Drill Baby Drill

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Jiro

Jiro

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Obama to Unveil Offshore Oil Drilling Plans
WASHINGTON -- In a reversal of a long-standing ban on most offshore drilling, President Barack Obama is allowing oil drilling 50 miles off Virginia's shorelines. At the same time, he is rejecting some new drilling sites that had been planned in Alaska.

Obama's plan offers few concessions to environmentalists, who have been strident in their opposition to more oil platforms off the nation's shores. Hinted at for months, the plan modifies a ban that for more than 20 years has limited drilling along coastal areas other than the Gulf of Mexico.

Obama was set to announce the new drilling policy Wednesday at Andrews air base in Maryland. White House officials pitched the changes as ways to reduce U.S. reliance on foreign oil and create jobs -- both politically popular ideas -- but the president's decisions also could help secure support for a climate change bill languishing in Congress.

The president, joined by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, also was set to announce that proposed leases in Alaska's Bristol Bay would be canceled. The Interior Department also planned to reverse last year's decision to open up parts of the Chukchi and Beaufort seas. Instead, scientists would study the sites to see if they're suitable to future leases.

Obama is allowing an expansion in Alaska's Cook Inlet to go forward. The plan also would leave in place the moratorium on drilling off the West Coast.

In addition, the Interior Department has prepared a plan to add drilling platforms in the eastern Gulf of Mexico if Congress allows that moratorium to expire. Lawmakers in 2008 allowed a similar moratorium to expire; at the time President George W. Bush lifted the ban, which opened the door to Obama's change in policy.

Under Obama's plan, drilling could take place 125 miles from Florida's Gulf coastline if lawmakers allow the moratorium to expire. Drilling already takes place in western and central areas in the Gulf of Mexico.

The president's team has been busy on energy policy and Obama talked about it in his State of the Union address. During that speech, he said he wanted the United States to build a new generation of nuclear power plans and invest in biofuel and coal technologies.

"It means making tough decisions about opening new offshore areas for oil and gas development," he warned.

Obama also urged Congress to complete work on a climate change and energy bill, which has remained elusive. The president met with lawmakers earlier this month at the White House about a bill cutting emissions of pollution-causing greenhouse gases by 17 percent by 2020. The legislation would also expand domestic oil and gas drilling offshore and provide federal assistance for constructing nuclear power plants and carbon sequestration and storage projects at coal-fired utilities.

White House officials hope Wednesday's announcement will attract support from Republicans, who adopted a chant of "Drill, baby, drill" during 2008's presidential campaign.

The president's Wednesday remarks would be paired with other energy proposals that were more likely to find praise from environmental groups. The White House planned to announce it had ordered 5,000 hybrid vehicles for the government fleet. And on Thursday, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Transportation Department are to sign a final rule that requires increased fuel efficiency standards for new cars.
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happy now? :)
 
O_o

I was like wow when I read it on msn homepage. It is gonna piss off environmentalists. I am reading interesting comments like this :

".....Virginia coastal waters, because of the Chesapeake Bay are some of the most environmentally sensitive waters in the nation...you can drive a tent pole into the ground anywhere in Alaska and get more Gas and Oil than the Virginia coast is going to provide...because the Virginia Coast is almost completely Developed and because it is an area prone to Summer and Winter Storms, it will also be one of the most expensive places (and most dangerous) in the world, for exploration, not to mention it is already one of the most highly congested coastal areas with Commercial and Military Sea traffic...."

I may not be expert. Why is Obama rejecting Alaskan drilling sites? for environment reasons?
 
I want koko to praise Obama's decision to drill oil.
 
Yup, it is about time and I'm expected that would help to counter the skyrocket of gas price and it seems that Obama is improving with bipartisan.

I believe that Obama should allows oil companies to drill in oil shale in UT, CO and WY so freely or small restriction.

Bye bye to greedy OPEC.
 
If he doesn't open up more than this it will fail. This more about positioning for the mid terms than anything.
 
Ah well, it is just a compromise for the moment.
 
TXgolfer said:
If he doesn't open up more than this it will fail. This more about positioning for the mid terms than anything.
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Small steps... small steps.

Contrary to what people think, Obama never flatly opposed drilling... he said he'll look into it carefully.

And his drilling plan seems conservative.

Obama's Shift on Drilling | 44 | washingtonpost.com

Please note it was dated in 2008. He was open to it.

Bush Sr is the one that banned offshore drilling and McCain backed it.

