Posted on 06/12/2008 12:08:58 PM PDT by Conservative Vermont Vet
The Institute for Energy Research (IER) today called on President Bush to exercise his authority to repeal the Executive Order banning energy production on America’s outer continental shelf (OCS)
Since the Congress has made it clear - year after year - that it does not have the courage to take decisive action, President Bush should take the first step. He has the authority to tear up one of the two bans on offshore energy production that form a wall between American consumers and affordable energy. We’re asking the president to tear down that wall.”
(Excerpt) Read more at michellemalkin.com ...
The President
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Dear Mr. President:
Before you left the United States earlier this week for your European tour, you stated that high energy prices were due, in part, to a lack of domestic energy supplies. We agree, and urge you to demonstrate your commitment to increasing domestic supplies by immediately repealing the Presidential Executive Order that established a moratorium on U.S. outer continental shelf (OCS) energy production.
Two federal bans keep the U.S. from producing its vast offshore energy resources. The Executive Moratorium was instituted in 1990 and is set to expire in 2012, but can be eliminated by the President at any time. The Congressional Moratorium comes in the form of an annual appropriations rider in Congress. It expires every year and must be renewed annually by a vote in the Congress. Neither have the force of permanent law.
Unfortunately, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior Appropriations yesterday rejected a proposal to modify the long-standing Congressional ban on offshore energy development so that production may occur in federal waters of the outer continental shelf (OCS) beyond fifty miles of our shores. We believe this was a failure of leadership. We ask that you show your leadership by tearing up the presidential moratorium. Doing so would remove a significant barrier to lowering energy prices for Americans, and send a signal to the world that the United States is no longer putting its energy fate solely in the hands of foreign nations.
Because of these outdated bans, more than 97 percent of our nation’s vast OCS remains fallow, with less than 3 percent being leased for energy production. We believe it self-destructive and immoral for us, as a nation, to continue to allow our consumers to suffer the economic consequences of government policies that deliberately restrict access to energy supplies. The consequences of the OCS moratoria have been devastating to American energy security. We are the only advanced country in the world that ties its own hands behind its back with such a policy. Brazil, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Australia and Norway are all examples of advanced nations and allies that do not restrict their own energy production. Americans are suffering unnecessarily.
According to the U.S. Minerals Management Service, America’s OCS contains at least 86 billion barrels of oil and 420 trillion cubic feet of natural gas – enough to dramatically increase domestic supplies, create jobs, and spur new investments in our economy. As such, lifting the moratoria would provide you with a unique opportunity to finally turn aside the failed “No New Supplies” policies of the past, and reacquaint Americans with the optimism they feel when they realize that the only limits to their growth are those imposed upon them by their government.
Sincerely,
Thomas J. Pyle
President
As probably many other Freepers, I’ve wondered if it were possible for Bush to do something like this and if so, why he would/has not—unless, it falls within his pattern over the past 7 ½ years of unwillingness to defend himself against all criticism as well as seriously challenge (much less attack) those whose very existence is to destroy him and his Presidency.
It may be a stretch, but I predict he will NOT do this because, it would be a repudiation against a former President (specifically, Clintoooon) who from all his actions (as well as inactions such as when Clinton has denigrated and impugned W while traveling overseas and yet Bush not only kept mum but he and his dad seemed to make nice, cooperate as well as promote both Bill and Hill) he appears to hold in higher regard than those of his base.
I have thought that if he was serious about doing something about the high cost of gas and the shortage of supplies, then rather than jump on the green-weenie bandwagon and make inane statements such as our being “addicted to oil,” he would have (a long time ago) made a decision to rescind any and all prior Presidential directives and issue some of his own, mandating that most/all federal lands be opened to exploration and drilling using a basis of national security (which it is) and let the opposition twist in the wind and have to live with the consequences the same as we have had to.
Last but not least (putting on my tin foil hat) I wonder if there is a “slight” possibility that in reality he (and possibly many others within Congress and the Guvmint) have/are feeling the heat from our “ally” Saudi Arabia and/or they have been promised some inducement (millions for library and speaking fees ala Clinton) to obstruct, delay or otherwise confound, our developing additional energy sources to the point we could become truly independent and thus, making the Saudis and other Mooslimb countries irrelevant?
