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2005-11-10 Home Front: Politix

U.S. House Drops Gulf (and ANWR) Drilling Plan

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Posted by ed 2005-11-10 07:50|| || Front Page|| [11133 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Gotta pick your fight, but I hope they don't drop pressure on big oil to build new refineries.

Posted by Besoeker 2005-11-10 08:31|| 2005-11-10 08:31|| Front Page Top

#2 Last time I checked, it was the government that was a major factor in limiting both new refinery construction and (as you can see here) new oil drilling. "Big Oil" didn't have anything to do with it except for its usual role of being the punching bag for whatever stupid policy the government is pushing today.

Posted by Phil 2005-11-10 08:37|| 2005-11-10 08:37|| Front Page Top

#3 Big governement should not be putting the pressure on anyone to do anything. If it shouldn't be done, make it a crime. If it should be done, Big government should get out of the way.

Posted by Chains Flaish3802 2005-11-10 08:42|| 2005-11-10 08:42|| Front Page Top

#4 Only two words fit:

Political Cowardice.

Posted by Oldspook 2005-11-10 08:47|| 2005-11-10 08:47|| Front Page Top

#5 I wonder if former US Secretary of State Baker, an attorney representing Exxon-Mobil and the Saudi gov't could shed any light on the topic. .... "punching bags" full of billions and billions of dollars.

Posted by Besoeker 2005-11-10 08:56|| 2005-11-10 08:56|| Front Page Top

#6 Back in '91-'92 I worked on a new, grass roots refinery for Mobil being built in Jurong, Singapore. It was built there for 2 reasons:
1. Mobil could not get the environmental permits to build it here in the US.
2. The crude being refined comes from Indonesia.
Oldspook, I have already e-mailed Bill Frist on a number of issues and this is one of them. I told him if he didn't have the guts to stand up to the Democrats to get out of Washington and that I would not vote for him for reelection. I think a lot of people did the same over the last 6 months because he declared he would not run again.

Posted by Deacon Blues">Deacon Blues 2005-11-10 09:15|| 2005-11-10 09:15|| Front Page Top

#7 BS, you say that as if it has a bearing on whether we should be drilling in the United States or not. Part of the _reason_ oil prices have been so unstable, and (temporarily!) profits have been so high (but they'll only remain "profits" if they're not reinvested and the infrastructure wrecked by the storms _not_ rebuilt) is that oil drilling in the United States is so limited.

People like _you_ have caused the price instability and simultaneously you're using the excuse that it's produced profits for some companies (IF they decide to not rebuild) to continue with the policies that produce the price instabilities.

It's very hypocritical.

Posted by Phil 2005-11-10 09:17|| 2005-11-10 09:17|| Front Page Top

#8 DB - I have also written to Frist. The failure to break the judicial filibuster was my last straw - that was a self-inflicted wound. Looks like the House is following suit.

OS - Political cowardice indeed. GOP the stupid party.

Posted by SR-71 2005-11-10 10:12|| 2005-11-10 10:12|| Front Page Top

#9 Very disappointing. This means the Dems were able to pick off enough moderate Reps (10 to 15 or so) to block ANWR. I didn't think the Gulf drilling was going to fly, but the ANWR part looked better. Of course we'll have no role call so no way to figure out who caved.

Posted by Steve White 2005-11-10 10:28|| 2005-11-10 10:28|| Front Page Top

#10 Fear not, gents -- the oil and gas will still be there when we decide we need it.

Posted by Darrell 2005-11-10 10:31|| 2005-11-10 10:31|| Front Page Top

#11 ..the oil and gas will still be there when we decide we need it.

We could've used them now, and they're still lying underground untouched.

Posted by Bomb-a-rama 2005-11-10 10:38|| 2005-11-10 10:38|| Front Page Top

#12 So ... restart nuclear with pebble bed reactors that can't do a 3-mile island and....
Clone the syn-gas plant in the Dakotas across the US coal fields.

Posted by 3dc 2005-11-10 10:44|| 2005-11-10 10:44|| Front Page Top

#13 The Gov of Alaska has said he would allow drilling adjacent to ANWR. He doesnt need Fed approval.

Frist is worthless. He thinks he has a shot at the Pres in '08. He does not have my vote.

The Repubs have left their vision behind. They act like Democrats in all things except their treatment of the military. For that I commend them. For everything else , they're just the same breed of Socialist as the Demos.

Posted by BrerRabbit 2005-11-10 10:46|| 2005-11-10 10:46|| Front Page Top

#14 The lone disenter here . . . drilling in Alaskan wilderness would really mess it up. Urban dwellers can't understand the value of wild lands, generally, but wilderness conservation is an old REPUBLICAN value. There are other places with untapped oil reserves in the US, that would present less problems and negative environmental impact, and Alaska could remain as it is.

Posted by ex-lib 2005-11-10 11:34|| 2005-11-10 11:34|| Front Page Top

#15 You might have a point, ex-lib, if you could demonstrate all the damage of the current Alaska drilling. In fact, the biggest problem with Alaska drilling was a drunken ship captain, not the drilling or piping.

