Oil is not particulary scare Paal. There are some mammoth deposits, larger than the persian gulf, up in Northern Siberia, the Yukon, and Northern Alaska. Due to peoples unwillingness to go get it, it remains untapped.
America has the capacity to bring up much more oil than we currently are. The limiting factor here is refinery space. Refineries are by necessity dirty, and some of the older ones pollute like crazy. Because of this, the U.S. government has made opening new refineries difficult, with the process usually taking north of 7 years. Back in the day when I was a student, I found out that the U.S. refinery Capability had increased at a rate much lower than the rate of oil fuels consumption.
A larger percentage of the U.S. refinery capability has found itself in the path of 2 cat 5 hurricanes, thus really hosing us here.
For consumption, my wife drives a 2000 Cavalier, and it gets north of 30 mpg. The newer "midget" cars as I like to call them (2 person coupes) get around 35-40 mpg.
I guess when it is cold out, I really don't like plugging cars in, because that costs ~$4 a day in electricity, I would rather buy the cheaper American cars that are winterized already and made for the snow and icy conditions.
Plus God only knows how much I love full sized pickup trucks. Guess I must be a redneck. [
] MORE ON THIS LATE BREAKING STORY TO COME TOMORROW [
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