Nope, too late for the oil prices to take a plunge now that the damage was done. We had a choice, 7 years ago. The administration gave congress the choice then, go after cheaper oil up north and resume some control over our own energy destiny, or we'll make the economics of NIMBY go through the roof. Congress went green, and the administration is now making them pay the price.

We have several huge global contractors now trying desperately to mobilize into Alberta and expedite the processing of the tar sands up there to recover crude. Some of the execs are weeping at the thought of how much money they aren't making right now that they could be. Yet the price keeps going up and up, so they aren't hanging themselves just yet.

I don't subscribe to the forgetfulness assertion either. Simply put, the alternative sources have limited application and suffer many headaches of their own. I've worked for a few energy companies that have invested heavily into R&D for decades for alternative energy sources and only recently came up with something significantly better than what was available in the 70s. We were researching alternative fuels in high school in the late 70s along with folks at Western Washington University trying to find ways to make alcohol and Hydrogen work in a piston motor, and it's taken some meticulous research to overcome some of the physics problems we faced then. There, too, I don't ever remember there not being big V-8 driven vehicles since the early 70s selling just as fast as they ever did or have up till now. In fact, I'd say the percentage of gas guzzling vehicles on the streets today is less than it was 2 or 3 years after the big embargo. As far as I can tell, smaller energy efficient vehicles have not diminished one little bit on the market. One thing I will note is that we have managed to squeeze a lot more efficiency out of the smaller motors. It was too much to ask to sacrifice a minimum level of performance for economy back in the 80s, but by the mid 90s the engine displacement size was almost cut in half, while the HP rating stayed pretty much the same. It has only gotten better as time went by.

I reject the notion that reclamation is a joke. In fact, if anything, the mandatory environmental investment required today for any sort of operation would dramatically improve those ecosystems that would be penetrated were we to go after the new domestic supplies. Maybe it was a problem 40 years ago, but the environmental propaganda of the media has little basis in fact anymore. Yeah, there are still problems. There are still risks. Nothing is foolproof, so I guess we will just do nothing instead?

But you are right, now that we are where we are, don't expect anything to fix it anytime soon. Sometimes we as a nation have to learn a lesson the hard way. We were offered a way out, and we slapped the helping hand away, so now we get to sit in the muck and the mud for a while and think about the cost of all that righteousness.

Personally, I wouldn't mind going back to horse and buggy days, although if you check the history, you'll find that wasn't such a pleasant way of life either.

My point was, we had a chance at it, and we blew it. I don't expect them to be very accomodating now that we are all moaning and groaning while they continue to haul wheelbarrows to the bank. They pretty much have us by the base of our snarglis, and they know it, and they have no reason to let go.