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Friday, November 6, 2009 10:34 PM CST
LETTER: Contact lawmakers to develop US energy

DON SEARLES, Mattoon

During the 1973 oil embargo, our government promised that they would develop an energy policy that would limit our dependence on foreign oil. It is now 36 years later and what have they done? They have done nothing.

We are more dependent on foreign oil. Every day, $2 billion ($700 billion a year) of our money for oil, goes to Saudi Arabia, Iran, Venezuela and other countries who hate us and have every intention of destroying us. These countries then use our money to fund terrorist activities and to buy our land and businesses. The 9/11 terrorists that destroyed the World Trade Center and killed over 3,000, were funded with oil money, some of it ours.

What can and should be done? We have vast reserves of oil off the coasts of Florida, California and in Alaska. We should drill and recover this oil. Is it environmentally safe? Yes, there are 3,500 oil platforms and thousands of miles of pipelines presently in the Gulf of Mexico. During Katrina and other recent hurricanes, there were no oil spills in the Gulf. Many other technical advances make oil drilling and recovery safe.

We have coal reserves that will last over 250 years. However, much of this coal is high sulfur coal and because of the pollution it causes, it is not economical to use. The FutureGen project, right here in Mattoon, would prove that coal can be environmentally safe. However, the government has refused to fund it. They would rather spend hundreds of billions to bail out Wall Street banks than spend $1 billion to fund FutureGen.

Whoever controls a country’s energy will eventually control that country. It is time that we put pressure on our government to permit drilling and recovery of oil and natural gas on U.S. soil and offshore, which will create hundreds of thousands of new jobs, improve our economy, lower gas prices, cut our balance of payment deficits, and keep our money out of the hands of terrorist nations.

We must also put massive pressure on the government to fund FutureGen. Make your voice known before gas gets to $5 a gallon. Write or call Senator Dick Durbin, Senator Roland Burris and Congressman Timothy Johnson.

Tell them to fund FutureGen and let us use the oil, natural gas and coal we have, and stop sending money to terrorist nations. To find their contact data, go to www.visi.com/juan/congress/ Follow the links.

DON SEARLES

Mattoon

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exbricklayer wrote on Nov 5, 2009 1:30 PM:

" In 1975 the Carter Administration allocated $25 million to create the Aquatic Species Program to investigate high-oil types of algae that could be grown for bio fuel. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NERL) found that algae farms producing the plants in shallow ponds could supply enough bio fuel to completely replace fossil fuel for transportation and home heating. Scientists estimated that the 140.8 billion gallons needed to fuel the country at the time could be produced by 15,000 square miles of pond producing algae farms. Arizona's Sonora Desert alone is 120,000 square miles. Throughout the Regan and Bush Sr. administrations the funding was cut every year until it was cut completely. The private sector research has continued to evolve and the current estimate is that we could become completely bio-fuel independent in as little as 20 months. Algae based oil production on this magnitude would result in $55 per barrel bio-oil prices. This would take a full commitment from the Government but it would end the $700 billion per year wealth transfer that is taking place now. Today's vehicles can run on bio based fuel with no modifications and the rest of the current infrastructure, refineries, fuel stations, etc.. require no modification. This is not new technology, this is as old as the Diesel engine itself, an engine originally designed to run on peanut oil. The question isn't can it be done, the question is will the Oil Companies allow it. Coincidentally, the current Cap and Trade legislation is designed to force the hand of Big Oil in this direction, bio fuel is carbon neutral and exempt from that legislation. "

father bob wrote on Nov 6, 2009 4:02 PM:

" HEY!!........lets just sit on our lazy @sses and let china benefit from it. you think they don't know how to make a dollar quicker and easier than this country does???...and on our soil to boot. they laugh all the way to the bank while we haggle over oil and coal instead of looking forward and utilizing technology we already have. technology that was buried away by big oil and gas companies:

Friday, November 6, 2009; 1:52 PM

AES, the Arlington, Va.-based power generating company, said Friday that it would raise $2.2 billion for new projects by selling 15 percent of its stock and more than a third of its wind generation business to a unit of China's sovereign wealth fund.

AES said by turning to the China Investment Corp. for funds it would gain the ability to move ahead with projects in its development pipeline without weakening its balance sheet, and that it would build a relationship that could bolster its prospects in a key growth market.

Paul Hanrahan, AES's chief executive, said in an interview that the deal "takes the company from one that is in stable financial condition but can't do much to grow" to one that can "start funding the projects in our pipeline," including 1,200 megawatts of U.S. wind projects. He added that it would also give the company "dry powder" for acquisitions.

For CIC, the investment represents further diversification and a strategy of taking minority stakes in companies. More recently it has acquired stakes in a British real estate developer, a Canadian company involved in coal mining in Mongolia, Russian and Kazakh oil companies, and an Indonesia energy firm as well as making further investments in hedge funds.

AES said CIC would buy a 15 percent stake in the company by purchasing 125.5 million shares of AES stock for $12.60 a share for a total of $1.58 billion, representing a discount on the AES current price. It will nominate one member to the 10-person AES board of directors.

In addition, CIC signed a letter of intent to pay an additional $571 million for a 35 percent interest in AES's wind generation business. It will make additional investments proportional to its stake as the business finds new projects. "

STINKY wrote on Nov 7, 2009 11:34 AM:

" I think some new reactors would be helpful. "

Bps wrote on Nov 7, 2009 5:14 PM:

" Well thought out points and I would hope most thinking Americans would agree with this 100%.

What I have a real problem understanding is why President Obama, who is so adamantly against off shore drilling for oil for this country, yet he authorized the loaning of 2 Billion of our taxpayer dollars to a Brazilian Oil Exploration Company to drill for oil off the coast of Brazil.

The oil that comes from this operation is for the sole purpose and use of China and not the USA!

Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203863204574346610120524166.html

Small version of URL:
http://tinyurl.com/pkjmjq "

father bob wrote on Nov 8, 2009 8:43 AM:

" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-NJ4iNPGeg "

devilishangel61401 wrote on Nov 10, 2009 10:55 PM:

" What happend to all of the promises I heard about devloping natural energy? Wind, and Solar energy? I heard it not only from Obama ( Whom I did vote for and support for the most part) but nearly every current congress person in office right now. Did nuclear energy fall by the wayside after Chernobel and their tragedy? I saw on CNN that Brazil has made fuel out of Sugar Cane! Think of how much Sugar Cane we could grow in Hawaii. Is there no way to take the sulfur out of coal and not put it into the ground ( which may cause its own host of problems) shoot if our goverment would focus on new ways to create energy ( solar, wind, clean coal etc they could create many many jobs and get our country out of this depression. ( I don't see it as a recession, to me its a deprssion) "

rethink wrote on Nov 11, 2009 12:26 PM:

" Durbin is no threat to FutureGen or any fossil fuel technology. His nephew is Executive Vice President for the American Petroleum Institute, so the API will have plenty of opportunities over the holiday season to access Durbin for increased dependency on oil. "