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A U.S. appeals court Monday awarded nearly a dozen oil companies more than $1 billion to recover costs from breached 1980s exploration and production leases off the coast of California. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a previous court's decision for the plaintiffs claiming the government owed them for the bonuses paid for the Outer Continental Shelf leases. It may send a strong signal to congressional lawmakers who've been trying to force oil companies to pay royalties on offshore oil and gas leases signed in the late 1990s that omitted royalty relief provisions. "It's very important...

Washington, DC – Today the Institute for Energy Research released a chart that debunks the myths surrounding the development of federal leases. As Russia threatens Europe’s oil pipeline in Georgia and Iran threatens to cutoff Middle East oil at the Strait of Hormuz, America’s energy and economic security depend on understanding the reality of domestic energy development, says Institute for Energy Research President Tom Pyle.Democrats, though, are blocking access to US energy resources with phony claims that oil companies are just sitting on 68 million acres of untapped leases and don’t require access to new areas, he says. To strike...

It’s true: Hundreds of promising oil leases on federal lands are being stonewalled, contributing to lower supplies and higher prices at the pump. But the blame lies not with the oil companies, but with environmental activists. Much of America’s energy potential lies underneath federally controlled lands and waters, but some of those areas are off-limits to oil exploration and drilling. In response to high gasoline prices, several Washington lawmakers want to open these areas, including some of the 85 percent of our territorial waters that are restricted, as well as a small portion of Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR)....

In the showdown between House Republicans and Speaker Nancy Pelosi over an up-or-down vote on increasing American oil supply by opening up offshore drilling, Pelosi blinked before a national TV audience on Larry King Live Monday night. When asked by King about bringing Congress back into session for a vote, Pelosi responded in part, “[Republicans] have this thing that says drill offshore in the protected areas. Well, we can do that. We can have a vote on that.” Before her book tour flopped, Pelosi haughtily informed Republicans that they needed to “imagine” a vote. As monumental as that capitulation to...

How Obama and the Democrats Screwed Up on Drillingby Steve Kornacki August 6, 2008 The Democrats are supposed to own the issue of energy, if only because they've mastered the art of tarring Republicans as the party of Big Oil. It's a caricature that the G.O.P., with its mocking scorn for conservation, addiction to corporate tax cuts and unkickable habit of nominating oil men for national office, has done nothing to refute. Of course, the Democrats are also (supposedly) the masters of the blown political save, experts at devising new and ever more elaborate means of snatching electoral defeat from...

Since offshore drilling has become a top tier issue in this campaign, I've encountered more than a few readers who hold up the Energy Information Administration report like a protective talisman and declare, "No oil would be produced until 2017! No oil would be produced until 2017!" Obama himself mentioned it in his speech. As I've noted, that report assumes nothing happens until 2012. Beyond that, offshore drilling skeptics haven't offered anything to refute the report that some California oil deposits could be accessed within one year; probably because refuting it would mean acknowledging it, and it's easier to win...

A Republican plan to open more public land to oil exploration and drilling is “unworthy of serious debate,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said on Monday. Under pressure from Republicans to call Congress back into session, Pelosi on Monday issued a statement saying that Democrats have already offered a “real solution” to the nation’s high energy prices. Democrats want to force President Bush to “free our oil” from the nation’s emergency stockpile. Diverting oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve “would bring immediate relief within 10 days,” Pelosi insisted. She said a Republican plan to “give away public lands to Big...

This is OUR HOUSE!Nancy tried to silence them, but they heard US, the American people, LOUD AND CLEAR!They have stayed to fight the fight, it is our turn to stand with them.I urge ALL of you to come to YOUR HOUSE in Washington, DC and stand with our Representatives Leading this call for Energy Independence. You do not need permission or an invitation. We, the PEOPLE, DEMAND an up or down vote. We have not only the RIGHT, but the OBLIGATION and DUTY, to peacably assemble, and to petition the Government for a REDRESS of GRIEVANCES! If you cannot come...

Continuing with their guerilla tactics from last week, House Republicans will be back on the floor Monday to talk gas prices, even though Congress is in recess, and they may stay there all week. More than a dozen Republicans have already committed to make appearances, according to House GOP leadership aide, including National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Tom Cole (Ga.). Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) and Mike Pence (R-Ind.), who lead Friday's five-hour talkathon after the House shut down for the August recess, are also expected to be there, according to this aide. "In an urgent memo sent to GOP Members...

Congress must confront offshore-drilling banThe yearly renewal process means vote will be hard to avoid Thursday, July 17, 2008 9:02 PM By Jack Torry THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH WASHINGTON — With the issues of oil exploration and high gasoline prices heating up in an election year, the House and Senate likely will be forced to vote on whether to continue a ban on oil exploration off U.S. coasts. Although House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., have blocked Republican efforts to end the 27-year moratorium on offshore drilling, few people realize that Congress is required to...

