An energy policy to win the White House
Both major political parties are letting our best chance for fuel independence slip away.
It's not "Drill, baby, drill." It's "Use, baby, use."
We've got a phenomenal disconnect between what the political parties are saying about our oil and gas reserves and what the reality may be.
When President Barack Obama talks about energy, he always mentions that we can't solve the problem of high gasoline prices by drilling for oil in this country. We can only hope that, long term, through conservation, solar, wind and other renewables, that we can bring down the cost of energy.
When I hear the Republicans talk, they put our energy problems squarely on the unwillingness of the Democrats to allow drilling on federal lands, saying that if we could get to that land, we would indeed produce enough oil to affect pricing.
Both sides are totally wrong.
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The president is wrong when he says we can't bring the price of oil down in the short term, because we could. We just need to use more natural gas as an alternative. We've got the most natural gas in the world. It is cheap, and it can offset pricey diesel, currently the preferred fuel for trucks, which use a quarter of oil imports. Anything that encourages a switch to natural gas, any incentives, would bring down the price of oil within a year or two.
The Republicans are totally wrong about how much oil is in this country. The federal lands are not bountiful reserves of oil. Not even the pristine lands of the Arctic National Wildlife Preserve. The biggest finds are on private lands. While huge, they are not going to be able to offset the imported oil we use. When combined with stepped-up production of dirty Canadian tar sands crude, they can make us less dependent on the oil from countries we can't depend on. But no oil person I speak to believes that federal land drilling is even important in the equation. That's just politics.
What would be important is a straight-out endorsement by either party of natural gas as our preferred bridge fuel. Its abundance is unquestionable, as we know from the price of the fuel. We do have the technology to use it. If we don't use it, we will lose it to other countries. It is cleaner and cheaper than oil, yet both parties have set up oil at the fulcrum of the debate. It is a completely false dichotomy embraced in diametrically opposed camps, and unfortunately it obscures our main chance for energy independence.
I think the party that gets natural gas right can win the White House. The theme is that powerful. But neither party does, so the opportunity is lost in a tidal wave of obfuscation and ignorance on both sides of the aisle.
Jim Cramer is a co-founder of TheStreet and contributes daily market commentary to the financial news network's sites. Follow his trades for Action Alerts PLUS, which Cramer co-manages as a charitable trust.
RE TO PUT YOUR OILPresident Obama still has some months to go before the election.
He has already mentioned Natural gas when he needed to get a rise out of his followers, so sometime around September or Octobers, he will have a big push for natural gas that will go through to the first Tuesday in November.
The only problem will be, he won't act on it if re-elected. It will die a lonely death when he turns his back on it after he comes back from his November vacation.
it is oblunder and all his oil buddies driving up the price of gas ! Oh i am sorry that was Bush
and his oil buddies Cramer you have made me some money but your a democrot and that
is all you will ever be. You fit right in with jessie jackson, al the sharp sharpton, nancy polousy, chuckie smuckemer and the rev faracon ozone al , and all the other leftioes
Natural gas is too easy.. The big bucks want to cash in on subsidies!
All over this country people are having hundreds, even thousands of 500 foot turbines. That's 50 stories and the top 30 stories are rotating! Groups are forming to fight this but many areas are already devastated. Ridgelines with hundreds of 50 story turbines that will NEVER be removed, the trees never replaced, the freeway sized roads never replanted.
The Republicans should jump on this and get the many, many people fighting this on their side.
Rates go up and tax dollars are stolen for GREED energy.
Here we go again. Shale gas and shale oil need TREMENDOUS volumes of water to process. It takes 3-5 barrels of water per barrel of oil and 5-9 MILLION gallons of water to frack each and every gas well. So its really about water. How is the American west doing right now water wise? Problems you say? Just wait. Then there is the disposal of this nice, clean fracking waste. Holding ponds the size of large lakes exist in Alberta, Pennsyvania, Wyoming etc. Nice stuff.Then there's the depletion rates no one ever mentions. Typically 65% the first year, 35% the second, 15% the third. Then refracking. What a deal. How stupid do we have to be to swallow this energy independence crap. Jim, open your fracking eyes. The only solotion is conservation. And becoming more local. Live where you work, shop where you live. Trains not planes. Park your car and ride a bike.
Mr. Cramer must be long natural gas stocks to explain his infatuation with CNG fuel. From 1992 to 1995 I spent $150M trying to promote CNG fuel for fleet vehicles and had several groups with up to 50M vehicles willing to consider converting some of their vehicles. My requirement for conducting a successful CNG program was a fifteen year guaranteed gas supply which public gas utilities are unable to provide. Discussions with several major gas producers at the time disclosed the best they would be willing to guarantee was five years.At Today's low gas price guarantee there will be gas shortages within five years similar to that which occurred in the late 1990's resulting in California's disasterous gas shortages.
CMON...........the 2 party system is all about keeping the money in the pockets of the owners
no candidate of either party will be allowed the nomination unless he is a puppet of the owners
vote one party out and you just vote in more puppets of the owners
americans think they are free and have power in voting but the reality is the owners control
everything to their benefit......always have ....always will
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