Posted on 06/05/2006 8:53:53 AM PDT by thackney
Congress took another lurch in the wrong direction on energy the other day when a bipartisan coalition voted to retain the ban on oil and gas exploration on the Outer Continental Shelf.
Despite painfully high energy prices and a perilous political situation in the Middle East, where the nation still gets much of its oil, Republicans and Democrats alike righteously decided to maintain the foolish ban that has kept 85 percent of the shelf off-limits to energy exploration since 1981.
The vote was 279 to 141, with 94 Republicans jumping aboard the environmental bandwagon jammed with Democrats.
The Wall Street Journal pointed out that ban supporters said they were worried about the nation's coastlines, even though solid evidence suggests there is really very little risk.
Last year, Hurricane Katrina blasted through one of America's primary offshore oil producing areas, with great damage to oil and gas facilities there. But there were no oil spills, the result of modern planning and spill-prevention equipment.
The Journal also noted that Canadians are drilling for gas in the Canadian waters of the Great Lakes, even though the area on the American side remains off-limits. And Cuba is exploring for gas in its own territorial waters, which come within 45 miles of the United States' shores. But the American side is off-limits to American explorers.
Perhaps Alaska should be happy that Congress is taking such a bull-headed approach, since the high price of natural gas is making feasible a pipeline from the North Slope to Alberta and the U.S. Midwest. The high price relates to limited supply, a shortage that might not exist if the nation tapped the Outer Continental Shelf.
... And the coastal plain is the most promising area left in North America for a major oil discovery.
(Excerpt) Read more at adn.com ...
That would be the ANWR coastal plain.
I guess Americans are okay with terrorism because they did not raise much of a protest over this.
No more donations to the Republican party until Anwar is passed!
Foreign countries with no such limitations will eventually have our nation surrounded by platforms if this idiotic mindset continues in Congress.
Any Bill number so we can review the language and the voting stats of our reps?
I'd say any old coastal plain--not just ANWR. Where there's oil--go and drill. If the Scandahoovians can safely drill offshore in the North Sea (probably the most dangerous place to drill offshore on the planet), then we can safely drill off Florida and California's "pristine beaches".
This is all a scam anyway. People then demand more heating and energy-assistance from the government, thus creating more gov't dependency. I hate to see how high energy costs will be in the next 20 years. Seniors from the northern and northeastern states will be living in the South and West, IMO.
Well, the coastal plain land next to ANWR that is under Alaska's control, has been drilled. Where the Fed's control it is our hang up.
I contacted the editor. Their information came from a Wall Street Journal article without the bill number. I've searched through http://thomas.loc.gov/. There are lots of bills dealing with OCS but I did not find that particular vote. This may have been in reference to the same bill.
http://newsbyus.com/more.php?id=3697_0_1_0_M
Sorry I wasn't more help.
This was part of my response to some creep from the GOP who called my house on Sunday looking from money.
I told him that the GOP would not get another cent from me until they stopped acting like RINOs on, immigration, Anwar, redistribution of wealth programs, growth of government.
Right now I only have 2 choices, vote for a party that only promises to reduce the size of government, secure the borders, get us off rag head oil but does not do those things or vote for the party which tells me they won't do any of those things. In this case the communist left is at least being honest in what they want to do.
Either way my vote does not count for much EXCEPT the USSC! To move the court back to center from the communist extremes of the past is the single reason for me to vote GOP.
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