Free Republic

Summer is just around the corner. It is a time when families should be packing up their cars or minivans and heading out to a beach, national park or other destination for their annual vacation. But with gas prices skyrocketing and no decrease in sight, our nation’s interstates may be less traveled this summer by families who just can’t afford to be on the road. Unfortunately, high gas prices are affecting a lot more than beach vacationing. Farmers and ranchers are feeling the pinch from fuel and natural gas prices. And since producers are price takers and not price makers,...

As the price of gasoline and the myriad products that utilize petroleum in their manufacture rises, Americans are going to ask why the Congress has resisted accessing the billions of barrels’ worth of oil and natural gas in our offshore continental shelf. As the realization of how dependent we are on the importation of Middle Eastern oil, plus the fact that U.S. dollars fund avowed enemies such as Iran and, in South America, Venezuela, Americans are going to ask why we do not tap our own Alaskan and offshore resources. As a matter of national security and as a significant...

Energy Policy: What is the opposition to increased offshore drilling for oil? That it's a dirty business and will foul the environment? That won't stand up to scrutiny. Since 1985, according to the National Ocean Industries Association, more than 7 billion barrels of oil have been produced in U.S. territorial waters. Of that, less than one one-thousandth of a percent (0.001%) has been spilled. Not perfect, we'll grant. But pretty close. And a record, we would think, that should mute even the most ardent opponents of increased drilling in the U.S. outer continental shelf. But there's even more than usually...

We've noted in this space repeatedly that our competitors must just look at us and shake their heads in disbelief that we won't tap our own rich reserves of natural resources, most notably with coal, in ANWR and in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). Well, now we can go one better: how do you feel about countries taping that supply while we cannot? What if it's a Communist country, living under a dictatorship? Unfortunately you don't have to look very far. In fact, only 90 miles from Key West sits Fidel Castro's Cuba. Castro, worried about continuing to live off...

Currently offshore China is mostly in shallow waters in an area encompassing approximately 1.3 million sq km, including Bohai Bay, East China Sea, and South China Sea. National oil company Cnooc dominates and accelerates China’s offshore E&P activities. Sixteen projects are expected to come onstream during 2006-2007. During the period 2006-2010, China plans to invest $15 billion and double its 2003 offshore production by 2010, particularly in Bohai Bay and the South China Sea. Exploration offshore China remains hot, due to a number of factors, including China’s energy hunger, security, challenges in finding oil overseas, and high oil price. Considering...

One of California's greatest treasures is its coastline. Millions of people enjoy and benefit from California's coast, from south of San Diego to the Oregon border. Yet California's coastline, which has already experienced the damage that can occur with oil drilling, has been further threatened by provisions in the 2005 Energy Bill that would allow preliminary steps to be taken for new oil drilling in the region. Because of this threat to California's coast, I am leading the effort with Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Congresswoman Lois Capps (D-Santa Barbara) to permanently protect our majestic coast from the threat of...

Minerals Management Service Issues Draft Proposed 5-Year Plan for Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program Washington, DC – The Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) today released for comment a proposal in draft form that discusses MMS’s 2007-2012 Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) leasing plan, which is currently in development. The comments will be reviewed by the MMS for refinement of the proposed program, which will then be released again for additional public input. This is the second of four steps taken with public involvement, to develop the OCS leasing plan. “This is the step in the process where...

I have not read Dracula ever again. I was ashamed of myself. Here I was, a 2nd lieutenant of Marines, fresh out of OCS, going to fight those Japanese SOB's, and just think, I let a book of fiction scare me like that.

WASHINGTON -- House Republicans have abandoned plans to lift the ban on offshore drilling along most of the country's coastline as part of new energy legislation, GOP congressmen said Monday. Lawmakers from Florida and other coastal states objected to the proposal endorsed by the House Resources Committee. The House is expected to consider next week legislation aimed at expanding U.S. refinery capacity, including several provisions that critics say would ease clean air requirements on refineries and power plants. Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Calif., the Resources Committee's chairman, said the offshore drilling provision, which he opposed, would be dropped from consideration as...

Language allowing wider access to offshore oil and gas supplies may appear in House budget reconciliation language, Capitol Hill sources say, even though attempts to seek new drilling through the delayed budget process would face considerable political obstacles. Possibilities reportedly under consideration include providing long-term protections for the Florida coast in return for allowing access to a coveted area farther out in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, the lease sale 181 area. "Everything is on the table. It is possible," said Brian Kennedy, an aide to House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo (R-Calif.). Backers of wider Gulf access brought up...

...Most of the focus in Katrina's wake has been on oil prices, one reason the Bush administration has waived some fuel emission standards and released oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. But just as worrisome to America's economic health are rising natural gas prices. Even before Katrina, the Energy Information Administration was projecting natural gas prices of $10.50 per MMBtu. As recently as 1992, prices were about $3.50. Fortunately, America has extraordinary reserves of natural gas located right off its coasts. Unfortunately, the environmental lobby has helped maintain a federal moratorium that puts 85% of what is known as the...

Looser rules could attract up to 600 new officers; Growth amid recruiting problems; Reserve, National Guard work on similar program WASHINGTON - Faced with a need to expand the Army and ease recruitment problems, Army officials have decided to loosen the requirements for junior officer candidates - accepting prospects who exceed the current age limit by more than a decade, and permitting more flexibility to waive their minor criminal or civil offenses, according to a memo obtained by The Sun. The May 25 memo, sent to division commanders and other generals, said the Army hopes to attract 300 soldiers up...

A U.N. treaty governing the oceans could clear the way for U.S. oil companies to tap deep oil and gas reserves offshore, which supporters say would bolster America's energy security. But that access might be blocked, because conservatives opposed to the multinational treaty are fighting hard to keep a strong Senate majority from ratifying the pact. When Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice called in January for prompt ratification of the treaty, she gave American oil companies their best hope yet to tap oil and gas reserves lying under thousands of feet of seawater. <snip>.......... In 2003, about 62 percent of...

<p>Editor's note: WorldNetDaily is pleased to have a content-sharing agreement with Insight magazine, the bold Washington publication not afraid to ruffle establishment feathers. Subscribe to Insight at WorldNetDaily's online store and save 71 percent off the cover price.</p> <p>When U.S. Army Maj. Joe Cherry left his federal job at the National Labor Relations Board in Chicago because he was called up to fight the war in Iraq he received an unexpected going-away present. The major wouldn't have to worry whether his government job would be there when he returned - the federal government made that decision for him, firing him on the spot.</p>

 Hall of Fame inducts JeneretteBy Judy Corley North Myrtle Beach Times - pg.1, April 18, 2002 Major Van Jenerette, U.S. Army, Ret., of North Myrtle Beach, was 24 and a staff sergeant when gold bars were pinned on his lapel, making the former enlisted soldier an officer. He received the commission as an Infantry Lieutenant after attending Infantry Officer Candidate School (OCS) in 1972 at Ft. Benning, Ga. Recently Jenerette found himself at Ft. Benning once again when he received one of the highest honors that can be achieved by an OCS graduate - he was inducted into the...