Posted on 08/24/2005 5:27:06 PM PDT by mission9
The Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service today announced that it is seeking initial public comment on the development of its 2007-2012 five-year leasing plan for energy development on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) and accompanying environmental impact statement.
The announcement is the first step in a two-year process to develop the leasing plan. It does not include proposals for new lease sales but instead asks the public for general information and comment not only on energy development but also on other economic and environmental issues in the OCS areas.
“The Outer Continental Shelf contains billions of barrels of oil and trillions of cubic feet of natural gas that can be safely produced,” Interior Secretary Gale Norton said. “With our reliance on imports of foreign oil climbing each year, we would be irresponsible if we did not consider how we might develop these abundant domestic resources.”
Presidential withdrawals or congressional moratoria have placed more than 85 percent of the OCS off the lower 48 states off limits to energy development.
The Bush Administration has repeatedly expressed its support for the existing moratoria, based upon deference to the wishes of the states to determine what activities take place off their coasts.
However, recent energy legislation passed by Congress calls for a comprehensive inventory and analysis of the oil and natural gas resources for all areas of the OCS.
Therefore, as MMS undertakes the process of drafting its proposal, the agency is seeking comment
(Excerpt) Read more at mms.gov ...
That's odd, I missed all the media reporting of this........couldn't be that they have an agenda.....
BUMP
Hold off on domestic production. We're far from crisis mode.
Better to wait until the rest of the world's oil starts drying up ... THEN sell 'em ours at a suitable supply-and-demand cost.
I say start ASAP. Starting at a third of projected production capacity will ease prices. While we're on the subject, NO new domestic drilling until we BUILD MORE REFINARIES.
Since US refinery capacity greatly exceed US domestic oil production, I have to ask why?
It took five years to get an energy bill passed, it will take longer to get more offshore energy production, and permitting it will require vigilant shepherding every step of the way. Your reply insinuates that this is a problem of sucking the last drop of oil from the planet. I assure you, the finite fossil fuel argument is bogus. The real problem is production, and refineries. We have all the energy the world will ever consume - available today - in the form of the geothermal potential of Yellowstone Park. This resource, among others, is currently off limits.
"Hold off on domestic production. We're far from crisis mode."
We've been importing oil for years - it is wrong to not drill our own... the crisis is in sending money to Chavez, Qadaffi, and Iranian Mullahs instead of keeping it here at home.
"Better to wait until the rest of the world's oil starts drying up ... THEN sell 'em ours at a suitable supply-and-demand cost." "
Saudi Arabia has 50 years of oil. We will run out before they do. The advice defies economic logic as the price of the commodity will not rise so fast to make up the present value of a commodity in the ground vs. drilling it now.
In other words, you lose a lot of economic value by waiting longer than necessary. In any case, starting now to look means not drilling until 2010 means not producing until 2015, means not using it up until 2035.
I agree with you; I can never understand this logic. At the same time the push gets stronger and stronger for alternative fuels. Should we continue to send money to other governments until what we have is no longer needed?
When fixing the problem, fix the biggest problem first. Although our refinery capacity is too small, it is not near the problem of our lacking domestic oil capacity. We could double the amount of domestic produced oil and not exceed the capacities of our refineries.
I hadn't realized that all the foreign oil we import actually DOES NOT GET REFINED by our oil refineries. That only domestically produced oil needs to be refined in our refineries.
At least, that's what you imply by stating that "We could double the amount of domestic produced oil and not exceed the capacities of our refineries".
Wake up, our oil refineries do not meet the current US demand for gasoline. Until they do, gasoline prices will remain high even if we had 900 trillion barrels of free oil sitting on our docks.
how about a whole lot more refineries?
"Wake up, our oil refineries do not meet the current US demand for gasoline".
It may be priced higher than Giraffes booty, but I have seen no evidence, nor have I seen even an instance of anyone being turned away due to a "gas shortage".
I have waited (in the past) for up to 10 hours in a line to fill up. I have had stations close down, and hang up an "out of gas" sign... while "we" sat there dumbfounded.
We may be on the edge of refinery output, but the market will sell you all of the gas that you want... at the current price.
LLS
Would that have been in the late 1970s per chance, during that LOVELY Carter administration?
No, we don't have a gas shortage. Yes we do have a shortage of refinery capacity. We haven't built one here in over twenty years, due to protests by environazis. It wouldn't hurt to build another. We also have an overabundance of unecessary environmental regulations which also affect price. It wouldn't hurt to reevaluate the effectiveness and necessity of all of those, keep th eones that actually work, get rid of those that actually destroy engines (like diesels) and look for alternatives that won't hurt the environment or industry.
I have wondered about this, why does the price keep going up if there are no shortages. I think maybe some illecit trading scheme is bumping prices up. Maybe some company's or country's agree to bid for oil that doesn't actually trade hands? You know country A agrees with countries B and C to not actually trade oil or monies but their fake trades bump the price up?
I do not understand what you are trying to say. Our refineries could run at the same rate using more domestically produced oil and less foreign produced oil. Then the royalties, lease payments, jobs and taxes for the oil would be in the US rather than a foreign country.
Wake up, our oil refineries do not meet the current US demand for gasoline.
We currently import 10,577,000 barrels of oil a day. We currently import 1,225,000 barrels of gasoline per day. Which is the greater shortfall? I certainly agree we need more refinery capacity. But to stop drilling until refineries are built (as some have suggested here) is just insane. Oil fields are continually depleted and need to have new wells drilled just to stay even, let alone add capacity.
Sure. Because we have the capacity to refine xx barrels of oil per day. It makes not a wit of difference where the oil comes from.
A growing portion of our petroleum imports are now coming as already refined gasoline. This is because we haven't the ability to refine all the gasoline the American market demands.
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