If there is no oil there or the greenies won't let them drill there, why are the companies paying millions in leases? Nice try.
Show me where Clinton extended the moratorium on drilling. The last time it was extended was Bush I. The Republicans brought it up verbally, but never brought a bill to him. Look up your "facts"
gibberish???... that means what in terms of what i said. the nazis have the upper hand.
here you go... he he he!
This land is oil land
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Guess who's got some of the largest oil deposits in the world?
Date published: 6/19/2008
COULD IT BE that the solution to America's high gas prices lies right within our own borders? GOP presidential candidate John McCain thinks so, as do others raising their voices as pump prices soar.
In a series of speeches on the energy crisis, Mr. McCain is calling for an end to the offshore-drilling ban, which Congress established in 1981, when oil tapped out at $38 a barrel.
Every president since then has renewed the restriction, but now, with oil kissing $140 a barrel, many experts believe it's time to take a second look.
Environmentalists, of course, bristle at the suggestion. But here's the reality: A minute fraction of the oil pollution in the ocean comes from offshore drilling--perhaps as little as 3 percent, states the National Academy of Sciences. Only about 12 percent comes from tanker spills. Most comes from natural seeps and dumping from land-based industries.
Experts at the Department of Interior estimate there are as many as 85.9 billion gallons in "undiscovered technically recoverable oil" on the Outer Continental Shelf. That's more than all the oil in Venezuela.
Nor is that all the potential fuel in America. The Bureau of Land Management estimates there are 31 billion barrels of oil untapped in onshore locations. Some of this is in America's national parks, but at least 2 billion barrels could be accessed under current leases. The Arctic National Wildlife Re***e holds about 7.7 billion barrels-- although Mr. McCain opposes drilling there.
Finally, there is shale oil production. Jonathon Moseley, executive director of the U.S. Seaports Commission, estimates there are 1 trillion to 2 trillion barrels of oil trapped in shale rock in the United States. The technology to retrieve it is available: Fully 76 percent of Estonia's energy comes from shale oil.
Critics of oil exploration claim we can't "drill our way" out of this crisis. They point to global warming and the greenhouse gases caused by fossil fuels. Certainly alternative energy sources need to be encouraged and America's dependence on and consumption of oil lessened.
But while oil is not the solution, it should be part of the buffet. Congress is at loggerheads on the issue: Democrats are resisting more drilling, and Republicans are trying to derail oil-company windfall profits taxes. For decades, the two parties have failed to develop a comprehensive energy strategy.
Mr. McCain is suggesting lifting federal restraints on offshore drilling and incentives for the development of clean and efficient nuclear power. He says states should be able to decide whether or not to drill off their own shores, and has sharp words for oil price speculators who've played a major role in pump price escalations.
With at least half of all Americans finding gas prices a major financial burden, it's time for common-sense solutions. Mr. McCain's call for lifting the federal ban on drilling is one of those.
some more... he he he big facts man!
Each year since then Congress has renewed the moratorium. In 1990, the first President Bush authored an additional level of protection deferring new leasing until 2002, which President Clinton extended to 2012. But these protections are now in danger of being weakened or overturned by the current Bush administration and its allies in Congress.
) Bush II did the next extension (so yes I was wrong on that). I had also read Congress in 1998 was trying to put together a package to get rid of it, but they never sent that to Clinton. So on that part of it I was right.
