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U.S. agonizes over offshore drilling
M&C News ^ | Jun 6, 2006 | Donna Borak

Posted on 06/06/2006 1:22:23 PM PDT by Ben Mugged

U.S. lawmakers are growing increasingly concerned as Cuba grants licensing agreements to energy-hungry economies such as China and India to allow drilling in its waters off the coast of Florida.

Members from both parties have proposed separate legislation that would either allow U.S. oil companies to compete with foreign entities to drill in Cuban coastal waters or block Havana from pursuing any oil production exploration in order to prevent ecological damage that could disrupt Florida`s $50 billion tourism industry.

Amid a growing call to reduce U.S. foreign dependence on oil, the predicament facing Congress is whether or not to allow U.S. companies to bypass a 45-year-old trade embargo in order to pursue oil excavation in Cuban waters or tap into offshore U.S. oil resources in the Florida Straits and the eastern Gulf of Mexico.

U.S. lawmakers who support circumventing the embargo argue that at a time of growing demand and rising oil prices, domestic oil companies must be allowed to compete against countries like China or India, which have driven crude prices to above $70 a barrel. Otherwise, they say, the United States will be handing over crucial energy resources only 50 miles off the U.S. coastline to competing energy markets.

'Red China should not be left to drill for oil within spitting distance of our shores without competition from U.S. industries,' Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, said earlier this year. 'Not only is this a supply and energy security issue for us, it is an environmental issue. We can`t let China conspire to lock up a potentially lucrative oil supply.'

(Excerpt) Read more at news.monstersandcritics.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government
KEYWORDS: cuba; energy; environment; florida; offshoredrilling; oil
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To: Richard-SIA
We beat Cuba how many times?

When did we fight Cuba?

41 posted on 06/06/2006 3:54:21 PM PDT by Live and let live conservative (Capitalism: It works, give it a try America.)
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To: Doe Eyes

Ya..they found them...after they had been copied.

Someone accidently put top-secret hard drives behind a copy machine...but nobody found them the first 4 times they searched.

If you remember, there was a fire that caused an evacuation of the facility and it was only due to that evacuation that the drives were discovered to be missing. They were supposed to be in a safe that had red-chinese walking in and out of it daily with the other "scientists" in the lab smiling and waving as they did so.

Can you say "Clinton Era"??


42 posted on 06/06/2006 3:56:59 PM PDT by Paloma_55 (Still MAD as HELL!!!)
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To: Paloma_55
Ya..they found them...

So when you said missing, you were ... wrong.

43 posted on 06/06/2006 4:04:55 PM PDT by Doe Eyes
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To: Ben Mugged

Cuba - extracting the oil that Americans won't extract.


44 posted on 06/06/2006 4:05:05 PM PDT by Zhang Fei
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To: mastercylinder
I say we let them drill it's their land anyway.

I think the problem is that many of these pools of undersea oil cross international boundaries. It's kind of like the situation between Iraq and Kuwait before the first Desert Storm. There was a huge pool of oil overlapping both countries' territories. Saddam had neglected oil exploration and was tapping only relatively small amounts, whereas Kuwait was just swimming in it. Basically, if Cuba drills and finds one of these pools near the center line, it will basically extract billions of barrels of what could have been pumped out by an American oil company - on which it would have paid taxes - not to mention the millions of individual investors who would have received dividends or made capital gains on the oil find. Instead, all the money will go to Cuba. The politicians we have in office aren't Americans and certainly don't represent our interests - they see themselves as world leaders ultimately accountable to billions of foreigners.
45 posted on 06/06/2006 4:12:35 PM PDT by Zhang Fei
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To: AppyPappy

The Sierra Club communists have no problem with Chinese communists drilled off communist Cuba's coast. Wonder why that is...


46 posted on 06/06/2006 4:14:44 PM PDT by sergeantdave (And though getting up in the world attracts attention, it does not establish solid worth.)
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To: Ben Mugged

We can't do business with Cuba! They're Commies fer cryin' out loud.


47 posted on 06/06/2006 4:22:43 PM PDT by Wolfie
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To: Polybius
If it weren't for the fact that Cuban Americans in Florida vote over 80% Republican, President Al Gore would be in his second term right now.

