Just like the buffalo and the salmon and the cod the almighty dollar will win out. We start wars to line our pockets and the loss of our kids and resources is overlooked. There will be more oil spills and more of our fragile earth will die as our population explodes. We are doomed as a race.

Damn shame...

are dolphins good eating? Feed the poor with that meat and dont let it go to waste

Like the oil companies don't already make enough f'in money these days!!!

We never learn. We continue to make the same mistakes over and over again and the ones to pay for it are the innocent ones that surround us.

Offshore seismic surveys are shot around the globe all the time. If that killed dolphins, they would be washing up on beaches all over the place.

From the article: The ORCA Peru expert, veterinarian Carlos Yaipen Llanos, said that while "we have no definitive evidence," he suspects acoustic testing created a "marine bubble"..."

LOL! These animals can dive to great depths and withstand tremendous pressures. Pressures much greater than an airgun used in seismic acquisition could produce unless the animal had it's nose stuck in the airgun.

Carlos, perhaps you should stick to your area of expertise, that is, unless you are an expert speculator.

"Major Strasser has been shot. Round up the usual suspects."

if humans were created by a god --it proves gods are capable of huge mistakes---unlike the pope he / she / it is fallible. mans extinction i hope predates all the rest of earths creatures. maybe then there will be peace on earth.

How thoughtful of you Steve - let's throw them some rotting, possibly diseased fish. I'm sure they'll appreciate your generosity.

Peace on earth?

First Time In World History, Killer Whales Filmed Hunting Dolphins

http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/ecology/first-time-in-world-history-killer-whales-filmed-hunting/1142

I'll say it again - I have more respect for most animals and some plants than I do for humans.

Steve-3883232 you can't eat dolphin you will get mercury poisoning. They are the top of the food chain and all they eat is fish. So there bodies are swimming in it.

Let's eat steve instead... he is probably fresher.

hs321

LOL! These animals can dive to great depths and withstand tremendous pressures. Pressures much greater than an airgun used in seismic acquisition could produce unless the animal had it's nose stuck in the airgun.

Carlos, perhaps you should stick to your area of expertise, that is, unless you are an expert speculator.

And what are your credentials, hs? Oh yea. You're a faceless nobody on a blog. Who gives a rotten dolphin about what you might manage to get those two nuerons of yours to gen up...

HS321: There is no comparison between the gradual pressure increase experienced in a deep dive, and the instantaneous pressure impulse caused by an underwater seismic survey blast. Dolphins are highly dependent on their acoustic sense for navigation, finding food, and maintaining equilibrium, and the dolphin equivalent of a ruptured eardrum could certainly be fatal.

no, the left's values are a plague on this earth. their moral compass is simply broken.

how should human welfare be measured? how important is a tiny fraction of life in the oceans before suffering by humans is the price that is being paid matters more to the left?

This has already been answered. Look at Africa, where ddt would have already saved tens of millions of mostly women and children, almost all blacks, from suffering and dying, except the left has outlawed that since they care more about the supposed 'damage' to dirt and plants that supposedly must be more important to them.

the left does not make human life better. they make govt force you to give up freedoms that would otherwise lead to a better life, so they can feel better about themselves. that is a true sickness.

granny - thats a nice fantasy you got brewing in your brain, but animal is just as brutal as man.

we just excuse that brutality because they are, well, animals.

That said - regarding this die off, this is something that science should be curious to study and understand. there is an explaination for it, and im certain science as a whole, is simply better off understanding whats happening here.

It may not in fact have anything to do with the sonic blasts for oil testing - it may in fact be a disease.

There's no point in getting invested in either option until the reality is determined.

If it's the sonic blast from oil testing...then we as a species have an opportunity to evolve, if we choose to.

It's always a choice - do unto others as you'd have done to you, or screw em and get yours...without fear of consequence.

I suspect ignorant man will continue to chose the latter.

granny22

if humans were created by a god --it proves gods are capable of huge mistakes---unlike the pope he / she / it is fallible.