Obama on oil drilling: 'Not a long-term solution' - The Green Blog - A Boston Globe blog on living Green in Boston
 
TXgolfer said:
If he doesn't open up more than this it will fail. This more about positioning for the mid terms than anything.
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Remember, everything Obama says comes with an expiration date. Secondly, this is an oil exploration venture opportunity and if anything comes out of it we won't see the end result seeing oil flow from oil platforms several years down the road. Thirdly, this letter and reminder to the American people. And note the bolded words.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Jill Strait or Spencer Pederson
Wednesday, March 31, 2010 202-226-2311

As gas prices rise, President blocks energy production and job creation in vast majority of America’s offshore areas… See More
“Obama Moratorium” defies American people’s support for new offshore drilling… See More

Washington, D.C. – House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Doc Hastings (WA-04) released the following statement regarding President Obama’s announcement that his Administration will delay a new offshore drilling plan until 2012 and include only a fraction of offshore land that was available under the 2010-2015 lease plan:

“With this announcement, the Obama Administration is attempting to pull the wool over our eyes. President Obama’s rhetoric conveys support for increasing American oil and natural gas production, while the reality is he’s proposing a plan that will close more areas to drilling than it opens and the few areas still available won’t be open for years.

“When the plan closes off more areas than it opens and could delay any new drilling until after President Obama’s term in office, this plan really deserves to be called the ‘Obama Moratorium.’

“President Obama’s plan is to make the American people wait longer and receive less – both for more American-made energy and new jobs. Hardly anyone would consider that a good deal – in fact, most would probably call it a clever trick.

“The moratoria on offshore drilling were lifted in 2008 and over 500 million acres became available for energy production and job creation. The Bush Administration’s 2010-2015 leasing plan would have resulted in new areas being opened this July, yet the ‘Obama Moratorium’ plan would close the vast majority of these 500 million new acres and allow only a tiny fraction to be open in the future.

“Along with delaying new energy production, the President is also delaying the creation of millions of new jobs that would revitalize our economy and generate billions of dollars in revenue to the federal government that would help reduce the record deficits run up in the past year. The costs are too high for this President to continue blocking valuable American energy production.

“It is my sincere hope that Congress will act, in a similar bipartisan fashion that we used to end the moratorium, and pass the Republican American Energy Act that will put a plan in place this year to truly open America’s Outer Continental Shelf to energy production and job creation.”
# # #
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As gas prices rise, President blocks energy production and job creation in vast majority of America?s offshore areas - House Committee on Natural Resources, Republicans

In short, a trap.
 
If this was so important, why wait 1 1/2 year later? 70% of our oil is imported here while 30% is domestic oil. Some thirty years ago it was 30% of our oil was imported while 70% was domestic oil. And ya'll talking about baby steps? We spend some $500 billion annually on foreign imported oil that come from unstable and/or unfriendly countries to the U.S. It behooves us to move away and use our own technology, National Environmental Policy Act and such to ensure and cleaner and more responsible drilling for oil and the transport of it. We exactly the environmental damage in foreign countries we sell their oil to us who compared to our environmental records here? This Obama guy is a walking conumdrum. Not to mention a habitual liar.
 
kokonut said:
If this was so important, why wait 1 1/2 year later? 70% of our oil is imported here while 30% is domestic oil. Some thirty years ago it was 30% of our oil was imported while 70% was domestic oil. And ya'll talking about baby steps? We spend some $500 billion annually on foreign imported oil that come from unstable and/or unfriendly countries to the U.S. It behooves us to move away and use our own technology, National Environmental Policy Act and such to ensure and cleaner and more responsible drilling for oil and the transport of it. We exactly the environmental damage in foreign countries we sell their oil to us who compared to our environmental records here? This Obama guy is a walking conumdrum. Not to mention a habitual liar.
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Maybe research was needed to be done before determining a site to drill.
 
kokonut said:
Remember, everything Obama says comes with an expiration date. Secondly, this is an oil exploration venture opportunity and if anything comes out of it we won't see the end result seeing oil flow from oil platforms several years down the road. Thirdly, this letter and reminder to the American people. And note the bolded words.

As gas prices rise, President blocks energy production and job creation in vast majority of America?s offshore areas - House Committee on Natural Resources, Republicans

In short, a trap.
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so if the Republican President did same thing as Obama.... can I expect such replies like above?
 
Shel, that's why it's call oil exploration. It requires detailed geologic analysis prior to drilling. And if the flow rate is good then we can exploit it. Problem is, simply opening up the east coast doesn't mean we'll see oil next year. It takes years til we see oil flow to us in the domestic market.
 
Jiro said:
so if the Republican President did same thing as Obama.... can I expect such replies like above?
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Have you been asleep? Democrats blocked any attempts by Bush and Congress to open up offshore oil exploration and drilling. Bush has been doing that for years.
 
kokonut said:
Have you been asleep? Democrats blocked any attempts by Bush and Congress to open up offshore oil exploration and drilling. Bush has been doing that for years.
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ah.... not answering my question. that's ok.
 
That depends on the Republican president's actions and his/her philosophy about energy and oil exploration and exploitation of it. So, no easy answer there.
 
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