Obama to allow offshore oil drilling?

[Patranus]

I love private industry, but it needs to pay its own way. If a coal or oil deposit isn't economically feasible to recover with the environmental costs factored in, that deposit should be left until prices rise to make it feasible, not subsidized.

The problem is that you are saying that prices must rise not that these artificially created by government "green" costs shouldn't be lowered.

 

[werepossum]

The problem is that you are saying that prices must rise not that these artificially created by government "green" costs shouldn't be lowered.

Yes. I am willing to pay more - I WANT to pay more - to avoid having a mountain of slag destroying a watershed or an oil spill devastating a shore/marine environment.

Speaking of which: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-QNAwUdHUQ

Funniest sketch ever, outside of Monty Python.

 

[Thump553]

However, no more drilling for Alaska. Only pinko states can have off-shore drilling.

Alaska is the most socialistic state in the USA. Where else in the country does all residents receive money from the government just for living in the state?

 

[QuantumPion]

Portraying Obama as a liberal is a political tactic, and his opposition has been very effective at getting their message across for several decades, even if it's often so exaggerated as to be false.

I agree. Calling Obama a liberal is a stretch, he is so far to the left as to be an outright communist. Obama's political opposition in the Democrat party is so strong that it took a year to get his premiere agenda health care bill passed, even though he had a super majority in both houses.

I also agree with you that Obama's opposition, the liberals, were exaggerating when they called themselves moderates and proved that description to be false, like you say, when they voted for the health care bill anyway.

 

[thraashman]

I agree. Calling Obama a liberal is a stretch, he is so far to the left as to be an outright communist. Obama's political opposition in the Democrat party is so strong that it took a year to get his premiere agenda health care bill passed, even though he had a super majority in both houses.

I also agree with you that Obama's opposition, the liberals, were exaggerating when they called themselves moderates and proved that description to be false, like you say, when they voted for the health care bill anyway.

As I've already said. Someone who considers Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to be moderate has no business trying to call someone else far left. Anything left of center right to today's republican's is considered a socialist.

 

[LTC8K6]

http://michellemalkin.com/2010/03/31/of-pipelines-and-pipedreams-obamas-drilling-deception/

“As usual the devil is in the details. Only in Washington, D.C., can you ban more areas to oil and gas exploration than you open up, delay the date of your new leases and claim you’re going to increase production.

“The President’s announcement today is a smokescreen. It will almost certainly delay any new offshore exploration until at least 2012 and include only a fraction of the offshore resources that the previous Administration included in its plan.

“Unfortunately, this is yet another feeble attempt to gain votes for the President’s national energy tax bill that is languishing in the Senate. At the end of the day this Administration’s energy plan is simple: increase the cost of energy on every family in America and trade American jobs oversees at a time when millions of Americans are looking for work.”

 

[highland145]

http://michellemalkin.com/2010/03/31/of-pipelines-and-pipedreams-obamas-drilling-deception/

“As usual the devil is in the details. Only in Washington, D.C., can you ban more areas to oil and gas exploration than you open up, delay the date of your new leases and claim you’re going to increase production.

“The President’s announcement today is a smokescreen. It will almost certainly delay any new offshore exploration until at least 2012 and include only a fraction of the offshore resources that the previous Administration included in its plan.

“Unfortunately, this is yet another feeble attempt to gain votes for the President’s national energy tax bill that is languishing in the Senate. At the end of the day this Administration’s energy plan is simple: increase the cost of energy on every family in America and trade American jobs oversees at a time when millions of Americans are looking for work.”

Think I said that in #23 and would like to take credit for the idea. Stuart Varney was my source.

 

[Patranus]

LOL around the 1 minute mark.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8fkbEuCQss

"senator McCain once had a different position"

 

[robphelan]

i think he's throwing the repubs a bone because healthcare passed. I'm a social liberal fiscal moderate... i support offshore drilling to help reduce foreign dependence.. Saudi Arabia et al shot themselves in the foot by putting the screws to the West with high oil prices.

We have turned a corner on oil.. we won't ever be independent of oil consumption, but we are certainly migrating towards alternative energy in greater numbers than ever before.

 

[Carmen813]

Just go nuclear already.

 

[dullard]

If true, this is potentially huge.

I don't see how wasting our precious oil NOW is a good idea. Wait until oil is scarce, THEN drill our oil. Until then, lets use up all the middle east's oil and make them beg us for more.

I want to be the last country standing with oil when the rest of the world runs out. Do your comments mean that you want America to run out first?

 

[Hacp]

I don't see how wasting our precious oil NOW is a good idea. Wait until oil is scarce, THEN drill our oil. Until then, lets use up all the middle east's oil and make them beg us for more.

I want to be the last country standing with oil when the rest of the world runs out. Do your comments mean that you want America to run out first?

When we run out we'll just switch to another form of energy. Or we can make oil from scratch.

 

[Patranus]

Wait until Obama tried to tie this to Cap & Tax.

He will then go out and put forth the message that the GOP is standing in front of energy independence.

Vote on expanding off shore drilling, ALONE, with no other attached legislation, and if that happens I might believe him.

 

[Moonbeam]

This is nothing but an Obama Socialist plot to save the planet from global warming with tax payer dollars. They aren't going to drill for oil, they are going to try to prevent sea level rise by pumping the ocean into abandoned coal mines and it couldn't be more fucking obvious.

 

[werepossum]

I don't see how wasting our precious oil NOW is a good idea. Wait until oil is scarce, THEN drill our oil. Until then, lets use up all the middle east's oil and make them beg us for more.

I want to be the last country standing with oil when the rest of the world runs out. Do your comments mean that you want America to run out first?