I think that God in creating Man somewhat overestimated his ability. Oscar Wilde

ricardoh - your hate and ugliness is showing in full force.

start praying to your god for forgiveness, he's not high fiveing you right now...despite popular misconception.

unless, you believe your GOD favors blind, partisan hatred and ugliness...well, then, enjoy YOUR God.

he's not something most of us wish to spend eternity with...

Greedy, selfish people like ricardoh-3917836 are why this planet will become a wasteland in the near future.

@hs321,

Peace on earth?

First Time In World History, Killer Whales Filmed Hunting Dolphins

I have seen numerous video of Orca hunting porpoise, dolphin and grey whale. Just because someone posts something on the internet doesn't make it true. Oh, and just an fyi...most animal rights groups are terrorist organizations. Try watchin Discovery Channel or something similar now and again. Orca are THE top of the food chain. They will kill Great White sharks. Learn from actual scientists. Not terrorists with a personal agenda.

hs321...here is a link that explains several theories that are being considered....

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/green/wildlife-news/120210/peru-bottlenose-dolphins-wildlife-offshore-drilling-plankton-contamination-video

Of course what would be the fun for MSNBC if they couldn't just float a bit more propogand to hate big oil.

And NOONE has mentioned the US BAN:

BlueVoice.org noted that the U.S. has suspended similar testing in the Gulf of Mexico due to recent sightings of dead and sick dolphins. The ban was set to last through the dolphins' calving season, which ends in May.

Why has the US banned such sonic testing if it doesn't cause a problem? I do hope that the scientists are performing autopsies on these dolphins to determine the actual cause of death, whether by the side effects of the testing or contaminated food in the food chain (possible poisoned/oil contaminated plankton, etc. that is part of the dolpins' food chain.)

Mankind is causing way too much ocean pollution (check out the cruise industry pollution caused by waste dumping into the oceans, plus all of the garbage dumping by NYC, etc., not to mention all of the agricultural and industrial chemical run-off around the world.)

Just like with Global Warming those that profit from the causes will deny it for ever. No, conclusive proof blah blah blah,

Another possibility is that the dolphins suffered from a disease outbreak, Yaipen Llanos said...

So why didn't the headline read this? Well, at least Peru is looking to solve an energy problem.

It sounds like the work of rival dolphin cartels. It won't be long before this kind of violence makes it's way here and spills over to the west coast. They need to "seal" the shorelines right away. It's the only way to keep them out. The dam Flipper Act has done nothing to stop this.

ricardoh-3917836, What would happen to that pregnant woman in Africa if she had a diet consisting of produce grown in fields saturated with DDT, What would happen to her offspring? Oh, and its African's not blacks. Would you call people from Mexico browns or people from China yellows? And wtf does oil companies killing marine life have to do with left or right? If anything the polices of the left are against continued off shore drilling. Although I seriously doubt either side really gives two @!$%#s about a couple thousand dead dolphins as long as their bottom line is comfy. My long winded point is ricardoh-3917836 is a troglodyte.

Well BT...though you are right about your point, why then are some forced to 'check' a box acknowleging that they are "white"?

Ricardoh-3917836, do you know what d.d.t. is? If not, educate yourself. If so, you are not playing with a full deck.

"Just like with Global Warming those that profit from the causes will deny it for ever. No, conclusive proof blah blah blah"

Wait one second I thought the people that blindly believed in global warming were the ones making a profit?

Did I miss something?

how should human welfare be measured? how important is a tiny fraction of life in the oceans before suffering by humans is the price that is being paid matters more to the left?

Way to be shortsighted rightie. Yeah small fraction of the sea's population, never mind the overfishing, oil spills, or the millions of people that die due to the hunt for oil. And human suffering? Yeah human suffering as in $4.00 a gallon gas. OH MY GOD, I have to spend $50 instead of $45 to fill my car. You're ridiculous.

It is pretty much common sense that acoustic testing like is done for oil exploration can cause serious damage to at least the hearing structures in some marine animals. Typically the sound waves at low frequencies get output at around 200-250db. The db in water has a considerably greater impact than db in air. The resulting force exerted is quite a bit higher. They can penetrate a couple miles or more into the sea bed. They testing is done by dragging the source units in a wide array spread out behind the source boat. The sending units ride relatively near the surface so anything beneath them gets bombarded with the sound waves. Prior to the testing a large array of sensors are deployed on the sea floor connected by cables and then the resulting reflected sound waves bouncing back from below the sea floor create an "image" of the geological structures. The sound will penetrate the water in the area aound this testing until it declines and dissipates through distance. This is pretty high energy stuff. The high end of the acoustic air guns is in a db range pretty close to high range military sonar.

