Unless you have been living under a rock, you have probably already heard about "Picken's Plan" to convert 20% of our energy requirements in transportation to natural gas powered vehicles. He proposes to use massive wind power to replace 20% of our power with wind power.

http://www.pickensplan.com/index.php

Even with all of his money pushing this plan with our politicians, and holding public meetings across the USA, and even appearing before Congress, nothing much has been proposed by our Congressional representatives or the President Elect. While it may be prudent to focus on our Economic issues we cannot forget that we are almost totally at the mercy of foreign governments where oil is concerned.

Joe Lalumia

Rockwall, Texas

Sorry--------- I learned how to make URL addresses clickable in the blogs.... so I went back to many of my blog posts and fixed the links or deleted old links that did not work any longer.

UNKNOWN to me at the time, this reposted many of my old blog posts as new posts !! Sorry---------- sorry-------- now I know not to do that! What do you expect --- I am an OLD GUY.

Joe Lalumia

Rockwall, Texas

Drilling more oil will not affect the price-- but releasing oil from our National Petroleum Reserve WILL!  ???? !!!!!

Yes, this is another completely ridiculous statement by America's 2nd dumbest politician-- Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Here is her statement:

http://zfacts.com/p/598.html   read the facts---

Yes I know --- another one of her comments that is completely ridiculous--- none of her measures will do anything to actually achieve energy independence. However the tragedy is that she can prevent Congressional bills from coming out of Committee for a VOTE. The USA unfortunately is "blessed" with several other ding-bats --- that keep getting elected over and over again by their constituents.

Nancy-- when you make a statement saying that more supply will not affect the price, and then immediately follow it up with another statement that "increasing supply WILL affect the price"; you show your stupidity and ignorance to all Americans. Stop being an obstructionist and open up all public lands to exploration and drilling.

As I am also an American of Italian heritage, I personnally cannot believe your name ENDS with a vowel!

Joe Lalumia

Rockwall, Texas

The USA is blessed with massive formations of shale. Geologists like to call this "baby oil" as it has not aged enough to become petroleum. So what exactly is shale, and what energy can be produced from it?

First a definition.... shale is: "A fine-grained sedimentary rock consisting of compacted and hardened clay, silt, or mud. Shale forms in many distinct layers and splits easily into thin sheets or slabs. It varies in color from black or gray to brown or red." Under heat and pressure it turns into slate which is used in the construction industry.

More than 70% of the total oil shale acreage in the Green River Formation, including the richest and thickest oil shale deposits, is under federally owned and managed lands. Thus, the federal government directly controls access to the most commercially attractive portions of the oil shale resource base. 

Shale must be heated either after mining or in a new process within the shale rock formation underground, in order to extract the kerogen. The process steps are: Mining, crushing, heating to extract the kerogen, refining the kerogen into higher grade oil, transport to the refinery. This is followed by efforts to reclaim the land from the mining and heating process, and returning the land to it's former state. 

All these steps are more expensive than conventional oil drilling where the oil is removed from the ground and sent to a refinery. However, $45-$60 per barrel is the break-even point where shale mining becomes economically viable. So how much of this stuff do we have?

The number is mind-boggling! 1-3 TRILLION barrels is the estimate! 

http://christiannewswire.com/news/495546926.html

http://blogs.wsj.com/environmentalcapital/2008/07/09/shale-game-do-the-rockies-hold-the-key-to-energy-independence/

This is an astonishing amount of energy lying dormant across the central USA in what is called the Green River Formation-- remember more than 70% of the best deposits are on government land, and extraction of the resource is forbidden at the present time by Congress. Shell Oil has a test plant on private property and has demonstrated in situ extraction (heating the shale underground). They extracted about 1700 barrels of oil out of an area measuring 30x40 feet! The test plant is very small and very unobtrusive-- pictures can be seen on the website listed below, along with an explanation of the heating process.

http://www.shell.com/home/content/usa/aboutshell/shell_businesses/upstream/locations_projects/onshore/mahogany/dir_mahogany.html

So--- we have TRILLIONS of barrels of oil available that are locked up and OFF LIMITS within our shale formations.  Call your Congressional representative and ask him-her WHY it is off limits to exploration and drilling. Then get real mad the next time you pay your electric bill or fill-up your car!

