Posted on 06/11/2008 7:53:31 AM PDT by tobyhill
WASHINGTON — With oil and gas prices reaching record highs and little relief in sight, Republican members of Congress are looking at a long-sought, but so far unsuccessful plan to open American shores up to more petroleum exploration.
Rep. John Peterson, R-Pa. is leading the charge Wednesday, when he'll push for an amendment to a spending bill that would open up U.S. waters between 50 and 200 miles off shore for drilling. The first 50 miles off shore would be left alone.
"For 27 years, Congress has deliberately locked up vast offshore oil and natural gas reserves," Peterson said, according to USA Today. "With the price at the pump increasing daily — with no end in sight — and the cost of natural gas trading at record levels, Congress needs to unlock these reserves."
Most oil production and exploration has been banned since 1981.
According to Peterson's office, the U.S. Minerals Management Service estimates that 86 billion barrels of oil and 420 trillion cubic feet of natural gas can be found along the U.S. outer continental shelf, the area affected by the ban.
Peterson is not alone in his desire to open up the shelf. An effort to unlock the resources has been underway in Congress in recent years, and several interest groups are backing the effort, too.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Time for phone calls and emails to the Congress Critters...
We MUST do this.
We need to get at the INNER continental shelf too. Much more oil there!
I have some flying pigs for sale.
Won’t matter. Vertical integration would take care of this present problem.
Republicans should stand up and FIGHT on this.
If they lose on the floor, they’ve got to take it to the media.
They can’t let go of this.
They’ve got to show the American people that there are SOME politicians who actually care about the survival of the US economic system and all the people in it.
YUP, what all these alternative energy nuts forget is that if the US developed a source of fuel that could power trains, planes, and automobiles tomorrow, the US would still have to double domestic production to be oil independent for all the other wonderful products oil provides for us.
Exactly. We have 10 times all natural resources than Saudi Arabia but we can’t touch it.
We must point out continualy that it is the Democrats who have brought us to this Point in Time, where Oil and Coal , and gas is this expensive.
Because of Opposition to drilling,
Because of Over regulation to new refinery construction.
Because of coddling Eco-Nazi extreemists,
Because of greedy over-taxation,
Because of Car-pool Lanes that cause traffic Jams.
Because of resistance to Freeway expansion.
Because of Anti-Nuclear Power construction
Because of Global Warming Junk Science.
Because of endless fraud and waste in worthless Alternate Fuel Ideas.
The Democrats are to Blame for High fuel costs, and energy costs.
I would LOVE to wake up one morning to see twenty American oil platforms... arrayed in a line about a half-mile from the Chicoms off Cuba.
The rats filibustered two attempsts to drill ANWAR. The Pubs tried but the envirowackos held sway.
The congress doesn’t like it but it is the issue. The Rats are going to lose this one because people are seeing right through the “Green” scam.
That would be where the Chicoms and everybody else has been drilling. Talk about a day late and a dollar short. IMO, EVERY POLITICIAN WHO VOTES AGAINST INCREASING CAPACITY SHOLD BE THROWN OUT ON THEIR ASSES IN NOVEMBER.
PS: Taring and feathering optional.
Seems to me that the Pres could make a good case for National Security and then authorize the drilling by executive order...
Of course, he’d have to wake up and smell the coffee, first.
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