While perhaps a stretch, what is not beyond dispute is the power of the Saudi lobby here as we have witnessed with their ability to have free reign with regards to promoting, building and maintaining madrassas and mosques throughout the US as well as funding Moozie groups such as CAIR with impunity—so why not their having the “juice” to “influence” certain key members of Congress (and maybe the White House?) in simply paying lip service to becoming energy self-sufficient?
Lets face it, the Saudis alone are presently raking in to the tune of about $1B a day, and “that ain’t chicken feed,” and provides quite an incentive to do whatever to maintain their stranglehold on their only source of domestic wealth.and it is no secret how thoroughly corrupt the entire monarchy is.
Opinions please!!!!
Clinton renewed it, but wasn't it implemented in 1990 (GHWB, his dad) ???
Go ahead and drill. Drill everywhere. It won’t make a bit of difference.
can’t the President use an EO declaring “Clear and Present Danger” and open every where for drilling?
But he won’t even do what this letter asks, he is too busy giving Socialists medals.
How Soviet of him.
Wow! Now that's the right attitude. What a genius!
Someone tell Michelle he is PRESIDENT Bush
.
Do people really think off shore drilling is going to lower fuel costs? I don’t. I spend $1,500 a month for gas on a very small business. I knew it was coming. Live with it!
Even with the executive order, couldn’t every single solitary kook group file a lawsuit to stop the drilling? And it would be incredible easy to get a federal judge to issue some injunction so I see this as a giant NO GO!
Really? How so?
Please edify us ignorant peasants with your erudition.
Waiting with baited breath!!!
It won’t affect the price of oil, but it WILL keep more money in the USA.
Please explain.
No doubt, but I don't remember anyone from our side (though not surprising considering the R's are populated with 95% wusses and 4% RINO's) challenging Clintooon?
Good God! I never seen so many defeatists losers!
Will it lower fuel costs tomorrow? No. But the law of supply and demand has not been repealed, and if we increase supply then prices WILL come down. It just depends on how long it takes for a repeal of the ban to allow production to ramp up. It would take longer than a few months, but probably WELL SHORT of the ten years that everybody keeps throwing out there (and has been throwing out there for the last 13 years).
* Cease all ethanol production. It takes away from food production and the unintended consequence is higher food costs. As diesel prices go up, the cost of farming tips the balance of cost to make ethanol a bad idea. Just say "no" to ethanol! Even Jimmy Carter says that diverting farm production from food to fuel is dumb – even HE gets it. This will create only ONE "blend" of gasoline and will cease regional "boutique" blends (gasohols) which are stupid, costly, and meaningless. Trucking custom blends around the country is wasteful. Ethanol blends get fewer miles to the gallon, and adds to the cost of production and transportation. Newer cars do not need oxygenated fuels, and adding ethanol make MPG ratings worse.
* Lift the restrictions in order to drill for oil in Alaska, Gulf of Mexico, and other sites in the CONUS as a matter of national security.
* Encourage the petro industry to construct state-of-the-art refineries and/or retrofit current and dormant ones and crank up production for our newly-accessed oil in the CONUS.
* Make all “carbon credit” scams unlawful. Discrediting Algore should have been a slam-dunk a long time ago. Stop electing Reps who buy into the Global Warming / Global Cooling / Climate Change Hoax. CO2 is not our enemy!
* Construct SEVERAL, regional Pebble-Bed Modular Reactors (or other similar modern designs) that are rechargeable, and cleaner than any current nuclear generator design. Refine spent nuke fuel for recycling. DO SOMETHING NUCLEAR to resolve energy problems.
* Use the residual heat from the reactors above to process motor fuel from coal and/or shale. Even though Clinton "stole" some of the best coal reserves, we still have a lot to use.
* Become independent enough to make the cartels (i.e. OPEC) inconsequential.
* Convince local taxing bodies to lift or cap the sales tax on gasoline so that as gas prices go up, the local tax collectors don’t see a windfall revenue jump at the expense of the consumer. The Federal government could compel the states (and locals) to cap the fuel taxes.
