I remember reading in a book when I was in second grade in 1940 that we were
going to run out of oil in 1947. Apparently, we didn't. Obviously, the
prediction was based on consumption vs. known oil reserves. But, reserves are a
direct function of exploration capital expended and the cost of extraction.
Congress, in its infinite wisdom in the '70s passed laws to limit new natural
gas hookups. However, there's enough natural gas in and around the Gulf of
Mexico for a thousand years at our present usage. Just not as cheap to extract
with our present technology. But it will be. Remember, the Washington Monument
is capped with what was, at the time, a metal that was extremely expensive to
refine and therefore rare - aluminum.
Elliott DeGraff
2 71Bs and a 72B
David Breneman wrote:
> David Randall SEZ -
> >
> > Rising gas prices? We're living on borrowed time with our subsidized fuel
> > prices. We'll be paying European prices soon -- we can't live the
> > cheap-energy lie forever.
> (Deletions...)
>
> Hey, you sound like my 7th grade Social Studies teacher. He was
> telling us this in 1971. Except he told us European prices would
> be nothing compared to what we'd be paying for gas by 1980.
> The reason gas is so expensive in Europe is the same reason
> everything else is expensive in Europe - taxes needed to fuel
> the wellfare state.
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