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285 comments on The US Offshore Drilling Argument: The Debate Between "Starting Now" and "Waiting a While"

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enemy of state on June 30, 2008 - 7:17pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

In terms of costs, these necessary changes cost the same if we do them now or later because we replace cars and trucks anyway.

If only that were true. In the real world there are serious delays caused by the fact that (for the most part) the research and development, followed by large scale investment in manufacturing capability, and the creation of a support network for repairs, has not been made. If we assume we are already in a PO predicament, the fact that meaningful preparations were not made ahead of time precludes a timely response. Rushing of (nearly) untested products into production at a very high scale, is associated with some serious costs. I'm not saying we shouldn't try to do that, just that a lot of costly technical glitches should be expected.

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mdsolar on July 1, 2008 - 1:59am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

I would agree except that the timescale given is 15 years so nothing needs to be rushed. Introduce PEHVs in 2010 as planned and off we go. I don't know if you remember the MVP prizes for the World Series last year. A couple of hybrids. There is much that is already on the road getting miles logged and final kinks worked out. All we really need is the leadership to say that we won't stand for high gas prices and we'll stop using oil before we'll ruin our economy following that blind alley.

Fifteen years is a short time for Exxon to switch to only selling lubricants in the US, so there will be some resistance. The current drill everywhere stuff is a sign of desperation though. If we leave open the option to export some oil, there may be an accomodation that will be partly satisfactory.

Chris

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285 comments on The US Offshore Drilling Argument: The Debate Between "Starting Now" and "Waiting a While"

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