OTOH I see no need to start more domestic drilling until we've drained everyone else's oil fields and begun to extract oil from the tar sands. Let the price rise until that becomes economically justifiable.

Posted by Snatch Hupart5350 2005-11-10 11:38|| 2005-11-10 11:38|| Front Page Top

#16 You might have a point, ex-lib, if you could demonstrate all the damage of the current Alaska drilling. In fact, the biggest problem with Alaska drilling was a drunken ship captain, not the drilling or piping.

OTOH I see no need to start more domestic drilling until we've drained everyone else's oil fields and begun to extract oil from the tar sands. Let the price rise until that becomes economically justifiable.

Posted by Snatch Hupart5350 2005-11-10 11:38|| 2005-11-10 11:38|| Front Page Top

#17 I recall a rumor that the major oil & gas companies weren't so keen on this bill because they have already committed their capital for exploration for the next 2 years or so and didn't want to be under pressure to drill in Alaska while the cost of drilling equipment is so high.

Posted by mhw 2005-11-10 12:50|| 2005-11-10 12:50|| Front Page Top

#18 How come there is not drilling off of the east coast? And the tar sands in Canada are already being drawn upon. There is a refinery dedicated to just that region. IIRC, they are going to build a nuke plant to power the refinery there.

Posted by remoteman 2005-11-10 14:04|| 2005-11-10 14:04|| Front Page Top

#19 How come there is not drilling off of the east coast?

There's drilling off of the East Coast of Canada. The United States doesn't allow drilling off of the eastern or western _seaboards_.

Just in the Gulf, and there only from Texas through to Alabama. A couple well-placed hurricanes could (and this year, _did_) cause severe trouble.

Posted by Phil 2005-11-10 14:24|| 2005-11-10 14:24|| Front Page Top

#20 Starting in January, there will be a number of pilot projects to extract oil from the Colorado shales. I'm usually one of the first to pour cold water on alternative energy projects, but a couple of the pilots sound promising, and remember there is more oil in those shales than entire worlds conventional oil reserves.

Posted by phil_b 2005-11-10 16:04|| 2005-11-10 16:04|| Front Page Top

#21 Michelle Malkin's blog has a whole lot of letters people have sent to their Reps about this.

Summary: People are pissed off.

One example:
Speaker Hastert,

I am frankly appalled at your cowardly actions this morning. For years, our country has been dependent on foreign sources of oil; and as Katrina and Rita so aptly demonstrated, the vast majority of the country's refineries are located in one geographical region. Why, then, would anyone stand in the way of developing a new source of oil, in a new location?

The environmentalists' complaints are, quite frankly, bunk. First of all, drilling techniques are so advanced that drilling in ANWR will require, if I recall correctly, roughly 0.1% of the land, leaving 99.9% of it untouched. In addition, there is no guarantee that drilling will even harm the caribou; the population near Prudhoe Bay actually increased significantly after drilling began there.

Even if the caribou were harmed, Mr. Hastert, I must ask you: what's more important to you? Helping America become less dependent on foreign sources of oil and geographically diversifying America's own oil production, or caribou?

That should be an easy question to answer.

Mr. Hastert, I am furious. This country is perilously close to needing a new party - a Conservative Party - because all we have is Democrats who call themselves Republicans and radical leftists who call themselves Democrats. I am far from being the only person who is questioning why we even vote. Why should we put Republicans in the majority when they won't advance conservative principles?

And here's a hint, Mr. Hastert, in case you couldn't figure it out: America is far more important than caribou.

Posted by CrazyFool 2005-11-10 19:40|| 2005-11-10 19:40|| Front Page Top

#22 Fix to above link HERE

Posted by CrazyFool 2005-11-10 19:41|| 2005-11-10 19:41|| Front Page Top

#23 The reason we are short of oil is because nobody checked it. The reason nobody checked it is because the oil is in Alaska and the dipsticks are in Washington, D.C.

Posted by Deacon Blues">Deacon Blues 2005-11-10 20:02|| 2005-11-10 20:02|| Front Page Top

#24 F***ing invertebrate Rinos

Posted by DMFD 2005-11-10 23:36|| 2005-11-10 23:36|| Front Page Top

23:44 ex-lib
23:43 Bardo
23:36 DMFD
23:35 ex-lib
23:31 C-Low
23:24 CrazyFool
23:17 ex-lib
23:09 The Happy Fliegerabwehrkanonen
23:07 ex-lib
23:01 Bardo
22:48 Captain America
22:46 Barbara Skolaut
22:30 trailing wife
22:28 Bardo
22:17 Bardo
22:15 C-Low
22:12 trailing wife
22:11 Bobby
22:05 trailing wife
22:05 Bobby
22:01 trailing wife
22:00 Asymmetrical Triangulation
21:59 Bobby
21:55 Bright Pebbles