Some whales can emit pulses close to 200db and it has been well observed that they sometimes use these pulses to stun their prey. What most likely happens in the case of dolphins, if they are directly hit or are nearby to the repeated sonic waves, is they will be at least temporally deafened and quite possibly suffer irrecoverable damage to their hearing, and even bleeding within the structures. They need this hearing to both navigate and find food. There is plenty of anecdotal evidence to support the theories. The US Navy knows this as well as other ocean researchers. Maybe there hasn't been a specific study to use these acoustic waves to deliberately kill ocean mammals, but there is plenty of evidence that it has a detrimental effect. Because of a lot of varied factors, it would be difficult to actually design an experiment that would prove these theories beyond the shadow of doubt, but there is ample evidence that we already know what the results would be. We know this to be "factual" to the degree that is practical. As someone pointed out, the recent incidents in the Gulf off the Louisiana coast are just another piece of documented evidence.

It has been suggested that this acoustic testing could probably be safely accomplished, but at a minimum it would require passive monitoring of the area to detect the presence of sea mammals in the area and a suspension of testing if they are nearby. It also makes sense to ban the use entirely during times when these creatures are likely to be around based upon known migration patterns. This would of course be an inconvenience and a cost factor to the testing. Being that looking for oil is all about money, it is unlikely that the oil companies would approach this responsibly unless forced to.

I can understand having some degree of doubt without conclusive scientific evidence gained through specifically designed experiments. However, I think there are those who are just deniers by their nature and would probably refuse to accept such evidence claiming it is somehow flawed. It is fine to reject anecdotal evidence when the consequences are minor at best, but when the consequence pose serious environmental or life risk, (human or animal), it only makes sense to error on the side of caution.

Even though every bit of common sense evidence suggests that we need to get ourselves off of our addiction to oil, we also need to recognize that it won't happen overnight. So it does make sense to responsibly find new sources and the make responsible decisions about using them. However the key word is responsible. Responsibility and addiction don't usually co-exist very well together. I have little doubt that the killing of these dolphins was not some malicious act, but I think it could be avoided if caution is exercised. But if you are in denial, there is no logical need for caution. That's the problem in the nutshell.

I always like how people avoid the well thought out, reasoned, and well tempered answers.

Humans are a plague on this earth.

Humans Christians are a plague on this earth. In church they gain redemption and are forgiven to repeat until they see proof of death once more. Then they repeat again by going to church again. Not all humans are christians. So to claim innocence, the catholic Pope want to make all humans christians by force of necessary. Amen.

thrakenglarv, that's because reading them requires a little effort and thought!

Several marine organizations, as well as our Dept. of Naval Research, have known for years that high intensity ultrasound mapping and sonar equipment do massive damage to whales, let alone something the size of a dolphin.

There have been several incidents of mass die-offs / grounding of marine mammals in Florida, Southern California, and more recently Australia immediately following hi-tech naval recon research working with DARPA. The US Navy was banned from testing off the coast of the US so they tried their latest and greatest equipment off coast of Australia and thought no one would notice. Many of the dolphins and whales that are found dead or floundering off the coast in the surf have internal bleeding emanating from their ears and eyes. Upon autopsy, several of their middle and inner ear bones are found to be cracked, and their eardrums are punctured.

This isnt exactly something new we're talking about here. Unless, of course, you're some dipsh!t named "hs321" that wreaks of arrogance and is so willing and ready to deny and attack anything related to science or the possibility that the oil companies could possibly have done something wrong. You'd make Sean Hannity proud, you idiot.

If humans are a plague and you are a human... then you are part of the problem.

So please feel free to vaccinate the earth of your presence at your earliest possible convenience.

1NewDay - excellent post

If we don't learn from the past we are doomed to repeat it.

