This is from the Corner on NRO, something else that the Democrats planned for the bailout bill.
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Energy Update [Stephen Spruiell]
House conservatives scored a victory last week when Nancy Pelosi and Co. capitulated on drilling and dropped the bans on offshore and oil-shale leasing from the House version of a continuing resolution funding the government. Then, word came down yesterday that Harry Reid would try to reinsert the ban on oil-shale leasing in the Senate version of the CR. Last night I spoke to a Senate Republican aide who’s been working on this issue, and he gave me a few more details.
The way he sees it, Reid is going to try to attach the ban, not to the CR, but to the “economic stimulus package” John mentioned below. The move is intended to ensure that Senate Republicans vote against the package, so that Senate Democrats can claim that they tried to do something for Main Street but were stymied by GOP opposition. This gives them cover to vote for the Wall Street bailout.
If it goes down like my source thinks it will, the economic stimulus package will fail and the bans will expire, opening up both the Outer Continental Shelf and the Mountain West for oil and gas exploration, including oil shale. The attempt to reinsert the ban is just a political trick by Reid.
UPDATE: To be sure, Reid could still try to put the ban on oil-shale leasing into the Senate version of the CR. If he did, he’d be courting a White House veto and putting moderate Dems in an unenviable position — the wrong side of a two-to-one issue.
09/26 11:29 AM
Buy real estate in Denver, Boise and Salt Lake. I think you'll see start up oil companies headquartered in one of those cities.