Because domestic production and pipeline imports are not meeting our demand already and is expect to get worse in the future.
Posted on 10/22/2008 12:23:09 PM PDT by IbJensen
So Democrats decided to allow the quarter-century ban on drilling for oil off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts to expire? That’s not the same as lifting the ban. Moreover, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md) is on record saying that, if the Democrats retain control of Congress, restoring the ban “will be a top priority for discussion next year.”
So much for so-called “energy independence.” When Democrats say that, they are talking about wind and solar power, and biofuels, not oil, natural gas, and coal.
I cringe every time I hear the Democrats attack “Big Oil” because, as Michael J. Economides, co-editor of Energy Tribune, points out in the current issue, other than some small companies, there are just three large U.S. oil companies left; Exxon Mobil, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips. There are three other Western oil companies headquartered outside the U.S.; BP, Shell, and Total. Other than these six, all the others are national or state-controlled.
As Economides points out, “The truth is that even with record profits (but by no means record returns on investment) Big Oil is in a heap of trouble. And as Big Oil goes, so goes America.”
Data from the office of Congressman John Shadegg (R-AZ) reveals how Big Green is trying to throttle any hope of Americans benefiting from our own vast oil reserves. In this case, it is 487 leases in the Chukchi Sea Sale 193 in February 2008. Every single one of the leases has been challenged.
Here are the names of those environmental organizations that don’t want you to pay less at the pump: The Center for Biological Diversity, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Sierra Club. There are others, but these are the leaders in the effort to keep oil reserves off northern Alaska from ever being tapped. These are the groups that challenged the entire 2007-2023 five-year national outer continental shelf leasing program!
When the Bureau of Land Management issued leases in New Mexico, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas, the Western Environmental Law Center and the Wild Earth Guardians, preemptively, on July 1, 2008, challenged all 78 leases.
It is instructive that, when President Bush began to talk about lifting the ban on offshore drilling, the global price of oil dropped precipitously. As of this writing, it has begun to fall and, if U.S. oil companies are permitted to explore and drill, the purpose of those leases, it will not only remain at current levels, but it will drop even more.
It is the Democrat Party and radical environmental organizations that stand between the discovery and provision of new oil and natural gas. It is the Democrat Party that is trying to push through a bogus “energy” bill that would put billions in the hands of those involved in “clean energy” projects that would barely provide the electricity America needs now, nor future needs.
The Chukchi Sea is offshore of northern Alaska, one of several seas that border the Arctic Ocean. The potential of oil in the Arctic is such that Russia is making noise about extending its claims in the Chukchi Sea.
If Congress should ratify the Law of the Sea Treaty, the United States would lose its claim to the vast reserves that potentially exist in the Arctic and you don’t need three guesses to figure out which political party supports ratification. That would be high on the agenda if it remains in Democrat control and if Sen. Obama were to be elected.
As outrageous as the effort is to stop exploration and extraction of oil offshore of Alaska is, the fact remains that environmental groups devote themselves to stopping Americans from having access to any kind of energy source.
Even with the expiration of the offshore ban, you can be sure environmental groups will challenge every single effort to access our national reserves of oil and natural gas, offshore or on. The now classic example is their opposition to drilling for oil in Alaska’s ANWR despite the potential for billions more barrels of oil.
An offshore, floating terminal that would be 20 miles east of Manasquan, New Jersey, has been proposed by Exxon Mobil. Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) tankers would use the terminal to link to the shore with an undersea pipeline. A Calgary-based conglomerate, Excalibur, wants to build an anchorage 15 miles off Asbury Park for a comparable pipeline.
The two projects will be officially proposed to the U.S. Maritime Administration and Coast Guard next year. An environmental group calling itself Clean Ocean Action has mobilized to insure that neither project comes to fruition.
The United States currently has only two offshore LNG facilities, one off Boston, and the other is 116 miles off the coast of Louisiana. During hurricane season, the latter is subject to being shut down.
Instead, environmentalists in New Jersey, while opposing LNG terminals, love the idea of putting hundreds of wind turbines offshore despite the fact that this “clean energy” source is unreliable, would require back-up from onshore traditional plants generating electricity, and could only be built because they would be heavily subsidized with taxpayer and energy consumer dollars.
In the comic strip “Pogo”, the main character uttered the now-famous line, “We have met the enemy and they are us.” We have met the enemy and they are the environmental groups that are determined to keep the citizens of the United States from having access to affordable energy, no matter what or who produces it.
If the DemocRAT candidate wins, America is indeed in big trouble! The imbeciles who support this empty-headed Marxist orator, believe now that oil prices have dropped America doesn't have to worry about drilling or refining.
If only more voters would remember this, and what $4 gasoline felt like, when they enter the voting booth.
Oil prices are coming down because the Middle East is afraid we are going to drill our own. If we tell them we aren’t going to drill, they will raise their prices.
“Big Oil is in a heap of trouble”-I don’t think so. You are right-big oil isn’t in trouble, America is in trouble. The companies named in the article that are HQed in the US will simply relocate. And with worldwide demand growing (even in a soft economy)-driven by China and India-Big Oil will simply divert more of their sales to those markets-(which are free) and away from the US.
Energy is this country’s achilles heel. If we can not supply cheap and plentiful energy to the manufacturing sector they will move to those parts of the globe that can.
The people of this nation do not understand basic economics-and the blame for this lack of understanding lies at the doorstep of the education system in this country.
Both right in my back yard, and I say GO FOR IT!
But you know what is likely to happen. After they are built, some misguided envirowhackos will find a way to damage it to prove that they were "right" in objecting to it.
you greedy people want more oil!! aren’t you ashamed of yourselves for wanting to destroy the earth??? don’t you know that nancy is working on saving the planet and a lifting of the ban will keep her from doing so???
/sarcasm off/
75% of ExxonMobil's revenue already comes from overseas markets. I don't know why they bother to stay in the US with all the taxes, regulations and environmental headaches we give them already.
Now that Winter is here and it is getting colder, I think I will fill in my pool. No need for one since it is so cold outside. Also, while I'm thinking about it, I'm gonna get rid of all of my light bulbs to save on energy costs. There seems to be more than enough light outside right now.
The people of this country have the attention spans of 2 year olds and they only believe whart the media tells them.
What do LNG terminals have to do with domestic resources which would use pipelines?
It's like a hypnotic trance, you can't talk to them about anything without hearing regurgitated presstitute propaganda, what's a mutha to do!
Shows how stupid and uninformed they really are.
Because domestic production and pipeline imports are not meeting our demand already and is expect to get worse in the future.
“The people of this country have the attention spans of 2 year olds and they only believe whart the media tells them.”
Well, the electorate will get what they vote for. If they believe what the media and the Dem’s are telling them then they deserve what they get.
The only thing I can figure in a case like this is that there are probably a lot of key middle management people who would not want to relocate to another country, and they may not be easy to replace. Upper management would probably go no problem, clerical would probably not be offered relocation opportunities.
I expect more companies to relocate off shore should osamaobama the marxist win the election.
True enough on Exxon. It’s also why there are less than 1/2 of the Sevens Sisters still around (Amoco, Texaco, Gulf and Mobil are kaput).
BP, Total and Shell do not have to answer as much to the United States, which harbors ill will for its own oil companies.
Bingo!
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