Reid, Pelosi ready to compromise (Drill here, drill now)

World Net Daily ^ | July 28, 2008 | Unattributed

[Ben Mugged]

WASHINGTON – Are the Democratic leaders in Congress nervous about the growing grass-roots demand for lifting restrictions on domestic oil drilling?

Consider this: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has himself proposed a plan to open new areas for oil exploration – outraging senior members of his own caucus.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, ever aware of the way average Americans are being squeezed at the gas pump and through rising inflation due to higher energy prices, is supporting the plan.

While the proposal is drawing shrieks from those Democrats occupying safe seats in the House and Senate, it shows how vulnerable congressional Democrats might be to an uprising from voters in November.

The legislation, drafted by Reid and Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., would open nearly a billion new acres off the coast of Alaska to study for drilling. It would also dramatically accelerate oil leases in the western and central Gulf of Mexico.

"I am unalterably opposed to drilling,” said Sen. Frank Lautenberg, (D-N.J., a member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, who cited a massive oil spill that closed nearly 100 miles of the Mississippi River last week.

Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., urged Reid to be "very careful about drilling off the coast of Alaska."

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., has one the opposite direction from Reid and Pelosi – sponsoring legislation to ban drilling in the North Aleutian Basin, an area that Congress has already opened to oil leasing.

Pelosi told The Hill that lawmakers should focus on the National Petroleum Reserve on Alaska's North Slope instead of offshore.

"There are tens of millions of barrels in the reserve," she said. "If you want oil in Alaska, drill there."

[thackney]

The legislation, drafted by Reid and Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., would open nearly a billion new acres off the coast of Alaska to study for drilling.

Study for drilling? That doesn't sound the same as actual drilling.

Are they going to play the same game they have done with Shell? Sell them offshore leases then spend a few years as they fight for permission to actually drill on those leases?

Shell nixes 2008 drilling {Shell out of time to prepare for Beaufort season}
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2037723/posts

[thackney]

It can’t be drilled for “new oil” since it is a working reservoir.

This is an area set aside for its resources, originally called Naval Reserve #4. Several years ago they started selling leases in a portion of the area but have held up permits for the installation of the production facilities for years.

Beyond survey work and some exploratory drilling, there is no "working" going on.

I was on the design team for what was to become the first oil production wellpad in NPRA a few years ago for ConocoPhillips. It was to be an expansion of the Alpine field on the far Western side of the existing Alaskan North Slope production fields. We built two new wellpads on the East side of the NPRA border but within NPRA, the permits are not yet approved.

[quintr]

No doubt Reid and Pelosi are busy reading the tea leaves.

I mean, you know they don’t want Bush to get any credit for anything. All this time, they’ve been spouting off about the best possible gas price reduction might be 10 cents or so and that would take months and months.

And then, Bush signed an executive order repealing his dad’s ban on offshore drilling and in less than a month, the price of crude went down from $147+ to today’s $121. Not dimes, Pelosi and Reid — but $26.

So Pelosi and Reid probably got the idea that if they waited too much longer, it would be too late to do anything and still get any credit for it.

All politicians are good at econometrics. You bet they see the numbers working against them.

Now they just look like the fakers that they really are. Now it looks like their move to not block legislation for offshore drilling has nothing to do with any compassion for taxpayers. Their heads are full of pixie dust if they think taxpayers haven’t figured them out yet.

[capydick]

.........and did so aggressively........

Therein lies the problem my friend.

[TribalPrincess2U]

Letter to me: 7/29/2008

Because of your grassroots efforts, the debate on the oil drilling
ban in Congress is about to explode.

Harry Reid and the obstructionist Democrats are feeling the heat
from you and now both sides are discussing a possible vote to lift
the ban on offshore drilling before the summer recess this Friday.

And House Republicans are vowing to stay in session until they
get a vote to lift the drilling ban — precisely what Grassfire’s
petition is calling for!

Call your Congressmen

I am asking every Grassfire team member to call their two Senators
and their Rep and tell them you want the ban on offshore drilling
lifted BEFORE the end of the week!

Talking Points:

#1 — I demand that Congress take action to lift the ban on drilling
on the Outer Continental Shelf BEFORE Congress takes its month-
long summer holiday.

#2 — I am asking you to PLEDGE to stay in session and not take
the summer recess until the drilling ban is lifted.

#3 — I also want Congress to remove barriers to oil shale development
in the Rockies and clear the way for increasing our nuclear
electric energy capacity.

Majority Leader Harry Reid: 202-224-5556; 202-224-3542

[hripka]