for any railfans or goers of model railroad flea markets out there, your wallet will see even less money for gas with BP Pretroleum shutting down 22 miles of transition pipeline at prudehoe bya, alaska. the shutting down of the pipeline up there will idle 8% of american oil production anywhere between 1 to 9 months, depending on number and severity of the leaks. some leaks have been reported as small as five gallons and other leaks have been described in hundred of gallons. to me it sounds just like a nother excuse for oil companies like exxon mobil to jack up prices even more.
pass the e85 ethanol over here! now is a bad time to be less than a year away from being able to own a car, espically when your looking for classic mopars with V8s. anyone got a running 340 Duster theyre willing to sell for $11?(i would rather die horribly than drive a hybrid) lol. its gotten to the point that if i ask my parents to drive me to the hobby store and i leave without ordering something or buying stuff, it was a waste of gas. everyone has seen the comercials where you could win a free year of gas. if i won, i would make several trips a day to the gas station stocking up on gas for the next 30 years.
GEARHEAD426
Everything is going to get much harder. Sure am glad I saw the light and sold my Tundra two weeks ago. Unfortunately, our travel trailer is still on consignment, but I hope to still get a decent buck for it.
Hang in there, it’s the price of economics.
I may get flamed, but from what I’ve read in past reports (news, National Geographic) scientists are certain that there is an enourmous amount of “petro” in the Gulf of Mexico. Of course we’re too scared to tap into it because of the remote possibilities of a disaster.
So, we’ll just keep turning to “Hugo Wacko” in Venezueala as well as our friends (yeah right!) in the Middle East.
.
Awwww, come on, one of those hybrids is a performance car! My brother just bought a lexus GS something, and it sounds great when the engine is in use! Also, it is near silent when the electric thing is on, no little humming noise on it. It’s a luxury car too, and has ice cold air conditioning [:D]
I think you’re right. But I don’t think it is being scared so much as not being cost effective. Why drill in the deep ocean with all the expenses and risks when it can be imported so much cheaper? As you said simple economics. It was scary when all my aquantances got caught in Venezula a few years ago. They dropped of the communications channels for almost 4 weeks before I started getting word that they were safely back in the states. I’m hoping the increased fuel prices will spur the long overdue development of bio-fuels and domestic production. Also the higher the fuel prices go the better it is for the railroads. It is very hard to beat the efficiency of 2 men crews on 150 TOF loads over smooth steel rails.
Of course, every time I go railfanning I put out the word and seldom get anyone who wants to go with me. I chased UP844 all the way to Kansas all alone, when I have room for 5 more, 7 if we squeeze a bit.
Oh yeah, my “performance” vehicle 380hp 6.0 V8, gets better fuel economy than the little GM Blazer I got just to have something economical to drive around the city with!
Luckily I split internet with my father so the crunch isnt to bad, but I look at gas prices and realize I think we are gettting the ole boot in the keester job by the Government and oil companies. The oil companies always find one reason or another to hike the price up. 8 yrs its been the war and now a pipeline has some tarnish going on oh no quicl clear it up. My question is how long has this tarnish really been in the gas? does it even matter? I for one have pretty much given up on buying the rtr items I am not that type of modeler I prefer kits but sense I have basically everything I really need for now I am not in the market for RTR items.
As for the gas prices I think its time we show the companies we work for and the oil industry who owns who. Time to stop driving our cars and going to work and see who falls us or the companies. ANd Companies usually lose out cause even if their theory is “We can get anybody off the street to do your job” attidue isnt true.
I thank you are right, there was no hurricane in gulf, yet so they had to come up with another excuse to raise prices.
Maybe, just maybe, prices will get high enough so that we actually start cutting back on burning things to get energy. The real crisis, which we’ve apparantly forgotten in our latest worries about BP’s pipeline and testosterone at the Tour de France, is the whole global warming thing. This is a long-term problem which isn’t going away, and there’s no quick fix even if we could get government in general to act.