If US oil companies are prohibited from drilling for US oil then foreign oil companies will be more profitable if only because of our high corporate taxes. If the USA runs big trade deficits then other countries' companies have dollars to buy US companies. Both of these things are happening now, in the oil industry as well as in others. Thus saving our oil for later will result in a lack of US companies to extract and refine it, so the profits will flow not into the USA, but into other countries. The only ways to mediate this affect will be to charge very high royalties (which the foreign companies will then charge right back to us - see California electricity wholesaling system for an example of fail) or to nationalize the foreign oil companies - see Venezuela for a likely result on that.

 

[Fern]

I don't see how wasting our precious oil NOW is a good idea. Wait until oil is scarce, THEN drill our oil. Until then, lets use up all the middle east's oil and make them beg us for more.

I want to be the last country standing with oil when the rest of the world runs out. Do your comments mean that you want America to run out first?

The upward price in oil is limited. When it rises sufficiently, then alt fuels etc become economical. So, as with most things there is a price ceiling.

As R&D on alt fuels continue, their price will drop. This means an ever lower price ceiling on oil.

Even without alt fuels, oil's price is limited. Oil has limited uses. E.g., transportation, no matter how scarce at some price level it simply isn't useful for transporation; it isn't worth it.

Also, contrary to what many would have us believe, there's a lot of oil in the ground. It's just that at this price point it isn't economically feasible to pump. As prices rise that changes. IMO, we'll never be out of oil. Eventually, we just move on to some other fuel leaving that hard-to-get oil in the ground.

The US gov currently get's about 50% of the value of oil pumped form fed lands. The 50% is a combination of royalties, lease fees and income taxes (as 2 former are increased the latter declines). I believe that the royalty rate should be increased to at least the average of other countries (we're lower than everyone else).

IMO, we should be pumping now and use those revenues to shore up the national debt/deficit and fund R&D for alt fuel sources. Same thing for oil on state lands, states really need to shore up their budgets.

Fern

 

[nageov3t]

politically, this seems weird.

you'd think he'd make a deal with republicans on the job bill and let them take credit for drilling in exchange for picking up some bipartisan support.

 

[Patranus]

politically, this seems weird.

Its all about Cap & Tax.

 

[ShawnD1]

I don't see how wasting our precious oil NOW is a good idea. Wait until oil is scarce, THEN drill our oil. Until then, lets use up all the middle east's oil and make them beg us for more.

Have you ever heard the saying about a bird in hand being worth more than two in the bush? One of the meanings of that saying is that something you have and know the value of is worth more than something you don't have or don't know the value of. It's better to use/sell while it's still worth something rather than wait and see what it's worth at a later time.

 

[werepossum]

Its all about Cap & Tax.

True, it's all about politics, but it's still a move to the center. We've gone from "no new offshore drilling or exploration" to "maybe some new offshore drilling and exploration." Since there's a practical limit anyway as to how many new areas may be simultaneously explored and drilled due to the specialized nature of the crews and the gear, that might be roughly the same thing as Bush's change (that Obama overturned.) Since it's coming from Obama, maybe some of the progressives who would otherwise have a knee-jerk opposition will rethink the issue. And we might get better environmental protections than under Bush. This could possibly be a win-win for both sides.

Assuming the Republicans take Congress in November, Obama will either become a sullen and impotent potentate like Carter or move to the center like Clinton. As the first black president we need him to be successful, so any sign of moving to the center is hopeful.

 

[Sclamoz]

Boehner rebukes Obama offshore drilling plan

President Barack Obama's plan to allow expanded offshore oil and gas exploration won rebuke from the top House Republican on Wednesday.

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) dismissed the president's plan as not going far enough in opening up U.S. waters for exploration.

Obama's decision "continues to defy the will of the American people," Boehner said in a statement, pointing to the president's decision to open Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico waters, while leaving Pacific and many Alaskan waters largely closed to exploration.

"It's long past time for this Administration to stop delaying American energy production off all our shores and start listening to the American people who want an “all of the above” strategy to produce more American energy and create more jobs," the House GOP leader added. "Republicans are listening to the American people and have proposed a better solution – the American Energy Act – which will lower gas prices, increase American energy production, promote new clean and renewable sources of energy, and encourage greater efficiency and conservation."

Obama's allowance of increased exploration is seen as a concession to centrists in his own party and some Republicans in Congress, especially as a tripartisan group of senators work on cobbling together a comprehensive energy and climate bill.

For his part, Boehner tied today's administration decision to potential climate rules under consideration by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as well.

"At the same time the White House makes today’s announcement, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is plotting a new massive job-killer that the American people can’t afford: a cascade of new EPA regulations that will punish every American who dares to flip on a light switch, drive a car, or buy an American product. Americans simply don’t want this backdoor national energy tax that will drive up energy and manufacturing costs and destroy jobs in our states and local communities," the Ohio Republican said.

Surprise...

 

[Fern]

Surprise...

What did you expect him to say - "Obama's gone too far and will destory our environment"?

I wouldn't be surprised if somebody in the Admin asked him to say that, or at least is applauding it. It gives Obama cover from the left who are staunchly opposed to ANY drilling etc.

Fern

 

[Patranus]

The funny thing is that China could just move in and take the oil if it is more than 50 miles off the coast and there is NOTHING the US could do about it.

Hmm....

Let China take it and probably be worse to the environment or have the US take it and infinitely lower the risk of any environmental impact.

If the USA isn't going to take it, someone else will.

 

[nageov3t]

The funny thing is that China could just move in and take the oil if it is more than 50 miles off the coast and there is NOTHING the US could do about it.

Hmm....

Let China take it and probably be worse to the environment or have the US take it and infinitely lower the risk of any environmental impact.

If the USA isn't going to take it, someone else will.

I feel like that would be profoundly impractical for China.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

flip flop.