Letter: Appreciates attention on renewable energy

Letter: Appreciates attention on renewable energy



Gail Dean
St. Augustine
Publication Date: 07/09/08

Editor: I wish to comment on two letters in the July 6 Record.

It is very good that at last more attention is being paid to all forms of renewable energy.

"Big Oil" has thousands of acres under lease (much of these are owned by foreign companies) that are not being developed or drilled. Why not? Is it just plain greed that they want even more leases?

"Big Oil" is pushing hard for offshore (too near the shore for Florida's fragile beaches and vital tourist economy) oil leases through TV ads, print, etc.

What is not fully said about offshore drilling, aside from the cost, is the time factor. Allowing drilling in fragile ecosystems is not going to be a quick fix to the present energy costs because:

* It will take years of exploring to fully map an offshore oil discovery.

* It will take more years and cost to bring wells into production (assuming they choose to as noted above).

* It will take years to install the infrastructure to move oil from the wells to a refinery.

Where do you want the new needed refineries? Florida? An important point very seldom mentioned is that oil is a finite resource, once it is pumped, it is gone. The huge use of oil for thousands of products other than energy is a far more important reason to stop using oil for energy and conserve it.

The entire world and future generations will be far better off spending the time and money that will be spent finding new oil and building the required infrastructure on developing renewable energy resources and technology. Much of the technology is here, so let's use it. Last, but important: What about global warming? Air pollution?

Gail Dean

St. Augustine

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