone else are not hamstrung in such a way.

If those regulations and obstructions were waived, you can be sure oil companies would develop the leases they have. If you don't believe me, let's do so and see what happens.

The reason for America's dependence on imported oil can be laid at the feet of the Left, the environmentalists, and the Democrats. They have insisted and demanded restrictions on domestic energy development since the 80's, and now we find ourselves in the present situation. Instead of reversing this mistake, they insist we abide by it.

The size of our demand is irrelevant. We have more demand, so any increase in supply should be dismissed? Yet they call for increased production of energy generated from solar, wind, and biofuels that contribute even less to our supply and cost more than hydrocarbons, while starving the poor and killing birds. But this is all ok, because at least it's not oil companies doing it?

Bah ha ha ! And the Brazilian economy is doing soO good thanks to that.

Great point !

Remarks like this one are the reason people all around the globe just love Americans.

There really are no easy answers. Even if the companies have leases and know there's oil, 1 in 4 times they try to drill they come up dry for whatever reason, losing millions in the process. Hopefully 4D seismic technologies will help reduce some of that, but nothing is going to change quickly. Even if companies were allowed to drill tomorrow here, the rigs and jack ups and other equipment are booked out for years to come.

It is pretty amazing to look at Brazil. With it's tropical rainforests and swampy lands allowing it the sort of sugarcane production to become so energy independent with their ethanol production. It is admirable.

Here, I guess there's not only the difficulty in producing enough sugarcane to make a dent fast enough, but also the fact that farmers here are not very incentivized with some of the governmental subsidies they receive to produce as well. From what I understand sugar is something like 7x more efficient in the production of ethanol and much cleaner than corn, which has shown itself to be so much more expensive and require a heck of a lot of gas in the process. So, at the moment it is neither clean nor cost effective to use corn.

Take all of this and add the demand in the emerging markets, and the speculators on Wall Street and elsewhere and it will be hard to suppress the rise in prices. It is frustrating, but get used to it. A lot is being spent to research alternative fuels, but no breakthrough will happen quickly.

Even the price of corn is going up. Eventhough it is a different kind of corn used to make ethanol, than the kind we eat, it still has led to the rise in corn based foods and tortilla prices. This has lead to increased hunger problems in places like Mexico and elsewhere. Arrggghhh! An unintended consequence, I'm sure. It would be nice if there were a fast fix.

So...we should seek approval ahead of our own interests and our citizens' well-being and prosperity? Does any other country do that? No. Why then should America?

this will remain true only as long as we don't conduct serious research for alternatives. there are already several promising technologies being refined as a result of the current crunch. i personally remain optimistic about India's foray into beaming converted solar power down to earth via microwave transmission.

I remain hopeful too. None of it will happen overnight, but it is there. The high prices are not a blessing, but they certainly provide the incentive to step up the pace of research and for each of us to make small changes in our own lives too.