Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Guest commentary: We can't drill our way to lower gas prices
Guest commentary: We can't drill our way to lower gas prices
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The proposed Keystone XL pipeline also is a dry hole. It would pump heavily polluting low-grade tar sand oil from land-locked Alberta, Canada, to Texas portside refineries. Most of the finished product would be loaded onto tankers and sent to foreign ports, not U.S. gas stations. We'd shoulder the potential environmental pain — pipeline leaks and refinery pollution — for little domestic supply gain.
Tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve makes no sense. Iran is threatening to shut the Strait of Hormuz, through which nearly 20 percent of the world's oil passes each day. Do we want to reduce our emergency reserve just before we might need it? Besides, the modest amount that it would add to supply would have only a small and short-lived impact on prices at the pump. It's another non-starter.
In short, we're in a hole. We can't drill or pump our way out. That is why cutting demand is imperative for a country that gulps 20 percent of the world's oil production each da
Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/news/opinion/guest-commentary-we-can-t-drill-our-way-to-lower/article_0dc7c2a8-caf4-5e97-ae9b-13cd367ffd8b.html#ixzz1qzGmpnzi
click link
The proposed Keystone XL pipeline also is a dry hole. It would pump heavily polluting low-grade tar sand oil from land-locked Alberta, Canada, to Texas portside refineries. Most of the finished product would be loaded onto tankers and sent to foreign ports, not U.S. gas stations. We'd shoulder the potential environmental pain — pipeline leaks and refinery pollution — for little domestic supply gain.
Tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve makes no sense. Iran is threatening to shut the Strait of Hormuz, through which nearly 20 percent of the world's oil passes each day. Do we want to reduce our emergency reserve just before we might need it? Besides, the modest amount that it would add to supply would have only a small and short-lived impact on prices at the pump. It's another non-starter.
In short, we're in a hole. We can't drill or pump our way out. That is why cutting demand is imperative for a country that gulps 20 percent of the world's oil production each da
Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/news/opinion/guest-commentary-we-can-t-drill-our-way-to-lower/article_0dc7c2a8-caf4-5e97-ae9b-13cd367ffd8b.html#ixzz1qzGmpnzi
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Labor unions rethinking role in politics
Labor unions rethinking role in politics
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snip
WASHINGTON — As top union leaders gather in Florida on Tuesday to determine labor’s political strategy this year, the influential AFL-CIO appears poised to endorse President Barack Obama’s re-election — despite some lingering dissatisfaction with his record.
But the way in which unions back him and other Democrats this year is likely to take a very different form than in past campaigns.
Concluding they need to be more independent of the Democratic Party, many unions are increasingly financing their own efforts instead of writing large checks to candidates and the party.
click link
snip
WASHINGTON — As top union leaders gather in Florida on Tuesday to determine labor’s political strategy this year, the influential AFL-CIO appears poised to endorse President Barack Obama’s re-election — despite some lingering dissatisfaction with his record.
But the way in which unions back him and other Democrats this year is likely to take a very different form than in past campaigns.
Concluding they need to be more independent of the Democratic Party, many unions are increasingly financing their own efforts instead of writing large checks to candidates and the party.
Friday, March 9, 2012
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