Did the Dinosaurs use oil also or exploit the earth for profits?

1NewDay - Nice post, very thoughtful. I honestly have a big spot in my heart for wildlife and can't understand why some seem to have no respect what so ever. To them god put animals on the earth for them, no need for personal responsibility or compassion when you can hide behind the ultimate shield.

thousands of dead dolphins and anchovies, yet no other dead fish or other marine animals that would be much more prone to an underwater "sonic blast" since they are smaller than dolphins. this is a no brainer folks, it wasn't the acoustic testing. maybe the sonic blast scared them towards the beach, but it was probably a devastating disease that caused the internal bleeding and whatnot... another msn article biased against people that make more than them.

Panda, you know that fish don't use sonar, but whale and dolphins (mammals, not fish) do. Fish would not be affected in the same manner.

i know that... that's why i said that maybe the blast scared them towards the beach. but an actual underwater sonic blast would cause more internal damage to small fish and other small marine creatures than it would to dolphins. a sonic blast doesn't just cause damage to creatures that use sonar, it would cause a massive and quick increase in pressure that would damage any organism nearby. and last i read, there were only accounts of mass dolphin and anchovy deaths, no other marine creatures... not the acoustic testing.

Hs, if you are still out there---please do acknowledge the intellect of Whales for they eat for survival while oilmen and women excrete and destroy banally out of the want for more.

In fact most the corporate boards and owners of large oil companies haven't felt hunger in a long long time, thus they do not destroy for survival they only destroy for more!

Just tossin this out there...what if it ws because the dolphins were chasing the anchovies and trying to break off a bait ball too close to shore? I ask because, as of right now, the only known dead animals are dolphins and anchovies. Dolphins love anchovies. (insert pizza jokes lol) Maybe a rogue wave kicked the $h!t out of them and washed them up on the shore. Some look pretty far up in the dry stuff...

The ORCA Peru expert, veterinarian Carlos Yaipen Llanos, said that while "we have no definitive evidence," he suspects acoustic testing created a "marine bubble" -- in essence a sonic blast that led to internal bleeding, loss of equilibrium and disorientation.

Another possibility is that the dolphins suffered from a disease outbreak, Yaipen Llanos said

So where are ALL the other fish and/or aquadic life that this event or series of events would have affected???? It didn't or wouldn't have just hit the dolphins..........!!!

Not sure I buy this story, but IT IS easier to blame the big, bad oil companies....!!

Indeed, the head of a local fishermen's association told Peru21.pe that he estimated more than 3,000 dolphins had died so far this year, based on what he saw in the water and on beaches.

Who put the tuna net tenders in charge of dolphin death counts? Nothing makes sense in the world anymore.

On the other hand, at least we can rule out global warming. Sound pollution is destroying the oceans! Its done a number on the whales too dont forget. Before ships set sail in the modern era, whales could communicate for thousands of miles.

The original post holds true, humans are the plague of the earth. Until we go extict, @!$%# will be @!$%#ed up.

Boo Hoo

Bleeding from the ears is a symptom of concussion or burst ear drum. I would place more credence on the acoustic testing after viewing the blood on the dolphins. Disease on such a massive scale would take awhile to manifest, a major die-off like this in a diseased population would happen over time, not a span of days. Wonder who's in charge of the testing, would they work for BP?

Tom - Plymouth

Did the Dinosaurs use oil also or exploit the earth for profits?

Nah Tom, the dinosaurs had tiny little brains and were incapable of having foresight into the damage certain actions could cause, kind of like yourself.

when are we going to come together and realize as a world and realize our actions are causing catastrophic damage to our environment?! how many species must die before the conservatives will pull the stick out?! We pollute our air and ocean and cause more and more speciest to die off because of OUR actions. Humans are the most destructive force on this planet. Some people are so ignorant and will argue anything that is in the immidiate interest of humans such as polluting our air and oceans, but what about the long run? this world is turning into a sesspool because these as******* will argue anything till they are blue in the face. It comes down to respect and these redneck oil junkie hicks are ruining our planet. Ignorance. how can polluting our environment ever be justified. it cannot. it isn't our right to ruin the earth. we are one of millions of species here and we are the most likely to leave our planet in ruins for our kids to inherit. i cry for all of the species that had no choice but to die because of the greed and complete lack of respect for our earth. Dolphins are such a smart and social species, my heart aches for them.

no, the left's values are a plague on this earth. their moral compass is simply broken.