Oil Companies...Cuban Voters, Oil Companies...Cuban Voters. Rock and a Hard Place, for sure.

48 posted on 06/06/2006 4:26:22 PM PDT by Wolfie
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To: Ben Mugged

Florida and California are retarded. It's as simple as that. We shouldn't be blaming Cuba or China for doing something that we should be doing ourselves.

We've been drilling offshore Texas and Lousiana for 50 years. Our techniques have only improved. Even with hurricanes destroying countless platforms, you read NOTHING about oil spills.

I repeat, Florida and California are retarded.


49 posted on 06/06/2006 4:27:25 PM PDT by Dog Gone
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To: Doohickey
Apparently nobody in government believes that Flordia's coveted tourism industry is threatened by the price of fuel?

Or examined how it is that the very sight of an offshore rig would imperil Florida's coveted tourist industry in any way...

50 posted on 06/06/2006 4:28:18 PM PDT by okie01 (The Mainstream Media: IGNORANCE ON PARADE)
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To: Doohickey

Other than Alcee Hastings, that is.


51 posted on 06/06/2006 4:28:24 PM PDT by Arizona Carolyn
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To: JLAGRAYFOX

Don't leave out the RINO's who are enabling them in their quest to bring down our country and economy.


52 posted on 06/06/2006 4:30:47 PM PDT by Arizona Carolyn
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To: Ben Mugged

It's insane that we aren't "allowed" to drill our own oil.


53 posted on 06/06/2006 4:32:03 PM PDT by mysterio
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To: Smokin' Joe

The enviros have this whole country by the b@!!s.... look at the outcry when Huntington Beach wanted to go to desalinzation and the enviros started screaming it will ruin the environment and hurt the fish.


54 posted on 06/06/2006 4:33:05 PM PDT by Arizona Carolyn
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To: thackney

Good observation.


55 posted on 06/06/2006 4:34:21 PM PDT by Arizona Carolyn
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To: Zhang Fei

I see your point. I was only talking about oil in their territory. I wasn't trying to say it was ok for them to drill in our territory.


56 posted on 06/06/2006 4:56:55 PM PDT by mastercylinder (Evolution: Taking care of those too stupid to take care of themselves.)
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To: mastercylinder
I wasn't trying to say it was ok for them to drill in our territory.

If the pool crosses boundaries, they don't have to drill in our territory to extract oil within our boundaries. And they would be well within their rights to extract that oil. The fact is that with cross-boundary reserves, the side that moves the fastest gets most of the oil. And if we don't drill on our side of the boundary, Cuba will get 100% of that oil.
57 posted on 06/06/2006 5:45:29 PM PDT by Zhang Fei
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To: Live and let live conservative

TR, San Juan Hill, NONE of that seems familiar to you?

I was trying to remember if that was the only Cuban American war or the second one.

Later Kennedy the First abandoned the Cuban freedom fighters to Castro's slaughter when he denied them air support.
Cuba today might virtually be Hawaii east if Castro had been driven out.

We should have annexed Cuba a long time ago, now it's probably too late, although I suspect it may be inevitable when continental U.S. resources truly get thin, or Cuba becomes too much of a pain in the rear.


58 posted on 06/06/2006 6:45:49 PM PDT by Richard-SIA ("The natural progress of things is for government to gain ground and for liberty to yield" JEFFERSON)
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To: Richard-SIA
TR, San Juan Hill, NONE of that seems familiar to you?

Ummmm.... that was the Spanish American War. We were fighting the Spanish alongside the Cubans who gained their independence in 1902. We've never fought a war against Cuba as an independent nation.

59 posted on 06/06/2006 7:11:57 PM PDT by Live and let live conservative (Capitalism: It works, give it a try America.)
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To: Doe Eyes

Ya..they found them...

So when you said missing, you were ... wrong.

No. You are wrong.

I did not say they are "STILL" missing. I said they WERE missing. Not any more.

You got a point?!?


60 posted on 06/06/2006 9:28:09 PM PDT by Paloma_55 (Still MAD as HELL!!!)
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