Railroads could be part of the solution here. Commuter rail takes a lot of cars off the road, and freight rail is very energy-efficient on a ton-miles per gallon basis. In a cleaner world, we may someday see electrified rail extended beyond the Northeast corridor, and a large portion of the desert Southwest covered with solar panels to power it. Yeah, let’s bring back the GG-1.
Electricity companies burn coal to make electricity so we all stop burning gas but electricity production will have to go up to provide enough power for all of those trains for us to ride which means the burning of a lot more coal
Guys,At one time there was lots of oil rigs in the Gulf…I understand most of them has been shut down…
The sad part is nobody has cut back on driving and buying gas most folks just drops the simple pleasures they enjoy from the Internet to dining out…All this does is put $$$ in the eyes of the [censored] oil commpanies…Plus we have a Texas oil man in the White house…A perfect combination for oil executives greed.
I keep telling everyone in the company I work for that we need to shift focus away from full-size SUVs and Trucks. No one seems to listen. Gas is not that costly yet based on the way folks drive around here. They pass people at 20 mph over the speed limit only to slam on the brakes at the last second at every red light. I have to wonder what fuel price will change their driving and purchasing habits? I think the oil companies are manipulating the costs by increasing it for a while. Once the general pubic gets fed up, they drop it- but not to the previous cost. Then after awhile they repeat the process. This is how they have gotten us from 2 to 3+dollars a gallon. Any excuse is acceptable. Middle east tensions, hurricanes, Elvis sightings etc. Meanwhile the rail system is underutilized.
Jim
The solution is population control and true democracy. Neither one is ever going to happen. Just do the best you can and die and let the next generation worry about it. Cycle repeats.
Why would ExxonMobil raise prices if it’s a BP line that broke? I’m not quite on the “oil companies are the biggest evil in the world” band wagon, but I will be assured of gouging if companies other than BP raise prices.
Global warming? I’m not on the bandwagon either, until I see proof I’m filing it in the “hoax” catagory.
We’re energy stupid in this country…there’s no excuse for the amount of energy we use and waste. When we start changing the way we do things…like looking ahead to alternative energy production and use instead of behind to the way we’ve always done things…then things will begin to change for the better.
So specify wind energy through your electric utility if you have that option, buy a Prius, buy an E85 vehicle if you have access to that fuel source (interesting news article today that Wal-Mart may push E85 to Wal-Marts and Sam’s Clubs…would be a bellweather moment, if so), etc…whatever you can do.
The only thing more “fuelish” is to want to just do the same old thing…or a variation on the same old thing (“Let’s drill in the Gulf!”) and expect different results. The fact is that we use 25% of the world’s oil while sitting on only about 3% of the world’s reserves…and it’s clear that burning fossil fuels is beginning to do irrepairable harm to that which sustains us, the planet.
So, if ya’ ain’t part of the solution (or at least trying to be so), yer part of the problem.
Cheers,
Mike
Antonio
The article below was on the web recently about other countries drilling off of coast in the Gulf.
Everyone can drill except for us.
Monday, July 24, 2006 12:01 a.m. EDT
Drills for Oil 60 Miles Off Coast
| |
| |
Too bad there isn’t a real shortage. At least, I don’t think it should be considered a “shortage” if it still can run us for about 100 years, but oh well.
But at what cost from a sustainability / environmental standpoint? Why can’t the good ol’ U S of A set the standard for forward-looking alternatives that not only make sense in the long run but set this country up to be the technology leaders in the arena…which, in turn, could also generate jobs for folks.
Or are we just to foolish to change?
Cheers,
Mike
I agree with so many of the points here, especially with MisterBeasly that we are missing the fundamental problem. I just wanted to give an answer to DrummingTrainfan’s point about ExxonMobil raising prices after a BP shutdown. A partial answer is that Prudhoe Bay is operated by BP for a consortium of oil companies such as ExxonMobil. I’m not quite sure what more proof is necessary to support Global Warming and the unsustainability of oil use…