This from the same group that said "let them die" of uninsured old people. Yeah the left have a broken moral compass, but the right never owned a compass to begin with, which clearly makes you a hypocrite.

The truth is that GREED poisons and kills, sometimes slowly sometimes quickly.......

Its quite amazing how a very shallow written article that makes a definitive claim while admitting it is done so with absolutely no supporting evidence can draw so many shallow minded people into swallowing & believing the claims made as fact! Assumptions magically become proof and people are ready to hang organizations or people with their assumptions... didn't we just go through this identical mistake this past month???

But Mother Nature, you created us too. We are your children!

We are supposed to be intelligent though, hs, and stewards. We destroy the Earth at our own peril. She is going to shake us off like fleas off of a dog's back.

"She" is myth. Doesn't exist. The universe just is.

Ahhh but even in the Universe there are balances. When we over reach those balances things will hit the fan.

Thanks to the psychopaths in this planet, we are all doomed. But we keep on electing them and letting them do their bad deeds.

hs, ever notice when a human does something good, its divine will. But when we do something wrong, then we are up for divine punishment? Somewhere in all of this is free will, but thats another fairy tale...

Michael Scott2...did you read the article....they do not know that the cause of the dolphin deaths are due to airguns used in exploration....did you catch the part that a disease could also be the culprit. This article is such a contrived mess of blame big oil...even the quote...

"It is a horrifying thought that these dolphins would die in agony over a prolonged period if they were impacted by sonic blast," said Jones.

Now in my mind it would be equally horrifying if these dolphins died in agony over a prolonged period due to disease. But then perhaps the Marine biologists would have a completely different take if it was mother nature's design.

Yea...It's pretty normal for 1000s of dolphins in one area to die in mass, Mike. Happens every day. What are you thinking.......

Dogma Bites....apparently it is as common for the poor in Peru to poach dolphins as it is in Japan. They poach, take what they want and leave the carcass behind. At least that is a theory that is being investigated as well.

http://labanimals.awionline.org/pubs/Quarterly/sp03/0603p9.htm

Of course leave it to an environmentalist to grovel for press blaming big oil.

Actually Dogma, it is normal for mass die offs in just about every species on earth.

Just in 2011 alone, and most can't be proved to be man caused.

http://usahitman.com/die-offs-2011/

No, Tom. It's not normal for mass die offs of dolphins in the thousands.

It's very rare for it to happen naturally.

Natch!

So you are saying there is a chance!

txmom. This blame MSNBC bs and MSNBC is against big oil is just that. BS. MSNBC is Comcast, GE and 50 other corporations that give as small of a damn about big oil and things like that as any other news organization. They ALL make their money off advertising for corporations.

have you actually watched a MSNBC video lately? How many times do YOU see the "engineer" who is supposedly a bigwig for BP (but who bears a close resemblance to the president) getting up there talking about the Kearl Oil Sands and how Big Oil is gonna save the planet?

None of these news organizations give a crap about anything but money. they never tell us the truth about anything, especially if it can put a dent in one of these companies that they OWN.

Bitching about MSNBC being a liberal news organization that hates oil drilling is asinine.

Ah but TXmom,

these are not chewed on carcasses, they are whole and dead!

No proof, but then again do we really need any!

A few days ago there was another article about the health of dolphins in the gulf still be adversely affected by the big spill even though BP claims everything is just hunky dory. Is that just "environmentalists groveling" too, TxMom?

Danaella....seriously when it takes just a few strokes on a keyboard to find a complete article on the problems of dead dolphins it really is not a streach to see that MSNBC and AP slant their articles to inflame the social progressives because well they wouldn't possibly check to see if the articles are at the very least accurate and complete.

Silly Shrinks....Where did the article say that these were whole carcasses? Now I have read it twice and no where does it state that the dolphins that have washed ashore are complete...but if you will read some of the resources that I have attached here you will find that there are indeed carcasses that have been stripped of saleable parts.