Another blog about this same subject-   http://justthefactsmaam.wordpress.com/category/current-events/

and ONE MORE article about this great USA energy resource-  http://www.oilshaleexplorationcompany.com/ben.asp  

Joe Lalumia

Rockwall, Texas

ANWR-- the Artic National Wildlife Refuge, is a beautiful place. Totally unspoiled -- wonderful vistas-- and no humans.

EXCEPT!-- it's not where they want to drill! Are you really feed-up with the lies coming from the Democrat Congressional Majority-- probably not. Why? Because they are trying to make you believe this is a wonderful scenic area that we just MUST protect. Plus this area is near Prudhoe Bay where we have a major pipeline already in place.

So you might say, "Joe, show me the drilling area in ANWR." Take a look at this video posted right here on Neighbors Go-- and see the wonderful, scenic "coastal plain" that the Democrats are refusing to open up for exploration and drilling. By the way the caribou LOVE oil fields!

Watch this:   http://neighborsgo.com/video/1125  

Then remember this blog the next time you fill-up you car or pay your electric bill.

Read This:  http://www.anwr.org/   Then send me a comment about how our Congress is being led around by the nose by the environmental lobby!

Joe Lalumia

Well for one reason or another you may dislike this guy- Newt Gingrich. Who knows? However, you need to pay attention to what he has to say about US energy independence in this short video.

http://neighborsgo.com/video/1142

We have the dumbest-- most partisen-- politicians. Not only do they not know where the "on-off" switch is on a computer-- but they are ALL EXPERTS when it comes to oil and gas exploration! 

HELLO CONGRESS! Please get our of the way of the petroleum engineers, and geologists, and let them EXPLORE and DRILL!

Joe Lalumia

Rockwall, Texas

If you watch CSPAN you will already have seen the press conference on developing a Comprehensive Energy Bill. Newt again spoke at the press conference and his ideas are 100% correct-- we desperately need an energy policy from Congress.

This is a NATIONAL Security issue as we send 700 billion per year out of the country to various countries that hate us. Russia is the latest example. The oil pipeline goes through Georgia bypassing Russia--- the Russians do not want anyone messing with their oil business(monopoly) through the Russian port of Novorasisk on the Black Sea. How do I know this? I worked in Russia and in several other countries in Central and Eastern Europe for over 5 years! -   and visited the port during the Russian pipeline construction back in 1997-98.

I believe I have a good insight into the Russian mind-set when it comes to large national industries like oil, transportation, electrical power generating and so forth. The Oligarts are still in charge in Russia-- and their ideas about capitalism are different than our ideas here in the West. Their version is hard-nosed competition where it's better to run off your competitor and be the largest single supplier than compete on a level playing ground. They don't like Georgia selling oil to Europe-- and taking oil business away from Russian oil companies.

Russia is controlled by a very small group of Russian Capitalists (like the Chicago crime mobsters of the 1920s), who will do anything to maintain their power. These folks are NOT Communists but a strange form of gangster type Corporate businessmen. They were afraid the Georgian oil pipeline would "muscle" into their oil business, and so directed the military to invade and secure the territory where the pipeline is laid. (this is my take on the Georgian invasion.) Notice that they stopped moving once the pipeline was BEHIND them! -- and fired missles at the pipeline (purposely missing it!) just to emphasize their "don't compete with us on oil" philosophy to the Georgians!

Do we really want these types of governments controlling our destiny here in the USA? Well NO! Then we need to get serious about our national energy policy here in the USA. Congress needs to act NOW! Listen to Newt's speech posted right here on NeighborsGo. Then contact your representative and tell them to GET AFTER IT-- NOW! It looks like we now have one more country to worry about because of oil....... we need to quickly eliminate our oil imports from every country run by gangsters, dictators, and despots.

http://www.neighborsgo.com/video/1180    Newt's press conference video link

http://www.nysun.com/foreign/russia-jets-bomb-georgia-oil-pipeline/83547/

Joe Lalumia

Rockwall, Texas

As most of you know I am personally FOR a big expansion of our nuclear energy power generation. While other western countries use this power source we continue to have silly debates on "where do we put the waste?"  ( all one football field of it!??), and, "it costs to much to build nuclear plants", (well yes after 40 different government agencies get involved in the construction process, and environmental activists file tons of lawsuits preventing construction!).

What about the Presidential candidate views on nuclear-- ???? I have posted two videos on Neighborsgo; one from John McCain, and one from Barack Obama. Take a minute and listen to them. Nuclear MUST be a big part of any Energy Independence Bill that Congress enacts. It's the big elephant in the room that no one is talking about, and already contributes about 20% of our total USA electrical needs.

