Weening US off of Venezuelan Oil

Interesting discussion on weening the US off of Venezuelan oil, regarding Obama and McCain's comments in the most recent debate indicating their plans to remove the US from dependence on oil from Venezuela.

First, let me say that I applaud both candidates for making a claim to remove us from dependence on oil from Chavez. It removes Chavez' ammunition against the US. He'll be able to keep his threat of cutting off oil to the US, if we are no longer dependent on his oil. So I can only hope that the next President of the US will have the fortitude and stamina to see his promise through of removing us from dependence on Venezuelan oil.

The second contributor, Paul Isbell, indicates that the US will still be dependent on Venezuelan oil after the first administration, and even if the US were to develop offshore oil fields that it would only replace 1 million barrels in 6 to 7 years. Hey, that's fine by me. The US imports about 1.2 to 1.3 million bpd from Venezuela. Offshore drilling would nicely fill that gap, and allow us to tell Chavez 'adios muchacho, que le vaya bien."

I don't buy into the whole 'global warming' baloney, but do think that the US must develop alternative forms of energy for it's own survival and self-reliance. Oil is the lifeblood of this country. Imagine no gasoline, no diesel, or very limited supplies of both. We had a taste over the summer, but that was just a taste.

I hope that the next President aggressively pursues drilling oil fields available to this country, from day 1 in parallel with developing alternative energy sources in a parallel track. And I agree with one of the commentators that it will take an act of sheer will to get onto viable alternative energy sources (not ethanol that consumes corn bound for our tables) like it did for the US to land a man on the moon.

Interestingly enough, it would be in the best interests of foreign governments like India and China as well to see the US get off of it's dependence on oil - the more for them, at a reduced price. Cheaper oil would then produce cheaper products, since it would cost less to ship all those toys from China to the US.

I do sincerely hope that in the next 10 years, I'll be driving a car that isn't burning gasoline. And I'd love to see the look on Chavez face when it's announced that the US will no longer be buying Venezuelan oil.

A boy can dream....