Bartlett drops opposition to oil drilling in Arctic refuge

Baltimore Sun/AP ^ | May 22, 2008 | staff

[Gone_Postal]

Oh great, well it only takes like 10 minutes to get it out of the ground and into your fuel tank, so it should have an immediate effect on those high prices. Sorry, way too late.

Better late than never

[pnh102]

Your Senator qualifies to be a RINO in the stupid category.

Maryland has no Republican senators.

Furthermore, Rep. Bartlett stands strong on other conservative issues, he's certainly no maverick, and since it always comes down to choosing between him and some commie as representative, he will get my vote.

[TomGuy]

co-sponsored a bill that would allow for oil and gas production on part of the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

The bill should allow for drilling, not only in Alaska, but off-shore, as well.

Heck, China is drilling on the Cuban shelf just 60 miles off Flordia, but US companies are not allowed to drill off US coasts.

Our political numbats in Washington are the ones strangling us with their idiotic regulations,

[RoadTest]

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

[americanophile]

That’s my point.

[Former Proud Canadian]

Actually, if the president announced an immediate drilling program in Anwar, off the coasts, and on federal lands in CONUS, it might have a dramatic immediate affect on oil prices.

Imagine if POTUS declared that energy prices had reached the level of a national emergency and required immediate action that included:

1) Drilling everywhere
2) No more boutique gasoline blends
3) A crash construction project to build a number of nuclear power plants
4) A separate emergency construction project to build a number of coal to oil plants
5) Incentives and cutting red tape that would lead to construction of new refineries.

Don't you think that would immediately affect the price of oil?

[AxelPaulsenJr]

Right now the problem is speculators pushing the price up on *projected* supply problems. We could very easily SPOOK the speculators by aggressively pursuing domestic production. If we suddenly said “ANWR - OK; Gulf Coast - OK; Bakken formation - massive tax breaks for anyone who can develop that potential...” the price would drop very suddenly.

Spot on comments. God save the United States from our own eco-freaks.

[HardStarboard]

>>>Sorry, way too late.<<<

Other things that were "way to late" are now treated with reverence in the annals of mankind.....a couple come to mind:

The vaccine for polio - Jonas Salk (he was way way late)
The Surge - 3 years too late but the results are stunning

"Way to late" is another way to say "accept defeat".

[airborne]

Or we cut oil consumption by 4% and we can have the market impact of ANWR tomorrow.

Beginning with perks of Congress critters!

Make them all drive Priuses!!

[TomGuy]

Imagine if POTUS

I doubt the current POTUS is going to do much, after this recent act:

Bush administration bars drilling in Arctic wetland

05/19/2008 5:21:51 AM PDT · by thackney · 72 replies · 1,308+ views Reuters ^ | May 16, 2008 | Yereth Rosen ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - The Bush administration on Friday proposed keeping potentially oil-rich wetlands in Arctic Alaska off-limits to drilling because of their ecological sensitivity, a reversal of its earlier plan. The Bureau of Land Management proposed a 10-year leasing moratorium for 430,000 acres of wetlands north and east of vast Teshekpuk Lake in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. Environmentalists and local groups hailed the decision. "This plan provides a balanced approach to energy development and wildlife protection, and forms a solid basis for the Bureau of Land Management to proceed with an oil and gas lease sale later this year,"...

[trumandogz]

I usually ride my bike to work.

The wife drives a hybrid.

What have you done to conserve oil?

[Left2Right]

My thoughts as well. All it would take is for Congress to allow unrestricted drilling in the Bakken formation, and a few years of tax credits for exploration & development, and the price of oil would plummet $10-$20 in a matter of days, even though it would be 3-5 years before any of that oil would reach the market.

The idiot lib-enviros have been wrong about everything form DDT to globull warming. Their policies lead to nothing but despair, famine, disease, and war. Why anyone gives them even an ounce of credence is beyond my understanding.

[vpintheak]

The Clown Bartlett probably was forced into fueling up his own vehicle recentlt and the sticker shock surprised him. Now he “knows” what it’s like for the “common man”.

[okie01]

Don't you think that would immediately affect the price of oil?

The moment the US announces that it's "not going to take it anymore" and decides to effectively address the problem itself, the speculative component of oil pricing will immediately shrivel like Olberman's dinky.

Presto! Oil retreats to $65-70/bbl.

All it takes is some common sense. And some guts.

[SoCalConservative]

lol, an offended hybrid driver.

[thackney]

There's no point in incurring higher shipping costs than are necessary to get oil from wellhead to refinery.

On that basis, it is certainly conceivable that a significant amount of Alaskan oil might be shipped to Japan.

Not on that basis. The West coast refineries are much closer than Japan, even the ones in Southern California.

[codercpc]

Thanks to all of you for the replies. As I said, I didn't know if it would work, but it sounded good!

Your explanations make sense, I am learning a lot on this thread.

[gimme1ibertee]

Are there polar bears in ANWR? I thought they were a little further north. In any case, I think we should push harder now than ever for offshore and Arctic drilling. I tend to agree with something an earlier poster said-I think that if we OK drilling to harvest domestic oil,the prices will decline,maybe not drastically but at least the ones with their hands on the spigot will know we are finally serious and have had enough.....JMHO.

[Go Gordon]

Or we cut oil consumption by 4% and we can have the market impact of ANWR tomorrow.

Why not do both + drill elsewhere?

[americanophile]

I’m not suggesting that we don’t do it, I’m suggesting that his realization of the obvious is way too late.