Posted on 07/16/2008 7:18:15 PM PDT by bobsunshine
The US federal government on Wednesday said it would open 3.9m acres of land in a designated petroleum reserve in Alaska for drilling as a means to help curb rising petrol prices.
This is welcome news at a time when Americans are paying record prices at the pump, said C. Stephen Allred, assistant US Secretary for Land and Minerals. Together with proposed new production from other offshore and onshore areas, these increased supplies will help to stabilise energy costs.
The Alaska decision follows one by President George W. Bush on Monday to lift a presidential ban on drilling on the US outer continental shelf, off Florida. That decision still requires Congress to lift a separate ban on the area before the area can be leased for development.
But the Bureau of Land Management, an agency within the US Department of the Interior, said the Alaskan land that will now be offered requires no other approvals and will be up for leasing in the autumn.
(Excerpt) Read more at ft.com ...
Yes and that is why, probably, this comes from the UK news. Perhaps they were trying to keep it a bit quieter so the environazi’s don’t file lawsuits to stop it.
Stuned here as well.
Now the Pubs need to take credit for the drop in crude prices....but they’re so dumb they will probably let the Dems take credit.
Hey GeeMaw Peelousy, Strategic Oil isn't magic. Any old oil will do!
AND the dollar!
Gimme a break - someone confirm this. I mean you don’t just get a little announcement like this after YEARS of clamoring for it, do you?
Is this...possibly...true?
Yup. :-)
I hope they do take credit, and do so loudly and with joy. WE need to keep hounding Congress to lift the ban !
The site was set aside decades ago but development was blocked by lawsuits from environmentalists concerned about disrupting wildlife. The government has tackled these fears, making it a condition of the lease by oil and gas companies that polar bears, waterfowl and caribou are protected.
******
The Interior Department on Wednesday made 2.6 million acres of potentially oil-rich territory in northern Alaska available for energy exploration. At the same time, it deferred for a decade any decision to open 600,000 acres of land north of Teshekpuk Lake that is the summer home of thousands of migrating caribou and millions of waterfowl.
The decision will open up for drilling much of the northeast section of the Northeast National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, holding an estimated 3.7 billion barrels of oil, Tom Lonnie, Alaska state director for the Bureau of Land Management, said in a conference call with reporters.
The northeast and northwest portions of the reserve could yield eight billion barrels of oil, he said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/17/us/17alaska.html
Don’t be so enthused. Don’t you hear the sound of a herd of green tied lawyers rushing to file a lawsuit to block the decision?
I hope I am wrong. But given past history there is no way opening up a new oil field is going to be that easy!
(2nd linked article, Google news.)
8000 new suits had been filed as of yesterday
The absolute best thing about this so far, is what the price of oil has done as Bush has made his announcement.
And then to contrast that with the neutered Democrat’s whiny refrain of “more drilling won’t do anything to the price of oil in the short term”
It’s really priceless to sit and think about it.
Maybe time to break out this song again:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-z2D9lo9-8&feature=related
Yes, you are probably right.
Is that the guy's real name?!?
Progress!
A loser pay all costs system would stop most of those frivolous lawsuits from ever being filed.
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