Posted on 05/07/2008 9:47:32 PM PDT by calcowgirl
ROCHESTER, Mich., May 7 (Reuters) - Republican U.S. presidential candidate John McCain said on Wednesday he would support incentives to encourage states to develop potential oil fields but would not try to force them to exploit potential resources, especially in environmentally sensitive areas.
"I do believe that we should drill for it," he said when discussing oil exploration at a town hall meeting in Rochester, Michigan. "But I am a federalist and I believe in the rights of states to make those decisions."
He said he believed the U.S. government could do more to encourage states to develop their resources.
"I think we can offer more incentives to states like California and Florida and more of a larger share of revenues and taxes from oil they may exploit," McCain added. "But I can't tell people in California what to do with their coast."
"I can't say we must drill in the most pristine environments," he added.
Energy companies say they need to develop more domestic gas and oil supplies to help meet growing demand, but federally owned areas that hold much of those reserves -- from onshore Alaska to waters off the West and East coasts of the lower 48 states -- have drilling bans.
New offshore energy exploration is now allowed only off the coasts of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, and in some Alaskan waters. A presidential order bans offshore drilling everywhere else.
That is not likely to change after the U.S. election in November. If elected, Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama would likely extend the offshore moratorium, which is set to expire in June 2012.
McCain has favored a more flexible approach, giving the states more say on whether they want drilling off their shores.
McCain spokesman Brian Rogers has said McCain "supports the aim of the moratorium to protect ecologically sensitive areas but believes there are some (offshore) areas that can and should be developed for their energy potential."
Senate Republicans introduced legislation recently that would attempt to boost domestic oil production by allowing governors to petition to have the moratorium on offshore drilling lifted for their states and would give states a greater share of royalties.
All three of the candidates oppose opening the spigot to the huge oil reserves that are in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
The Alaska refuge is the main target of oil industry, which is eager to tap its possible 16 billion barrels of crude. The industry came close to getting ANWR opened under President George W. Bush, who made it a key part of his national energy policy.
McCain told supporters in Rochester he would lead the United States to energy independence and favored developing alternative energies as well as boosting nuclear power production.
Does he even know what the technology for drilling today consists of? This is not old man Rockefeller’s technology way back when.
pristine environments? less oil would likely be released to the environment than already is naturally, you’d likely actually be relieving pressure that forces oil to the surface naturally.
“All three of the candidates oppose opening the spigot to the huge oil reserves that are in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. “
And there you have it.
Shhh.... that sort of talk does not fair well for the VC scam to get their payback via “green technology.” It’s dirty, dirty, dirty!
I’m still laughing at McCain claiming to be a federalist, LOL.
They are all drunk with power.
16 - 20 Billion BBls in ANWR
15 Billion BBls in the Chukchi Sea
12 Billion BBls in the Beaufort Sea
Thats 30 years of Saudi Oil imports John, Wake Up!
Federalist? lol
He is truly a man for all seasons and a candidate for all parties, to boot.
> A presidential order bans offshore drilling everywhere else.<
I’m just guessing here.
Billy boy?
John! John! John! We don't deserve you. No one does. :(
The writer seems to have forgotten that the '94 Republican congress passed a bill opening ANWR to drilling only to have it vetoed by Pres. Clinton. Democrats are to blame for high gas prices.
All he needs to say is that he’ll get the fed to step out of the way.
Fat chance, but wishing he would say it and work for it.
Great!!! Let Alaska Make the Choice about ANWR.
There goes ANWAR I guess.
You would be guessing wrong. It was Poppa Bush in 1991, signed an 11 year moratorium on off-shore drilling. Clinton extended it for another 10 years until 2012.
Also, the prez's authority to manage the OCS was granted to him by Congress in the OCSLA of '54, so he relects what the Congress is willing to go along with.
Look at Bush's efforts to open Area 181 in 2001. That eventually ended up in court and it was in 2006 when SCOTUS ruled for Bush and one of the last acts of the exiting GOP Congress was to enshrine that in the energy act in Dec 2006, with changes that they made.
Likewise Bush opened up another area off Alaska last year, which is/will be contentious.
>The ban, issued under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, covers virtually all of the coasts of the North Atlantic, California, Washington, Oregon, southwest Florida, New England, the Mid-Atlantic and the North Aleutian Basin of Alaska, according to the White House.
Drilling in these waters is banned through 2002; the President’s action extends that period to 2012.
Environmental groups would have preferred a permanent ban on all drilling but gave Mr. Clinton credit for using his executive authority to halt the activity for 10 more years.
‘’The President’s commitment is impressive and heartening,’’ Mark Massara, director of coastal programs for the Sierra Club, said in an interview today, ‘’but it doesn’t go far enough.’’
Because Mr. Clinton used an executive order to extend the ban, the action can be rescinded by a future President or revoked in a national oil emergency.
‘’We need legislation from Congress to insure permanent protection,’’ Mr. Massara said.<
This is from an old NYT article.
Ping to #18
No I don't. Bush signed the Executive Outer Continental Shelf Deferral in 1991. Clinton just extended it.
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