Posted on 07/29/2008 5:06:02 AM PDT by xcamel
Earlier this month the House of Representatives voted on an energy bill called the Drill Responsibly in Leased Lands (Drill) Act. The good news, for those of us who actually want to do something to lower gas prices, is that it failed.
The bad news is that Democrats will try again before the November elections. We can expect more legislation that claims to increase production, but in reality offers a framework of heavy regulation, litigation and union rules that could prevent new energy supplies from getting to market. And we can expect legislation that would likely hamper current oil and gas exploration.
Consider the details of Drill. It would not have opened new lands to energy exploration. Instead, it would have increased the number of lease sales in the National Petroleum Reserve -- the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge's (ANWR's) sister territory on Alaska's North Slope -- from one lease sale every two years to one every year. The problem here came in the fine print. The bill would have mandated that leasing be done in an undefined, "environmentally responsible" way.
--snip--
Ms. Bachmann, a Republican congresswoman from Minnesota, recently returned from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Our Congress people need to get on TV and expose this fraud for what it is, and point the finger at the Dems. The reason the economy is in such bad shape is the Dems’ longstanding opposition to drilling.
If you like $5/gal, Thank Congress in Nov.
Pray for W and Our Troops
Michele just recapped this article on Bill Bennett’s show.
The oil companys will not be drilling any dry holes on purpose any time soon..
Pointing the finger at the Dems is meaningless, since the would-be finger pointers were in charge for twelve years and did less than nothing.
Even now, the GOP caucus is split right down the middle on actions that would actually do any good.
There are several conservatives who can point the finger. That’s the game the Dems play, and they do it very successfully. Remember when they trotted Murtha out to attack the Iraq War policy? All you need is one to do it. Bush has been pushing for drilling at ANWR since 2001. The Dems have been taking credit for blocking it. The Dems launched an investigation of Haliburton in order to divert attention from the energy problem, and to derail Bush’s energy plan. Now they’ve got to pay the price, and the only way that will happen is if the GOP takes it to them.
“The reason the economy is in such bad shape is the Dems’ longstanding opposition to drilling.”
You forgot nuclear, coal-to-gas, shale oil, coal mining and on and on.
In general the bureaucracy and extremist environmentalism embraced by the Left are the reasons that most companies moved offshore in the first place. Most of our trade deficit, which is the greatest threat to our economy and sovereignty, comes from those policies. It is time they were plainly exposed as the anti-American forces they are.
To show you how truly insane they are, major solar projects in the West are now being tied up for years while environmental impact studies are conducted. :-P
You conveniently forgot some RINOs in the Senate like Collins, Coleman and Snowe.
Collins and Coleman are up for reelection this year and I hope they go down.
I don’t hope they lose. That will mean two more Dem Senators to deal with.
and how about all the Republican Presidents and GOP Senators and House members that elected to keep the Offshore Drilling Ban in place from 1981 to 2007?
Are they to blame?
Yes they are, but gas was less than $1.50 a gallon back then so the impact on the economy was drastically less.
Even back then, everyone knew that oil was a finite resource and that demand for oil in the developing world as well as the industrialized world was increasing.
That being the case, why is it that each of the Democrat and Republican presidents and Congresses since 1981 elected not to renew the Offshore Drilling Ban 26 times?
These would include years when the GOP controlled the White House the House and the Senate.
But they are complicit in keeping our energy prices high. Watch this fall as the Maine Senators cry for heating oil credits out of my pocketbook to pay for their constituents. Unconscionable as at the same time they stifle us from pursuing our energy needs.
They should be paying MORE for their energy if they refuse to drill, not less.
The lesser of two evils is still evil.....
Sure, but not as much as the Dems. The GOP made the judgment that it would be easier to get approval to drill at ANWR than offshore, so that’s where they concentrated their firepower. I can’t say I disagree with that strategy. At the time, the Alaskans wanted to drill in Alaska. There were no other states that wanted offshore drilling, so any fool would have realized that such an effort was doomed to fail. Now the tables are turned. Florida and other states have indicated a willingness to allow offshore drilling, so it’s time for the GOP to shift gears on that, which is what they’ve done.
Meanwhile, the Dems continue to oppose all drilling, even though several states have indicated that they want drilling off their shores.
There was no way offshore drilling, clean coal or more nukes would have passed with oil under $2gal. The Watermelons control the flow of information on this subject.
He is surrounded by a small army of staff, cabinet, and various advisors. Yet, none of them can figure out what some obscure guy on YouTube has figured out. It's maddening.
I don’t really think so. The ANWR debate has been going on for a long time. It preceded Bush, Clinton, Bush I... When Reagan was President, we had similar problems. When Carter was President, we were fighting over the trans Alaska oil pipeline which the environmentalists assured us would cause the caribou to become extinct.
They’ve been pushing, but it doesn’t work because the people have not been behind them—until now.
By the way... I have been predicting for years that this effort to block oil drilling would blow up in the Dems’ face. It only made sense. At some point, you’ve got no choice but to drill. The real question is whether the Dems will make an about face and begin pushing for drilling after the election. They are such demogogues that I would not be surprised. They’ll probably blame the GOP for delaying the drilling.
For now, though, they are going to try to hold it together. Flipping on this issue before the election would just open them to ridicule.
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