[rwrcpa1]

Finally, I would LOVE to see her energy-development approach applied to the US as a whole. Open up everything for drilling. After allowing for exploration and drilling costs, the energy firms pay the feds or the states (or both) a price per barrel equal to the going OPEC world price.

They pay a royalty to the govt., not the entire price of oil. Sometimes a private individual gets the royalty, because the government doesn't own everything (yet). Without profit there is no motive to participate. Also, have you ever heard of a dry hole? You don't just stick a straw in the ground anywhere and suck out oil. Some wells are great, some are stinkers, and some are dry.

I'm in the energy industry, and I support Sarah Palin.

[Senator John Blutarski]

rwrcpa1 wrote: “They pay a royalty to the govt., not the entire price of oil. Sometimes a private individual gets the royalty, because the government doesn’t own everything (yet). Without profit there is no motive to participate. Also, have you ever heard of a dry hole? You don’t just stick a straw in the ground anywhere and suck out oil. Some wells are great, some are stinkers, and some are dry.

I’m in the energy industry, and I support Sarah Palin.”

..... I understand your arguments and they make perfect sense. My thought however is that, since the US government owns gigantic tracts of territory in the US and controls offshore waters, they probably by inference control a large fraction of untapped US oil reserves. What’s the fair market value of that oil? For an oil company, I’m guessing it’s the OPEC market price minus the cost of exploration, extraction, and whatever infrastructure investments might be required (roads, pipelines, etc). Better that such money land in the coffers of any US government account than in the hands of Saudi Arabia or Venezuela. And it’s no secret that federal and state governments are in dire need of revenue.