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The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 29, 2008

A Liberal Falsehood
Regarding "Don't be Fooled by Drilling Scam" (Other Views, July 24):
Carl Hiaasen wrote that "only a sucker would believe" that drilling would help the gasoline crisis. He couldn't be more wrong. He repeats the liberal falsehood that the oil companies should start drilling where they have leases but ignores the fact that it would be unprofitable to drill there. Democrats in Congress continue to refuse to let there be a vote on drilling but, to make it appear they are doing something about the crisis, have votes on laws that would be of no value.

The fact is that drilling in the U.S. will lower gas prices considerably, be a great boost to our economy, and end our dependence on foreign oil, and it wouldn't take nearly as long as the ten years the liberals claim it would take to get results. It is also sad that in 1994, Congress passed legislation to open up ANWAR for drilling only to have President Clinton veto it. Incidentally, ANWAR will be fine with drilling; the drilling would cover only about 2,000 out of ANWAR's 19,000,000 acres.

DAN ROSENBERG SR.

Zephyrhills

Feasibility Will Decide

I keep hearing rhetoric that we "cannot drill ourselves out of this problem," and "The oil companies have 80 million acres to drill on but they choose not to because it is too expensive to explore."

If no one is going to bother drilling off shore or in the frozen wasteland of the Arctic because it is too expensive, then why not open up those areas for drilling? If it won't be economically feasible to drill then no one will drill.

C'mon Congress, God helps those who help themselves. We need to make more efficient vehicles and work on alternate energy sources but we need to exploit our own resources. Isn't that one of the main reasons we bought Alaska?

RUTH MAHONEY

Riverview

Columnist Is Naive

I was intrigued to read Carl Hiaasen's politically tinged article concerning the current debate over offshore drilling. Though I have no investment in oil companies or exploration, I lived and worked for 17 years in and around that industry in Houston.

One of Hiaasen's points, that drilling offshore wouldn't lower the price of gas, was humorous to say the least. This is because at the very moment he wrote his article, the price of oil futures went down following upon and directly related to President Bush's changing the presidential ban on offshore drilling. Even though this was a minor act, it was enough to affect oil futures traders. If the mere act of starting the process of allowing drilling offshore will affect oil markets, one can only imagine what actual drilling will do.

JAMES BOSHNACK

Lakeland

Drilling Or Speculators?

Should we drill for oil or control speculators?

President Bush says drill our own oil. Sen Bill Nelson says it would take decades. Besides, the real culprits are oil speculators.

Nelson says control oil speculation with new legislation. Most experts disagree with Nelson's estimate: "the price of crude should be only $55 a barrel" (without speculators).

Sen Nelson's plan won't reduce our dependence on foreign oil. That dependence contributes to fluctuating crude oil prices and the devaluation of our dollar. Even if he wins, we still lose. Since drilling won't cost taxpayers anything, why not choose both A and B?

Drilling will reduce oil prices someday. The money saved could help us to subsidize developing alternate energy sources and reduce the use of fossil fuels. Nelson says Bush's idea will "give away the store." What do you call leaving trillions of "oil dollars" buried?

HENRY D. ALMQUIST

Crystal Beach

Extreme Liberalism

After reading the column by Miami Herald writer Carl Hiaasen, I find myself wondering how anyone living in today's world could possibly think the way this guy thinks. What is scary is that he may actually influence other people's opinions.

This writer simply does not understand the complexities of what needs to be done for the survival of our entire economy. What is worse, I doubt he will ever understand. Like so many crazy liberals, this guy hates Bush so much that he just blames the entire Bush administration for all of this country's woes. The only ones being fooled here are people like this writer, and the one's they are fooling are themselves.

MICK McKENZIE

Seminole

Texas Beach Experience

As a Florida native who grew up running barefoot across our squeaky white Gulf beaches, you can imagine my joy when dad said we were moving to Texas and would live near the Gulf again. My brothers and I were squealing with youthful delight the first time dad and mom took us down to Galveston.

The three of us boys ran down the seawall steps, across the strangely off-white sand and into the rolling surf. As they had done back in Florida for so many years, mother and dad set up the picnic on the beach while we boys tackled each other in the waves and just frolicked and splashed around in the foamy shallows. Bob plucked a black floating object from the foam and tossed it at me and Sam, realizing immediately that his hand was brown and sticky. I grabbed it and it smelled like road tar. Anyway, we tossed it around for a few seconds and gave the "tar ball" not a second thought until we went up to eat, when mother realized our hands were brown and sticky.

All those years we lived in Texas, we never went back to the beach again.

ANDY BOWEN

Tampa

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