A while ago I joined a site that gets folks to sign petitions to get action from government officials. The reason that I joined was to prevent the slaughter of a military woman’s dog that she befriended in Iraq. I felt at the time the woman had gone through a lot as it was, and that the senseless death of her beloved friend would be more than some one should have to endure. It was a cause that I believed in after listening to the stories of my little brother after returning from his third tour of war over in Iraq. That was a cause that I felt had some great merritt to it. But because of having to join the site to sign the petition I am now receiving numerous requests to sign dozens if not more requests each and every month. Many of which I just can’t do, because of my personal beliefs. The numerous ones being to prevent drilling for oil in our very own country.
Living in Wyoming we are left with hundreds of square miles with nothing in between here and there. We are forced to commute to jobs or are forced to move from where we want to live to places we will be forced to live. So for most of us the need to commute is a constant reminder of how isolated Wyoming is from the rest of the world. That being said the need for cheep and affordable fuel is extremely important. I can remember fondly when gas rose over $4 bucks a gallon and I was constantly asking myself if it was monetarily worth while to work, or to join the hundreds of others in this country and begin to live off the system. Then we were blessed with the drop in gas prices after the market collapsed in the fuel commodities. I nearly danced for joy in the streets of my town buck naked because I was so over joyed. But once again the prices are slowly climbing back up, and the environmentalists are in an uproar over off shore drilling as well as drilling more in the Alaskan tundra. While I can see the idea of not drilling in the ocean due to the fact of the low return for the monetary means and environmental dangers put to risk each and every day of operation. I can not, nor will I ever see the reason for preventing drilling in the Alaskan tundra. That to me is just plain Stupid.
First off, if you look at what is in the tundra you would see very quickly that there is little to nothing there. For the most part animals don’t even live in the area due to the constant cold and poor food sources of algae and Arctic mosses. So what are we really loosing with drilling there. A place for folks to come and take pictures of strange grasses and molds. Please, this is so stupid that I can not even come up with a strong rebuttal to the problem. I feel for the most part that people are against drilling for oil just because of what it is. Not, for the purpose of the danger it may or may not post to the environment that it resides in. There is a need for oil in this country until we can come up with sustainable and affordable meas to provide fuels for long distances for those of us that live in rural America.
The idea of the tree hugging, nut crunching vegans that want to control every square inch of this country has to come to an end. I have to ask you this major question to those of you that find yourself in this category of believers. Do you walk or bike every where you go? Do you live in the wilderness in a tent so as to not bring more of a demand to the need of oil dependency in this country? If not, then what are you really speaking out about? You are using the same fossil fuels that I am using just to get to work. I know, I know, you can take the bus in most major cities. But for the most part those vehicles use fuel to operate. You have heat in your homes, and hot water and unless you are independently wealthy you are having to use some form of fossil fuel to get those luxuries of life. To put the matter to rest unless you can live this life and are currently doing it with out damaging the environment or causing pain to it yourself then we need to look at things a little bit differently. The need for oil is constant and growing. Everything in this country is shipped into it, through it, or out of it with fuels that are found from drilling. We can either drill for it ourselves, or support extremist nations by buying it from them.
Now for point number two. I know many of you out there are saying to yourselves that you could get a hybrid to use less fuel, or maybe an electric car. To squash both of those ideas at once is easy. The idea of a hybrid would be nice but the cost for most Americans makes them unattainable. I don’t have the disposable income necessary to purchase another vehicle that I would have to drive another forty miles out of my way just to find a place to fill up with E-85 fuels. Or for those that work off both electric and fuel, I would have to question how well they work in cold, cold, environments. See the manufactures like to test them in places like California where you never experience temperatures as low as -20 degrees. I unfortunately do experience these temperatures and have to question their performance in extremely cold temperatures. Then for the full electric car. The car will not work for me. I commute for a total of 120 miles each day, five days a week. Most electric cars have a range of less than a 100 miles. So then what, do I grab the neighbors horse to come and get me for the rest of the trip? Then you are forced to ask yourself the question of, where does the electricity come from? Most power plants are powered using some form of fossil fuel, whether it be from coal powered plants or some other form. So even with dropping out the need for oil we are still dependant with a fuel that has to be harvested with destroying the environment we live in.
So in close, I would like to leave you with this. If you are against the drilling of oil in this country, then stop using it. Unplug your refrigerator, turn off your T.V.’s, computers, heaters and the lot. Don’t drink your water because it has been cleaned and filtered using electricity and fossil fuels. Live in the woods and please don’t start a fire because of the air pollution that you would be causing and deforestation that would result from your Californian ass having to stay warm. If you can’t live life under these circumstances then join the military. Go over seas and join the war on terror or like many folks like to say the war for oil and do your part in securing the oil from our over seas enemies. Until then, push for the use of renewable resources. Not just putting up wind turbines in my back yard, but in your homes as well. Put those solar panels on every roof in America and push the failing auto makers to really come up with rock solid solutions to this global problem. Put the fight to the areas that really need it.
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