Currently the outer continental shelf of the Pacific, the Atlantic and a small strip of the eastern Gulf of Mexico are not open to oil exploration and drilling. The EIA evaluates the benefits from opening these areas to oil exploration and drilling and assumes the same rate of development that has been seen in the past.

The report concludes that access to the Pacific, Atlantic and eastern Gulf of Mexico for oil drilling would not have a significant impact on domestic crude oil and natural gas production and prices before 2030. Yes, that’s not a typo - not before 2030.

Do you think it’s a good idea?

Kentucky is one of the richest states when considering coal reserves, but a state with a poor economy. The U.S. movement towards building plants to convert coal to a syngas and produce ultra clean low sulfur diesel and other liquid fuels provides Kentucky a wonderful opportunity.

These new types of coal plants are cleaner than previous coal technology, but there is a need for CO2 to be injected into deep geological formations for storage. Among other provisions, HB 1 sets aside money for studying the geological formations in Kentucky for CO2 storage.

Corn could be considered the foundation food source for feeding the world. Corn and rice are two sources of food that are relied upon to feed the world. Corn is consumed directly by humans, but it also used to produce oils and other products that have a substantial impact on the global food supply.

Many Americans may not think this is a concern, because they don’t eat much corn, corn meal or corn derived products. The poor countries rely on those type of products to raise families, and Americans don’t. But wait, many Americans do like to eat beef. Hamburgers and steaks will be bar-be-qued by many families on July 4th. The beef that we buy has been increasing in price and will continue to do so, because the cattle are grain fed in feedlots. The primary grain is corn.

This considers the supply side of the equation for feeding the world’s population. There is the other side of the equation - demand. The world’s population continues to increase exponentially. Ironically, the countries with the highest population growth are the poorest countries that face difficult issues feeding their populations. What is the answer!

While Americans point at other countries and claim that they have a responsibility to provide infrastructure and feed there own people. There are people in those other countries that claim that Americans are greedy consumers gobbling up all of the world’s resources.

The optimum solution it seems would be to find ways to mitigate the problem on both sides of the equation: both supply and demand. But, until the demand is met it’s not a morally ethical decision to shift food products to automobile gas tanks.

The dead zone keep getting larger every year and this year scientists predict it grow this year due to the runoff from the spring floods. This year the dead zone will be 10,000 square miles or the size of the State of Massachusetts. The Federal government has mandated that the states develop a plan to reduce the nutriet runoff by 2013. The plan must address how the states propose to reduce the size of the dead zone by 2015.

But, there is no Federal funding, because the majority of Federal funding is supporting the Iraq War. The U.S. has spent in excess of $500 Trillion dollars on the Iraq War and is not supporting the need for domestic infrastructure like highways and levees and is not supporting important programs like solving the dead zone environmental crisis. Ken Brazil, Arkansas Natural Resources Commission said “if we don’t have a common thread (federal agency support) we’re not going to be very far along in another five years”. Wayne Anderson, Minnesote Pollution Control Agency commented that there is a need for swift action as the clock keeps ticking towards the 2013 deadline.

Without Federal support, participation and funding the objective of reducing the dead zone by 25% in 2015 is an impossible objective. The Federal government must be more active and accountable for providing funding for domestic issues.