The House for a second time defeated a Democratic bill to require energy companies to explore their existing oil and gas leases or lose them. The “use-it-or-lose-it” bill (HR 6515) was the Democratic leadership’s response to a drumbeat of Republican calls for legislation to open up new public lands and offshore areas to oil and gas drilling. It was a retread of a measure (HR 6251) that Democrats rushed to the floor ahead of the July 4 recess under suspension of the rules, an expedited procedure requiring a two-thirds vote for passage. The 223-195 vote on that bill June 26...

...The bill initially failed within the house, but reports surfaced yesterday that Pelosi and Reid had been holding private meetings with moderate congressional Democrats who have refused to support the bill, in an attempt to revive the legislation. Of course, with my inquisitive mind, I decided to actually look into the bill and determine why Pelosi and Reid are pushing so hard. What I discovered, is that hidden deep inside the bill are some ...

Oil Woes Simplified by: Sandy Linczer, July 16, 2008 On July 15, Brian Kennedy and Dr. Bill Koetzle from the Institute for Energy Research (IER) spoke at the Heritage Foundation on America’s energy crisis. They boiled down complicated oil issues into simple fundamental issues of economics that the government seems to be ignoring. The IER opened a D.C branch a few weeks ago and is a “free market organization that believes that government needs to get out of the way when it comes to energy,” Kennedy said. A large problem with today’s energy policy is the misdirection of blame, he...

The domed ones on Capitol Hill have insisted that loosening up on those bans to drill offshore wouldn't make any difference for years and years and years. So how come the price of crude (futures) went down $10 the very day that Bush signed an executive order repealing the ban that his father had put in place when he was in the White House. Just imagine what the price of crude would fall to if congress did its part in repealing the ban that they put into place to appease the environmentalists! And further, I heard somewhere yesterday that the...

...Senator Reid and House Speaker Pelosi have both stated that they will not allow drilling legislation to proceed, although they are both aware that the legislation now has enough support to pass both houses. Senator Reid yesterday acknowledged that only 80% of the Senatorial Democratic Caucus opposed lifting the moratorium. If that were the case, then that would mean that the legislation would have close to the 60 votes needed to prevent a filibuster. The argument of Reid, Pelosi, Obama and several other congressional leaders has shifted in the past few weeks from an attitude that we cannot drill to...

Five-point energy proposal may lower gas prices in near future5-point plan aims to help rid nation of 'oil addiction' By Kevin Clark | South Florida Sun-Sentinel 10:07 PM EDT, July 3, 2008 DEERFIELD BEACH - U.S. Rep. Ron Klein announced a "Declaration of Energy Independence" Thursday, a plan he hopes to push through Congress that he says will help the country with what he calls an "addiction to oil." Klein, D- Boca Raton, thinks the plan, unveiled at a news conference, , could work to lower gas prices in the near future. The five-point plan consists of: • Imposing criminal...

"I want you to think about this," Barack Obama said in Las Vegas last week. "The oil companies have already been given 68 million acres of federal land, both onshore and offshore, to drill. They're allowed to drill it, and yet they haven't touched it – 68 million acres that have the potential to nearly double America's total oil production." Wow, how come the oil companies didn't think of that? Perhaps because the notion is obviously false – at least to anyone who knows how oil and gas exploration actually works. Predictably, however, Mr. Obama's claim is also the mantra...

Democrat Claim: “In an effort to compel oil and gas companies to produce on the 68 million acres of federal lands, both onshore and offshore, that are leased but sitting idle, House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick J. Rahall (D-WV) today introduced legislation that gives Big Oil one option - either ‘use it or lose it.’” (Release, 6/12/08) The Facts: “Use It or Lose It” is already the law of the land. The Secretary of the Interior ALREADY can “cancel” a lease if the lessee “fails to comply” with the law, regulations or the terms of the lease.

This week I want to do something a little different. Although my Winning the Future message has always been directed at all Americans, whether they consider themselves Republicans, Democrats, or independents, today I am directing my message specifically to Democrats. And my message is this:The American people have spoken. Are your leaders listening?Over 1.1 Million Americans Call on Congress to "Drill Here, Drill Now" We really had no idea, just 35 days ago when we first posted the "Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less" petition here, that we would provide the spark that has ignited a fire among frustrated, struggling...

Press Releases Contact: Brendan Daly/Nadeam Elshami 202-226-7616 For Immediate Release 06/23/2008 Pelosi Statement on Senator McCain’s Energy Proposals Washington, D.C. – Speaker Nancy Pelosi released the following statement today on Senator John McCain’s energy proposals: “With American consumers and businesses struggling as the price at the pump cascades across our economy, Senator McCain’s proposals show he aims to continue the ‘drill and veto’ policies of the current Administration. John McCain’s energy proposal is an attempt to divert attention away from his recent flip flop and his support of the failed Bush-Cheney policies that have resulted in skyrocketing gasoline prices for...