Pedestrian-in SF...I would be interested in reading the article....could you attach a link? As you seem reasonably interested in environmental issues in the Gulf of Mexico consider the affects of red tide, a natural occurance in the Gulf....The first article is related to red tide before the most recent oil spill..

http://sarasotadolphin.org/2007/01/18/effects-of-red-tide-on-dolphins/

an article from 2004 about a major die off...

http://www.whoi.edu/science/B/redtide/notedevents/FLAbreve/FLAbreve_4-2-04.html

I certainly would not claim that the explosion of the Horizon and the leaking of oil at that rate did not have an affect on the ecosystem of the gulf....rather find it important to view all events when such massive die offs happen natural or man made.

Yes, we do.

You would need to donate 100x that amount to even begin to feel better about yourself, cold and hateful individual you are.. pathetic

oil isnt the devil, is massive usage is devilish.

humans arent the scourge of the planet, just really crappy stewards of the earth.

and yeah, there's no value in studying this massive die off from a scientific perspective...right?

ignorance is bliss...im just not sure it's the type of badge you where with honor on a sleeve.

Wrong Spybee, I am a very warm and fun-loving dude. I just don't buy the BS that the media tries to feed me everyday - apparently you eat it right up!

Not all the time Mark, you are right in a sense, it's good to be aware. I just see a mass die off here. Whether it's from oil or not, It's probably from humans, which sucks.

Mark-643635, many alternative energy sources are still being researched. The final verdict on all of them was never put out yet.

Mark, dismissing something without qualifying its merit just because it came from the mainstream media is just as ignorant and egregious as saying the mainstream media speaks only the truth. That would make you as equally pathetic as the rest of us.

Creating mutually exclusive factions among the ignorant does nothing to combat the ignorance itself.

Amen, I am so sick of the lefty scumbag treehuggers

Most people would rather hug trees than hate filled morons. They kill fewer people.

Cherly - i dont want any more drilling PERIOD.

there are so many other options for energy, thats where our time - energy and resources should be going.

we arent the hypocrites, we are the forward thinkers keep getting held back by the knuckle dragging oil barons.

and you're just doing the bidding of the rich oil barons...for what?

and all of these "oil based" pieces, could have came from hemp...or a plethora of other materials that are less toxic, but just as workable as oil...

again, why are you so invested in keeping the oil barrons rich?

I understand why THEY are so invested in keeping this narrative alive...but why are you?

and really Cheryl, you're going to encourage people to committ suicide?

I wonder what other loving and compassionate things fill your heart?

dsfd

Wow, you are just amazingly stupid Cheryl.

Jess go pack another bowl with that hemp of yours, cause no way in HELL is it "just as workable as oil". Laughable! So if you were da boss, you would end oil production today? Great.

You do know that wind and solar energies were being looked at and researched since the invention of the combustion engine and longer. It's not like they are this NEW TECHNOLOGY and those of us that don't agree w/ you are just knuckle dragging neanderthals. We're realists. Wake up. Sorry, but they are just not viable options and they will not replace fossil fuels any time soon. I want clean energy just as much as anyone else, but right now it's a pipe dream.

Capt. Hammers, how bout some qualification to your statement? Or is that all you can muster up? Go ahead, tell us why Cheryl's post is stupid and enlighten us all to your superior brain power.

Cheryl

"there are so many other options for energy, thats where our time - energy and resources should be going."

Care to explain to use what there are?

and all of these "oil based" pieces, could have came from hemp...or a plethora of other materials that are less toxic, but just as workable as oil...

So your choice is to destroy the ground we use to grow our foods so we can have energy? Don't we already do that with corn, which hasn't brought down the price of oil but has raised the price of food.

Another wonderful thought of solution.

well, Cheryl...some of us tend to learn from history. Had the Native Americans used the same tools the Brits had when they came (guns and gunpowder) the settling of this place might well have been a different story. But no, they used bows and arrows instead of guns. Where did that get them?