Watch these videos:

http://neighborsgo.com/video/1205    McCain

http://neighborsgo.com/video/1206    Obama

Joe Lalumia

Rockwall, Texas

Right now I am having heart palpitations just listening to the media FOCUS on "I got you" candidate statements--- and also on every non-critical facet of the candidate's lives! We deserve the weak idiotic Government that we usually get!

Instead of focusing on critical issues of NATIONAL interest, the media focuses on what church Palin attended or if lipstick can dress up a pig! Where is the discussion on these pressing national issues?

1. Immigration reform- kind of faded off into history don't you think?

2. Comprehensive energy reform- the media and the politicians don't have a clue! What do you expect from folks that -- a. Were hippies during the 1960s and -- b. Can't find the on off switch on a computer.... much less decide on WHERE we should drill, or what type of power plant to build.

3. Social Security-Medicare reform- we start running negative numbers within the next 15 years.

4. Spending -- the President really needs a line-item veto to get rid of all the PORK buried inside every Congressional Bill. Congress spends like a drunken sailor-- even drunken sailors stop drinking when they run out of money.

5. The Income Tax Code-- you could probably build a nice BOMB SHELTER using only the pages from our current code. Even CPAs have problems understanding it.

6. The size and scope of our Federal Government-- do we want a government that employs 100,000 people just in the AGRICULTURE Department? or 11,000 people in Housing & Urban Development? Boy they did a really good job policing the housing market didn't they! BILLIONS lost in Fannie Freddie bailout.

I just don't see the media focusing on these KEY questions with our elected officials and Presidential candidates. If you know WHY-- send me an email or leave a comment. Meanwhile, watch Newt compare the Federal Government to FedX !!! Right here in NeighborsGo--

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15D3ElV1Jzw

We deserve what we are going to GET!-------- hold on to your pocketbooks- and start watching "GOOFY" cartoons, as he makes more sense than the media or the politicians.

Joe Lalumia

Rockwall, Texas

In the next month Congress will FINALLY begin actually writing laws impacting our energy needs. DON'T BE FOOLED! Understand what the political parties are proposing!

For example, I fully expect Pelosi and crew to propose a partial lifting of the ban on offshore drilling-- but with the stipulation that it take place beyond 50 miles offshore. This will eliminate 75% of the potential oil and natural gas reserves as they are WITHIN 50 miles offshore. 

Additionally it will eliminate the state revenue sharing on offshore oil revenues. The States get millions of dollars in oil tax money every year, at total rates approaching 37% including the Federal Governments share! (what a bunch of thieves!) By eliminating oil revenue sharing on off shore leases the Bill totally removes any incentives for the States to allow the drilling! This is CALLED a Comprehensive Energy Program ---  NOT!

Along with this the Democrats will also propose raising taxes on the oil companies-- which YOU will get to pay in higher fuel prices. Corporations do not pay taxes! They pass them on to you and me in the form of higher prices.

Also pay particular attention to WHERE they will permit drilling-- you won't see ANWR, or off the Florida coast, or within our--- on-shore shale oil areas, listed in the places which are OK to explore and drill. This will be a half measure of political action-- with two steps forward and TWO steps back, just to make you THINK they are actually taking action.

What we need is Comprehensive energy reform: drill where the oil is, build nuclear plants, fund solar, and wind and other renewable energy resources, build refineries---- and eliminate the threat of lawsuits by the environmentalist during the construction phase, which will raise costs and delay the change to energy independence.Call or write your representative today and discuss COMPREHENSIVE energy reform.

Newt Gingrich gives several great ideas on energy reform in this video-- take a few minutes and watch it.

http://www.neighborsgo.com/video/1270        Drill here -- drill now.

So you might say?--- Joe that is a bunch of baloney! The Democrats are OUR friends and would not do that. OK--- then read this article right off an ENVIRONMENTAL web site!  

http://earth2tech.com/2008/09/12/democrats-energy-bill-offshore-drilling-for-clean-power/

And my friend Aussie sent me this link of Americans protesting Congressional  non-action on our energy crisis. Thanks Aussie!

http://www.cnsnews.com/public/cnsnewstv/video.aspx?RsrcID=33968

Joe Lalumia

Rockwall, Texas