Posted on 04/26/2011 7:16:36 AM PDT by IbJensen
EPA Blocks Oil Drilling in Alaska
There are an estimated 27 billion barrels of oil waiting to be tapped in the Arctic Ocean, off the coast of Alaska. But after spending five years and nearly $4 billion, Shell Oil Company has been forced to abandon its efforts to drill for oil in the region.
(Related: 3 Inch Lizard May Shut Down Texas and New Mexico Oil and Gas Operations)
With gas at $4 per gallon and higher, one might think that more oil would be a good thing. So whats the road block? The Environmental Protection Agency. Fox News reports that the EPA is withholding necessary air permits because of a one square mile village of 245 people, 70 miles from the off-shore drilling site. From Fox News Dan Springer:
The EPAs appeals board ruled that Shell had not taken into consideration emissions from an ice-breaking vessel when calculating overall greenhouse gas emissions from the project. Environmental groups were thrilled by the ruling.
What the modeling showed was in communities like Kaktovik, Shells drilling would increase air pollution levels close to air quality standards, said Eric Grafe, Earthjustices lead attorney on the case.
Who at the EPA made the decision? Springer writes:
The Environmental Appeals Board has four members: Edward Reich, Charles Sheehan, Kathie Stein and Anna Wolgast. All are registered Democrats and Kathie Stein was an activist attorney for the Environmental Defense Fund. Members are appointed by the EPA administrator.
President Barack Obama said in his weekly address on Saturday that theres no silver bullet that can bring down gas prices right away, but that one thing America can do is pursue safe and responsible production of oil at home. Too bad his words and his actions are not one and the same. Aside for the EPAs decision on Shell, the Obama administration has imposed a months-long moratorium on deepwater offshore drilling that curtailed domestic production and sent some seven drilling rigs elsewhere.
The Heritage Foundations Nicolas Loris recommends the following actions for Congress and President Obama if they truly want to expand access to Americas domestic energy supply:
Allow access to domestic reserves. Permitting exploration of reserves in Alaska, Colorado, Wyoming, and federal waters offshore would inject confidence into the market, create jobs, and stimulate the economy. Roll back regulatory burdens on companies. Strapping companies with onerous regulatory processes only hinders access. Litigation opportunities should be limited and the permitting process made more rational. Issue offshore drilling permits. Lifting the de facto moratorium on offshore drilling permits would gain companies access to domestic resources and increase our domestic energy supply.
We got to think of a way to counter the liberal argument that ist so ‘pristine’ and pretty (or something) that we can’t drill in Alaska.
How about “OK we promise to keep 99.99 percent of it “pristine” and we’ll use the billions of follars of profit to do it.
Every time I hear the word “pristine” I want to smack John McLame in the the head.
Come on folks. If you know anyone that works for EPA call them out. Nothing but public embarassment of these people will put a stop to this nonsense.
How about “OK we promise to keep 99.99 percent of it “pristine” and we'll use the billions of dollars of profit to do it.
Every time I hear the word “pristine” I want to smack John McLame in the the head.
Does anybody still question their true motives of destroying America?
Pray for America
Shill baby, Shill.
Show them a picture of the Coastal Plain of ANWR, where the drilling would take place. Pictures of mountains in ANWR are not in the same area.
Note: The drilling in this article is offshore.
the affirmative action president.
You know (and the Founders well understood this), when you put a vicious animal to guard your property, you keep an eye on him so he doesn't turn on you. You limit his territory and keep him in a limited, safe place where he can do his job while not turning and threatening you. We have not done this, but instead have allowed this vicious animal to break loose and it is no longer protecting anything but has become a menace to everyone.
The restraints and fences used to contain this useful but potentially dangerous government beast is the U.S. Constitution. We have instead let this beast eat its way through all these Constitutional restraints and barriers until now there is nothing to stop this vicious animal devouring the nation it was appointed to protect.
I received this in yesterday’s email.
Note that it was supposedly written by a Czech.
It says it all.
If we don’t do something now to stop the madness, we deserve to be labeled fools.
QUOTE OF THE CENTURY, MAYBE EVEN THE MILLENIUM
Some people have the vocabulary to sum up things in a way you can understand
them. This quote came from the Czech Republic . Someone over there has it
figured out. We have a lot of work to do.
“The danger to America is not Barack Obama but a citizenry capable of
entrusting a man like him with the Presidency. It will be far easier to limit
and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary
common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to have such a
man for their president. The problem is much deeper and far more serious than
Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails America . Blaming the prince of
the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made
him their prince. The Republic can survive a Barack Obama, who is, after all,
merely a fool. It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools such as those
who made him their president.”
The next statement Middle East unrest is causing higher gas prices with a straight face.
That is why we need wind mills etc, they never address the present prices and what to do.
Its speculators? Yet World oil consumption is at its highest.
As cooperative as we all are, please expect more of the same. We will be pushed until we are knocked down, or decide to fight back. Suppose Obama wins in ‘12. Then what?
Drillers should drill and the citizenry should protect them in so doing. Governors should govern and buck all this rough shod regulation in their states.
yes.
and the mainstream media prints lies.
for example a cartoon in today’s newspaper blames speculators for high oil prices.
there are a significant number of people who prefer to believe lies.
they do not inform themselves and they were coached into socialism in k-12 and college.
The stunning reality is this: the US has vast reserves of energy ---- offshore oil, natural gas, coal. Oil companies have had tremendous success unlocking big quantities of natural gas from dense shale rock formations in North America. We're talking about TRILLIONS of barrels of oil equivalent in shale natural gas.
Something smells here----producing our own energy resources is being held back by "environment issues?"
We need to alert the PTB that we are onto the gross manipulation by those who want the US to sink trillions in the Mideast......including war profiteers getting rich beyond Croesus with our tax dollars------and by Mideast countries too stupid to govern themselves without US "foreign aid."
If I hear somebody say the Mideast is the cause of high oil prices---I swear I'll scream.
The cost of gas related to Libya is pure crapola. The US gets less than 5% of Libya's oil exports (equals less than 1% of US oil imports). Saudi Arabia's oil exports to the US are a minuscule 15% of total output. Which makes US involvement in Libya and the rest of the Mideast hellholes even more outrageous.
"America is dependent on foreign oil" is a knee-jerk reaction, a bunch of propaganda.......The Big Lie which forced America into invading three ME countries at a cost of trillions of US tax dollars.
The US gets THE BULK of its oil from nearby Canada----which now provides a large percentage of US needs.
Enviro issues are strictly agit-prop.
Employment Prevention Agency. The Politicians are railing about the Debt while the huge Government is strangling the economy. Rather than try and “Fix” the debt in order to continue the insanity the GOP should go after the “Command and Control” structure of the Federal Monster. The GOP is attempting to save the Monster. Not what I voted for.
The EPA is a criminal enterprise masquerading as a government organization. They have conspired with nefarious characters of all stripes in aeffort to destroy what is left of America.
This regime needs to frog-marched into a maximum security prison in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. al-Qaeda poses less of a threat to our liberties.
Won't work.
They have more power when 0bama uses the EPA to create 'law' they cannot get through Congress.
We get more than twice as much crude oil from OPEC as we do from Canada.
http://eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/pet_move_impcus_a2_nus_epc0_im0_mbblpd_m.htm
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