Posted on 04/07/2005 1:19:59 AM PDT by Brian328i
Edited on 04/07/2005 1:23:30 AM PDT by Sidebar Moderator. [history]
WASHINGTON - Oil and gas companies, closer than ever to drilling in an Alaskan wildlife refuge, want to explore another frontier: Americas coastlines.
The Atlantic and Pacific coasts and the eastern Gulf of Mexico are protected by a federal ban on new oil and natural gas extraction. But with rising worry about the countrys dependence on fuel imports and soaring prices, energy producers feel they now have a unique opportunity and a more effective strategy to relax or eliminate the restrictions.
Energy map of America A look at where the nation gets its energy |
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High-stakes, high-tech drilling How technology aids the oil recovery process |
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
Actually, drilling off the California coast would HELP the coastal environment. A goodly fraction of the oil that washes up on California beaches comes NOT from errant tanker leaks or leaking oil wells, but from natural seepage from reservoirs. Drilling would relieve pressure on those seeps.
We need the oil, period.
I have an old college buddy in the oil exploration/drilling business. He says it's such a boom market right now that his company is having a hard time retaining employees as the market is flooded with job opportunities.
As a Tampa Bay resident, I can tell you that people are VERY ATTACHED to the beaches around here. The oil companies will have to embark on an education campaign, hawking their new technologies, before the people in Fl will ever let them drill on speculative evidence of oil.
Of course, the 2.25 we're paying for Regular helps the motivation along too.
I'm originally from Louisiana, and own a home in Clearwater.
I can tell you that the fishing is better around the oil rigs off Louisianna than it is over the reefs near Clearwater.
Don't worry goldstategop, the stalinist enviros have been indoctrinating us thru the public school classrooms and via msm news. They will be ready for the fight. It isn't really about whether or not the resources are there and can be obtained, its about control of us.
Yes, the fishing in Clearwater stinks.
Have you tried the Skyway for snook and tarpon yet? The inlets around Fort De Soto are good for redfish and trout. Or you can go north to Tarpon Springs around the Anclote river.
BTTT!!!!!!!
Should have started this 30 years ago. Oil imports were only 38% then and now 62%. Gas was 50 cents a gallon and $2.28 now.
We have been sold a bill of goods and I will believe progress when I see it.
Lots of great ideas......... but can they ever be developed before it is too late for America???
You got that right. Problem is that the rigs are way too far out. We need drilling closer to shore.
,,, get a Florida judge to overturn it.
,,, I heard they're running salmon cage farms off rigs in some areas.
I don't know how accurate it is but I heard that off shore oil in the gulf of Mexico would put Saudi Arabia to shame.
Oh Lordy, We'll be hearing Halliburtin with every breath from the libs.
Drill everything. We need to move AWAY from dependence on foreign oil. (Plus we need to aggressively develop any and all forms of non-petroleum based fuels.. synthetics, air, wind, solar power, advanced storage cells for solar, Hydrogen, absolutely everything...)
I'm a big fan of windmills, over hill, over dale... and off the coast.
The problem is, is that all the liberals with ocean front properties don't want THEIR ocean views "ruined" for their 98.653 million dollar beach front properties. Waaah!
With enough extra cash, I would gladly PAY $100M to buy a house [on a rocky ocean promontory - no sand..] with a dedicated ocean view of a few hundred off-shore windmills and a few oil platforms in the distance. We are talking about National Survival.
The windmills could double as an art/painting project for all the liberal artsy types out there. Monet would do the scene justice, I guess.
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