Friday, September 19, 2008

Energy Expert

According to John McCain, Sarah Palin "knows more about energy than anyone else in the United States." I am not making that up. Six different colleges to get a four-year degree, and... Well, I have no degree at all, so I guess I'm not qualified to dispute his claim, but it seems just a bit hyperbolic to me.

This is her response to a question about how we can assure that the oil produced by the McCain/Palin "Drill Baby, Drill" policy will be kept in this country rather than shipped overseas,
“Oil and coal? Of course, it’s a fungible commodity and they don’t flag, you know, the molecules, where it’s going and where it’s not. But in the sense of the Congress today, they know that there are very, very hungry domestic markets that need that oil first,” Palin said. “So, I believe that what Congress is going to do, also, is not to allow the export bans to such a degree that it’s Americans that get stuck to holding the bag without the energy source that is produced here, pumped here. It’s got to flow into our domestic markets first.”

As stated earlier, I have no college degrees, so will someone with greater education than I have please post a comment telling me what the hell she said? I know what fungible means, but I'm having trouble with the flagging of molecules thing, and it seemed to sort of go downhill from there.
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3 comments:

  1. momlee11:37 AM

    I have two degrees, and I can't figure it out either. I do know that it is probably possible to flag molecules of some things, but I haven't a clue what that has to do with drilling policy.

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  2. Anonymous12:05 AM

    I have 1 or 2 degrees depending on how you count 'em... Flagging things, even like molecules and DNA and such is possible, I suppose, that comment ws a big WTF for me. VP material? I doubt it.

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  3. Anonymous3:07 AM

    Andrew Halcro explained it on his blog:

    "First, the bit about the flagging of the molecules came from recent legislative discussions regarding the governor's natural gas pipeline proposal. In legislative testimony, the explanation of the flagging of the molecules had to do with Alaska's natural gas that was being proposed to be shipped into a Canadian hub. The concern from lawmakers is that our gas wouldn't make it to domestic midwest markets, instead ending up being used in Canada.

    The explanation from TransCanada was that natural gas is fungible and although they can't flag molecules to ensure the exact Alaska molecules of gas get to Chicago, the gas will get there in the agreed upon quantities."

    http://www.andrewhalcro.com/our_energy_expert

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