Using this same logic, we "treehuggers" are going to do it a bit differently. Yes, we will use their technology, turn it against them and destroy them with it. :) Then we will destroy the tools and bring the world back into balance.

Its a "Grand Plan", you see. :)

Mark-643635, many alternative energy sources are still being researched. The final verdict on all of them has yet to be made.

Greed will take us all down. What will the arrogant, greedy, wealthy do when we are all gone and they have no one to pray on anymore and all of their money and possessions are worthless. We will probably see days like when the aristocrats of Europe were overthrown by the peasants.

Yep!!! Once every tree is cut, animal destroyed and stream polluted, we'll find we can't eat our money.

Hey now, exxon exec got to make their money so they can take their summer vacations in the hamptons. And dont forget the russian billionaire daughter who just bought the most expensive abode in manhattan, he'd destroyed a few million acres of habitat back there too to make his money.

Good, it's settled then. Let's drill for oil in the Dakotas and Montana, where we have huge reserves. Even bigger than Saudi Arabia has ever had. No Dolphins will be killed, the Buffalo will still be gone.

Yet another Obama "alternative energy" company with 2 billion of government funds goes under a few weeks after "opening their doors". Wind and solar are full of promise, and we only need 50 more years to render them cheap, reliable and something that dove-tails with the vehicles and heating systems we have already developed. Well...maybe 80 years, but who's counting.

Peru can go fornicate with Dolphins, and who cares? Please sober up and let's use our own oil. There is plenty of it to last until the other energy sources are finally developed. NO governmental money should be used to develop wind, solar, and other alternative sources. They will develop faster is there is a motive to work harder. Or die. In the meantime, gas does not have to be 5 dollars a gallon when we can drill our own and enjoy an abundance of it for 2 dollars a gallon.

The day there is no money in energy, is the day the government handouts stop abruptly. No jobs, no economy, no power, no heat, no air conditioning. If I want food or other necessities, I will simply take yours. 'Cause I can.

In response to Steve the dog man, here is a link that explains the real situation:

http://www.businessinsider.com/does-the-us-really-have-more-oil-than-saudi-arabia-2012-4

And won't future generations of Americans be thankful that our glutenous generation chose to use up all the oil now rather than treating it as a precious resource to be preserved. If you and your neighbor are growing food and what you have grown between the two of you are all that is available, wouldn't it be better to first eat your neighbors food. After all, when the going gets tough in the later years, the one that has food left will be the one in control. Same thing applies to oil.

You are against any more oil being used, and you are welcome to your opinion. If you were a reader, I would say that you might have noticed that I said that the oil in question was to continue without the ruin of America until "alternative" energy sources were actually developed enough to be affordable and efficient for a smooth transition. 50 to 80 years. We have about 6 times that, so no problem.

I looked at your link, and it doesn't hold up to scrutiny. Canada (just North of our reserves) has a similar size area. The oil sands. (or Tar sands if you are against oil). Saudi oil is substantially more expensive to refine, and the oil we have is high quality, low cost "light sweet crude". Democratic apology publications don't interest me.

If you are an intelligent person, please tell me that somehow it will be cheaper to raise our dependence on foreign oil rather than use our own. You know that's untrue. Our nation currently depends on oil, and while it isn't perfect, it is useable for everyone who needs it. The same can not be said of solar, wind, "electric cars" or even natural gas (for cars). Any or all of those sources will obviously be more ready to take over...maybe in this century yet. BUT: they have to take completely over to rid us of oil. We can not just drop oil and then spend 50 years with no way to power our country until they get it right. Plus, nobody else will do that, so we will lose our country to the aggressive nations that don't.

Don't worry about how bad oil is until the MARKET sees the benefits of the alternatives and it becomes more efficient. People kept their horses for a long time until motor vehicles finally got their act together. It was over 50 years. Oil is cheap, easy to use, already has a distribution system established, is a proven, job producing, tax yielding positive force. It has proven easy to reduce emissions in cars. (only took 50 years.)

Oil is here. It has a history, and an end in sight. NO energy source has ever been cast aside first and then have people starve while a replacement is groomed. Politics and taxes will never develop anything usable. Ingenuity, engineering, and freedom from either regulations or subsidies will speed things along.