If you squint real hard, and read between the lines, the ‘manifesto’ will require fewer RINOs and LibDems and the election of some clear-minded conservatives to even consider the above. \
I should think the only way it could make a difference would be a one size fits all gasoline formula. Today we have so many different formula’s for this state, and that state, for this time of year, or that time of year that the costs to produce and distribute the many different gasoline formulas reduce the cost effectiveness of drilling here or there. We could be swimming in crude, but the enviromentality laws with regards to refining have created sub barriers to a clean/simple response to the cost issues.
It’s bated breath, not baited breath. We assume.
My God another one! All of a sudden every oil nut-case (YES, nut-case if you think several million barrels of additional offshore oil would not effect the prices) pops up...
We guide your attention to the concept of rate of production otherwise known as velocity. Nothing, no amount of investment money, will increase production velocity.
Really?
I don't know what kind of business you have, but I've had a few and the law of supply and demand applies to every type that I know of and that certainly would be the case for oil, unless I and every other person who has studied (and applied in our lives) Economics 101 is/has been, mistaken all this time???
I am semi-retired, but the cost of putting gas in my van has cut into my profits considerably and wish I could take as cavalier an attitude about learning to "live with it" as you have.
Perhaps you can, but I certainly intend on doing what I can to promote "change" and believe we are close to a point in time that the American people are going to rise up and demand something be done--including drilling everywhere and I guess we'll see then who is right?
The number of refineries in the US has not changed the last several years and yet the price of gasoline has doubled. It is supply that is the 900 pound gorilla problem.
It’s nice to see someone write to our President with a positive *solution* offered, rather than just naked criticism.
That only sounds intelligent but says nothing.
You can assume whatever you want. Perhaps in my rant, I was subconsciously thinking about going fishing and forgetting all about this nonsense??
Hey what do you expect? I went to a guvmint school, albeit many moons ago and I also can use the excuse of being a Seasoned Citizen, thus am allowed to have my "moments of confusion" much as John "The Snake" Kerry has suggested Mclame suffers from.
Area 181 in the Gulf was opened to drilling in Dec, 2006. That is about 2 million acres. Drill that.
The problem is that Americans are not the only people buying oil. Growing demand in Asia (especially China and India) is the primary driver here, so even if all of the reserves are brought online the effect will be negligible in terms of worldwide demand; that oil will become another drop in a global pool.
That being said, it still makes sense to drill because keeping an increasingly valuable resource off-limits is insane.
I never knew that it was just EO’s that have kept us from drilling. I thought it was legislative law.
Of course, Bush should recsind the EO’s. Then let the RAT congress convince the people that the minions must accept disrupted supply and the billions going to the rag heads daily. Let the RAT’s take a stand against the people.
Let Hussian NObama and McCain duke it out, starting from a clean slate; that then discusses the merits of exploiting our natural resources, versus saving the dolphins and the polar bears, and forcing the rich waterfront property owners the unsightly view of distant oil rigs.
Absolutely, Bush has an excellent opportunity to “bring it on - make my day!”
I say what I see. Take a look for yourself.
And while we’re at it, tear up the Clintoon/Riady EO that put aside all the Utah clean coal into a bogus national park
Perhaps, but it would do a couple of things.
First it would put the spotlight right where it belongs, on the EnviroNuts who would scream the loudest and the DhimiRats in Congress who would also have to oppose it more publicly which at this time, would NOT be a positive approach, given the people being at the breaking point with $ 4+ gas and looking for ANY kind of relief;
Second, it might just force the speculators off their game whose actions have had a considerable influence on the high cost and could conceivably afford some rather quick reduction in prices, IMHO.
Someone should tell Michelle that the President has been opening areas up for drilling for years...if you don’t believe me, just ask your local moonbat environmentalist!
http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2002/07/openspaces.html
Yes it has and I'm old enough to remember the very first jump when OPEC tried to play their little game and were forced to back down.
While conditions today are somewhat different, merely the impression (AND WE WOULD HAVE TO APPEAR SERIOUS, WHICH I HAVE RESERVATIONS ABOUT) that we were going to drill and drill most everywhere, should have an immediate affect with our good "buds" the Saudis leading the charge and miraculously finding additional supplies to flood the market with.
We guide your attention to factors that impact production velocity: When production velocity is artificially held at ZERO despite significatn production capacity, unused available resources, and profit potential by regulatory or statutory barriers (such as by a production ban for example), the removal of the artificial barrier to production velocity WILL INCREASE production velocity.
