[Grovenet] LNG

[David Morelli]

On Feb 1, 2008, at 9:52 AM, Ron D'Eau Claire wrote:

> David wrote:
> "...how does restricting cocaine help an addict?"
>
> That's a good metaphor. As you must know, it doesn't. The biggest  
> contributor to the on-going drug problem in the USA is that fact  
> that we made the unwanted drugs illegal and tried to stop the inflow.

I must offer some disagreement.  The biggest contributor to the on  
going drug problem in the USA is the greed of those who make money  
off of the drug deal.  Everyone in the drug chain from the producer  
to the dealer, from the purchaser of stolen goods, to those who  
accept money and favors for looking the other way.  Yes, the illegal  
status helps to keep the price high, but "killing someone to make a  
buck" is not the road to sainthood.

I would also offer that those who facilitate the drug addict are also  
part of the problem.  Those who help with the excuses or assist the  
user avoid confronting reality are a problem not a friend.  If a user  
needs to find a reason to quit, then those who pad the sharp corners  
and cushion the falls, are not helpful at all.
> ...
> You tell me, how does that solve the problem?
>

The Oil Crisis was thirty-five years ago.  President Carter tried to  
move in the direction of change.  The issues of "Peak Oil" and  
"Global Warming" were raised.

Your savior "big business" took control over American energy and  
environmental policy under Presidents Reagan and Bush.  The  
Republican Congress worried about cigars in the White House under  
Clinton.  V President Cheney went into private sessions with the oil  
industry to set environmental and energy policy for the last 7 years.

Give me a break!  You want to wait for big business to provide an  
answer?  What wait?  They have been providing the answer for over  
three decades.  And we are worse off now in terms of energy  
dependence, energy consumption, green house gases and global warming  
than before.
>
> In my world, giving up is easy. Solving big problems is hard.

We have the problems described by the titles "Global Warming" , "Peak  
Oil" and "Islamo-fascists".  And the proposed LNG pipeline doesn't  
address them.

We need to motivate the consumers to consume less, because in the  
real world, we are going to be sharing the resources, and the  
reduction in Canadian gas supplies is just the start of our  
problems.  It will take a long time to change direction and we need  
to get started.

It is a bit like the Exxon Valdez;  out of position, off course,  
doing a full bell, ignoring the lookouts, and telling the government  
overseer that everything is okay.  We are heading for the shoal and  
the captain is not in the control room.  I don't think that the  
people who got us into this position are really planning to keep us  
out of trouble.
> ....
>
> Ron D'Eau Claire