Re[2]: econ 101..... Re: [at-l] Flare Waste

[Bob Cummings <ellen@clinic.net> (Bob C.)]

"... I'm not willing to either compell the private sector or pay via tax dollars
to save 10 dollars of gas if it costs 15 dollars to do so."

 I think Kahley has misread my suggestion. There is no rush to get at that oil
 -- other than the desire of the oil companies to get at the profits involved as
 quickly as possible.

 If significant amounts of natural gas are being flared away as someone claimed
 on this list, I think we should at least wait until it is economically feasible
 to use both the oil and the natural gas that lies under the public's land in
 the Arctic.

 If anything is certain in this world it is that eventually the world will have
 use for all the natural gas it can find. Wasting some of it now for the sake of
 immediate oil company profits and the dollars they donate to our politicians is
 unconscionable.

 For those who may be confused by this debate. Natural gas is a minimally
 polluting by product of many oil wells. People drill for oil. Sometimes they
 get only natural gas or a combination of oil and natural gas.

 Natural gas is the least polluting fossil fuel and often the cheapest for
 electricity generation and for powering industrial processes -- given
 environmental laws restricting air pollution from coal.

 If the world ever seriously decides to combat the global warming threat,
 natural gas will become increasingly valuable. We shouldn't flare away a public
 asset today when natural gas is almost certain to become very valuable in the
 future.

  Weary