I am also a ‘seasoned citizen’. Getting a little more seasoned the more ‘for sale’ signs go up here and nothing is being sold. A lot of people want out and aren’t getting out, nowhere to go. A loaf of Wonder Bread $4.50, that’s a wonder. Everybody is on heating oil and we get 40 below and at least six months of winter. It’s going to be a tough year, and we thought it was a little tough last year. The neighbors have the ‘deer in the headlights’ look, those who are sober. It’s been a good party.
Someone tell Michelle he is PRESIDENT Bush
Michelle knows, the title is a take off of President Reagan's "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"
Yeah, sure. That would be acceleration and it is not happening. It actually can’t happen since there aren’t enough people willing to work for nothing and not enough steel to build all those new drill rigs for non-existent workers to operate in barely-productive fields.
Excellent point. Had forgotten all about that.
If nothing else, we could fill our coffers selling it to the Chinks (sorry it I offended anyone posting here from Chinese Gov't /s) as they are furiously building coal plants and are importing more and more coal.
Sheesh. Here we sit on the largest clean coal reserves in the WORLD and we can't touch a lump.
You acknowledge that the problem is increasing demand but fail to recognize that the only way to curtail the growth rate of prices in the face of growing demand is to INCREASE SUPPLY! The degree to which an increase in supply would affect prices my be debatable, but increased production of a million barrels of oil a day would be a significant increase in supply and that shift would lower prices of oil compared to what those prices would be without that increase in supply.
NO new refineries in 25+ years. What did we expect? No drilling, no new nuclear plants. This country is so spoiled and lazy. They want the whole world to do all the work and we’ll just pay for it with devalued dollars until we are broke! DRILL HERE, DRILL NOW, PAY LESS.
It’s hard to say we will have oil and be able to party like the past 30 years when there won’t be and we can’t. We have been watching this problem approach since 1955 when we were first notified of the possibility while in grammar school.
No, thanks. I’ve seen the grainy pictures of Ted Kennedy drilling offshore and I don’t need to see that ever again.
According to the article, there are two bans: one is an EO that will expire in 2012 if not extended before then; the other is a statutory ban in appropriations bills that expires every year but congress continues to renew the ban each year. Knock one barrier down and then the other barrier must withstand the scrutiny of being the only barrier to lower oil and gas prices.
There are two components to the current price of oil:
1. Supply and demand. One rising gradually, the other more sharply.
2. Speculation. The precise proportion is unknown, but it is nonetheless a factor.
If we drill -- and increase the supply -- then supply and demand will come more into balance. Over the long term, prices will come down (or won't go up as fast).
Note that the futures market for crude oil has ramped up ever since the Democrat Congress took over and made it perfectly clear to every investor on the planet that the USA would not be allowed to take any step toward increasing supply.
The Congress we elected in 2006 created whatever "speculative bubble" exists in the market. And if US government policy was to be reversed, the bubble would collapse.
As long as the barriers prevent it from happening, it won't happen. Remove the barriers and get out of the way and see what happens. Those evil oil companies, motivated by the available "windfall profits" to be had, will invest, explore, drill, and produce.
BRAVO!!
Could have plagiarized excellent argument in my MBA thesis.
(Old Fred Allen joke reference)
The barriers are not so much political but economic. The oil industry is already using 20% of the world steel production. All the existing drill rigs are booked for several years. All the oil workers are working. When the dire situation was first noticed in DC, about 1976, we were bringing Prudhoe and North Sea oil on line so the urgency was not so acute. 30 years have been wasted, nothing done. It will have to be done now, whatever needs to be done, but it won’t be painless. We have 25 years of pain ahead, at least.
So, what you're REALLY saying is that; since the numbers of RINOs and LibDems is INCREASING, not DECREASING; and since the RNC has become a part of the problem, not a part of the solution; before we can get on with the task of reinstate Reason and Logic -- indeed, even Sanity -- in Washington D.C., we first need a nationwide 1776 Redux to, uh, "throw" da bums out.
And since THAT'S just NOT going to happen, in the words of a clear-eyed Irishman, "We're fooked."
Be careful using that argument. Velocity is 8 million bpd, not zero. Acceleration is zero, give or take.
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