Posted on 07/14/2008 1:40:45 PM PDT by radar101
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Monday that he would not allow a vote on an amendment giving states new authority to seek oil off their coasts when he brings a Democratic energy bill to the floor later this month.
Reid criticized President Bush’s announcement earlier in the day to rescind a longstanding executive order banning offshore oil drilling, saying it was a gift to the oil companies that are not exploring for oil in 68 millions of acres available to them.
Republicans are now pressuring Democrats to rescind a congressional moratorium prohibiting the practices and give states the option to decide whether to allow drilling off their coasts.
However, Senate Democrats rejected those calls on Monday.
“We want oil and gas companies to drill on the leases they’ve been given,” Reid said.
He added that oil companies should report to Congress their activities on their leased land and said Congress will invest in renewable energy by pushing through a stalled package of expiring tax incentives.
Democrats blame market speculators on oil industry futures for playing a role in propping up energy prices, and are drafting a bill targeting the practice, which will be unveiled Wednesday. When the Senate votes on that bill, as soon as this month, Reid said he would not allow amendments dealing with oil drilling, which the Republicans will almost certainly seek.
"I said and was very clear that we need to focus on issues of specific matters," Reid said.
The reaction puts Democrats in line with their presidential candidate, Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.), who opposes lifting the offshore-drilling ban. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) reversed his longstanding support for the ban, and has said that boosting supplies will help bring down soaring gas prices.
"It would merely prolong the failed energy policies we have seen from Washington for 30 years," Obama spokesman Bill Burton said Monday of Bush's decision.
Republicans support targeting speculators as well, but have called for a broader energy package that would also boost domestic production.
"The key to bringing down record-high gas prices is to find more American energy, as well as use less," Sen. Lamar Alexander (Tenn.), GOP conference chairman, said.
"After today’s announcement by the president, the only hurdle left to beginning offshore exploration is congressional action, and it’s time for the Democratic leadership to listen to the millions of Americans who are demanding we begin today."
Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) called Reid a "chicken" for not allowing votes on oil drilling.
"Does it seem to you like it does to me like Harry Reid is either scared chicken to have a vote, or has decided that he's going to dictate to the United States Senate?" the ranking Republican on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee said, turning to Alexander at a GOP press conference. "I don't know if you'll use the word 'chicken,' but I will because that's what he's saying: He's saying, 'I'm frightened by the idea that we're going to actually have a vote on a new plan for this huge, huge, reserve of gas and oil that belongs to none other than the people of the United States.' "
Domenici said Congress would be forced to revisit the issue during debate over the interior appropriations bill, which usually includes the congressional moratorium on offshore drilling.
Republicans stopped short of saying they would filibuster the oil-speculation bill, but suggested they would protest any efforts to limit amendments. They plan to discuss strategy at their weekly Tuesday policy lunch.
"Any serious proposal to deal with $4 gasoline prices has to include finding more American energy, as well as using less," Alexander said. "Sen. Reid is not willing to do that."
Why make oil companies spend time and money looking for oil when we know right where it is? That is just going to prolong the gas to our vehicles and increase the cost once it gets there.
Pete is retiring because of an incurable brain disease similar to Alzheimer’s. He has six-month’s left in his term and is becoming very feisty over this issue. See my post above about his likely replacement.
It’s like satire... but it isn’t...
The Democrats don’t represent the American people. They represent the environmental lobby. Vote accordingly. They should be kicked out of office.
“This claim is so phony.”
But then, so is Reid.
Reid is just a plug in the colon of life.
He would turn America into a third world nation.
Right on!
One assumes that some crude is easier to get and therefore more profitable, while later on, crude becomes more and more expensive to get out of the ground.
Hope these answers are what you are looking for.
Idiots! Complete morons! If there was oil there worth exploiting, they would be doing so. Yeah Harry, the eeeeeevil oil companies are sitting on top of so much oil, they just don’t want to produce it because hey they aren’t in it for the profits.
Marxist.
I've read that at least one of these leases has a potential oil deposit worth recovering, but they can't get a drilling permit. Can someone point me to that, too?
I agree. I'd like to see it too. Lot of jabber-blabber, conjecturte and rumor about this with no substance or facts given.
Agreed. The GOP is hopeless. Overpaid bunch of jellyfish.
The people who have the answers are too stupid to make it known.
This is an issue given to the Republicans on a silver platter, a roasted pig with an apple core in its mouth. THERE SHOULD BE NO COMPROMISES - FORCE THE RATS TO ACCEPT DRILLING OR NO DEAL!!!
Reid is incoherent; he’s using the same talking points as Boxer and Pelosi.
It's an auction, with the bidding starting at $2/acre. I can't find anything telling what the average winning bid is, though
Is there an annual fee?
$1.50/acre
Can they be returned if found to be unproductive or does the oil compnay have them for X number of years based on the original contract?
The term is ten years, but they revert to the BLM if the $1.50/acre isn't paid. They can't be renewed unless they've been drilled and are producing, in which case the government gets a royalty of 12.5%
There's also a bunch of bonds that have to be put up to cover clean-up, etc. before drilling can actually begin.
Little Pete retires at the end of this term. He has nothing to lose.
If all Republicans started talking (and actually thinking) like this, they'd be running the entire federal government on January 20th, 2009.
But of course, I'm not holding by breath...
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