MarEx Mailbag April 6, 2010

Last week the MarEx Newsletter published an Op-Ed Piece by Dr. Michael Economides and Paul Glover called “Drilling Down on Obama’s Oil Play”

The MarEx responded with its own editorial on Obama's Opening of the OCS to drilling Click Here to Read.

The following are a few of the responses we received from a huge cross-section that filled our mailbag:

Dear Mr. Munoz,

Thanks for sending us the MARITIME EXECUTIVE e-newsletter.

Sometimes we find interesting articles, but this week your fine publication is once again being soiled by right-wing blather of Michael Economides. A while back he predicted that crude oil would hit $100/bbl by early 2010. I suggest Mr. Economides takes note of the old saying: “Before opening mouth, put brain in gear!” The two authors of the Op-Ed piece don’t come across as mental giants.

Every day we are bombarded by political rhetoric. Your banner line says "Intellectual Capital for Executives" and then you print claptrap that will rub many of your more intelligent readers the wrong way. There is more than enough news to fill your fine e-newsletter with stories EVERYBODY will appreciate.

Don Dykstra
Managing Director
BACK-HAUL SHIPPING Inc.

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Dear Mr. Munoz,
I used to think your newsletter was at least somewhat fair in its opinions but the April 1st lead article's scathing attack on President Obama by Michael J. Economides and Peter Glover was way over the top. Who you gonna get next, Glen Beck and Ann Coulter?

Please give us a break from the sickening Fox "News" style propaganda and stick to reporting the facts on the maritime issues of the day. We get bombarded by enough of this kind of inflammatory garbage from the far right already.
Thank you,

Name Withheld

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Dear Mr. Munoz,

Your article mentioned oil drilling by Russia off Cuba. Readers should understand that their drilling will be producing oil from the same pool(s) we are presently tapping for our own use. I don't see how we can stop this, since Cuba owns its own coastal waters. We can, though, increase our own drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and thereby compete - and the faster the better. Thus more rigs should be authorized and set up.

John Meadows, Maritime Lawyer in San Francisco.

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Sir,
Beware of Presidents throwing bones!! The President and Congress will triangulate the drilling leases with cap and trade- which is another form of tax on the American people that will drive yet more job producing industries into the third world.

Tom Daly
Rumson, NJ,

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Dear Tony,

I think putting aside all the political posturing surrounding the issue of opening up more offshore drilling there is an over-riding reality that many people are either not facing or not aware of....

The USA is not just addicted to oil. The USA, and the rest of the world, is completely dependent on oil for its survival. We do not yet have the capacity to replace oil as an energy source with any alternatives, green or otherwise. Without oil to run our mechanized agriculture and food delivery systems, we will all starve. It is as simple as that.

The world has reached peak oil production and it is all downhill from here. If we don't develop alternative energy systems, famine will soon follow. Meantime we need to develop more oil as a stop-gap measure to buy time to bring other energy alternatives online.

Obama is doing what any leader would do when faced with the facts.

Either we continue to produce oil, increase fuel efficiency, and develop alternatives, or people will starve.

Capt Dave Martin

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Tony,

Nice editorial response posted today regarding off-shore drilling. I only hope partisan bickering between those who want more drilling and those who don’t want any won’t hamper achieving significant job growth – which is what we need more than anything.

John Berge
Vice President
Pacific Merchant Shipping Association

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Sir:
In Tony Munoz’s editorial he points out that the US imports 60% of its oil, to the tune of 547 billion barrels annually. Thus (using Tony’s figures) US consumption is 547/0.6 = 912 billion barrels each year.
Further, according to Tony, the offshore reserves amount to 17.8 billion barrels. That sounds like a lot until you put it in comparison with yearly consumption: 17.8/912 = 0.02.

In other words, the total reserves amount to just 2% of what the US uses in a single year – not even enough to operate our country for a single day. And that assumes, of course, that all the oil is recovered – which is relatively doubtful since “all the oil” is almost never recovered. Worse, once the offshore oil is gone it’s gone forever. Our thirst for oil will still be un-satiated, and we’ll have nothing to show for our efforts but a bunch of oil rigs that somebody will have to decommission.

Don’t you think it’s time to put national interests ahead of the special interests of marine shippers and oil drillers? We need long-term solutions to energy independence, not politically driven, short-term, special-interest projects that will make some folks rich and leave the country impoverished.

Duwayne Anderson

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