OK, Let's Talk About Oil Demand

I keep hearing about how China and India are driving up demand for oil and thus are to blame for our current gasoline prices.

Not many are mentioning the fact that the other side of DEMAND is SUPPLY.

When ANWR, oil shale deposits in the west, the deposits on the continental shelf and others are figured in, we have as much oil as Saudi Arabia.

It's true Governors would have a hissy fit, but could they really stand on such a position in the face of voters paying through the nose? I think not. Hell, even Mark Warner is campaigning on such a platform, as is Jim Gilmore.

Someone, (McCain maybe, or was it Gilmore?), suggested recently that our closed military bases would be perfect locations for new refineries. An excellent, innovative idea, no matter where it came from.

You only need to remember one "talking point". Right now, China is drilling 45 miles off the coast of Key West. China. Drilling on OUR continental shelf. And the Democrats have no backbone to admit that we MUST do so as well.

And don't even get me started on coal.

Now, let's move on to an op-ed in yesterday's Roanoke Times. Allen Louderback, former Delegate from Luray, says we must create a huge government project, comparable to the Manhattan Project, that would double our fuel mileage. News flash, Mr. Louderback, we HAVE doubled our fuel mileage. And the private sector is currently conducting at least a billion dollars worth of such research today. It's called NASCAR and it and NHRA have been largely responsible for that doubling of our gas mileage.

He then goes on to allude to those miraculous gas mileage carburetors. You know, the ones the oil companies bought out the patent rights on and held them in secrecy all these years. I've been hearing these tales since I was a child. Another news flash for Mr. Louderback. A patent only lasts 17 years. If such devices ever existed, they could be produced royalty free today. Tell me that no aftermarket automotive parts company would be interested in producing the miracle parts.

It's way past time to stop blaming "Big Oil", (which is mostly owned by teachers, firemen, policemen, and just ordinary folks in their retirement plans), and place the blame squarely where it belong, on the floor of the House and Senate.

Certainly there will come a day when petroleum based fuel is no longer viable, in the meantime research into alternative energy sources is being conducted. Chevron alone invested 20 Billion last year into such research.

It's only logical. These companies know that we will soon no longer desire or need their current services. They know that they must make a move, a logical move, into other forms of energy or someday be forced to shut their doors forever. They are, after all, energy companies. It's logical, and sound business practice, to begin searching for their new replacement product.