GOP candidates to visit ANWR to promote drilling

The Hill ^ | 7/02/08 | Beth Sussman

[americaprd]

Five Republican congressional candidates will travel to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to promote drilling there to reduce the U.S.’s dependence on foreign oil.

“With gas prices at an all-time high, we need to take steps now to reduce our dependence on foreign oil,” said trip participant Craig Williams, who is challenging Joe Sestak (D-Pa.). “We have energy resources available to us domestically that can cut our dependence on foreign oil and provide a bridge to tomorrow when we can more heavily rely on renewable energy resources such as hydro-electric, solar and wind power.”

Due to accompany Williams on the July 13 trip are Chris Lien, who is challenging Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D) in South Dakota, Paul Stark, who faces Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wis.), Luke Puckett, who takes on Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.), and Mike Sodrel, who is running against Rep. Baron Hill (D-Ind.).

“We need to explore every existing energy resource available to us and simultaneously use American ingenuity to phase in renewable forms of energy,” said Williams. “ANWR is a vital part of an overarching policy we need to embrace to reduce our dependency on foreign oil.”

President Bush has pushed Congress to pass legislation to explore the possibility of drilling in the area. The issue pits a majority of Republicans against the Democrats, who have blocked all efforts to produce oil in ANWR. However, both Sens. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) do not support

[americaprd]

At least some Republican candidates aren't afraid to stand up for what is right. More on the trip is available here

[rocksblues]

Now if McCain would join them his numbers would go up well above even!

[Enterprise]

This is long overdue. They need to stand there and sweep their arms around and point to all the “pristine” beauty of what amounts to a lump ice and dirt.

[B-Cause]

This sums it up pretty well. Big oil companies can't make a profit in the USA. That is why ExxonMobil, as well as all of the other majors have sold off most of their domestic production and moved over seas. In the USA, they can make a 1% return on their investment, while operating overseas they can average a 15% return. Simple math. The main cause is all of the government regulations that have been put on the companies.

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To all,

This is very interesting reading about our oil industry. (Does not mention that no new refineries have been built in U.S. for years. Believe that the reason is that government regulations require hundreds ' sometime thousands, of millions of dollars to start and pursue the permits before and without any assurance that they will be able to build!

Bill Phillips spent nearly 50 years in the US oil and gas industry; most of his career was with the Phillips Petroleum Company. Bill is a descendant of Frank Phillips. Frank Phillips, along with his brother Lee Eldas (L.E.) Phillips, Sr., founded the original Phillips Petroleum Company in 1917 in Bartlesville, OK. Do you remember Phillips 66 gas stations? Phillips Petroleum Company merged with Conoco, Inc. in 2002 to form the current ConocoPhillips oil company.

So, when Bill talks about oil and gas issues, I tend to listen - very closely. I think that you will find Bill's thoughts and facts very revealing, very compelling and very difficult to argue with.

May 28, 2008 'Big Oil'

Did you know that the United States does NOT have any big oil companies. It's true: the largest American oil company, Exxon Mobil, is only the 14th largest in the world, and is dwarfed by the really big oil companies--all owned by foreign governments or government-sponsored monopolies--that dominate the world's oil supply. With 94% of the world's oil supply locked up by foreign governments, most of which are hostile to the United States, the relatively puny American oil companies do not have access to enough crude oil to significantly affect the market and help bring prices down. Thus, ExxonMobil, a 'small' oil company, buys 90% of the crude oil that it refines for the U.S. market from the big players, i.e, mostly-hostile foreign governments. The price at the U.S. pump is rising because the price the big oil companies charge ExxonMobil and the other small American companies for crude oil is going up as the value of the American dollar goes down. They will eventually bleed this country into printing even more money and we will go into runway inflation once again as we did under the Carter Democratic reign.

This is obviously a tough situation for the American consumer. The irony is that it doesn't have to be that way. The United States-- unlike, say, France--actually has vast petroleum reserves. It would be possible for American oil companies to develop those reserves, play a far bigger role in international markets, and deliver gas at the pump to American consumers at a much lower price, while creating many thousands of jobs for Americans.

This would be infinitely preferable to shipping endless billions of dollars to Saudi Arabia, Russia and Venezuela to be used in propping up their economies.

So, why doesn't it happen? Because the Democrat Party--aided, sadly, by a handful of Republicans--deliberately keeps gas prices high and our domestic oil companies small by putting most of our reserves off limits to development. China is now drilling in the Caribbean, off Cuba but our own companies are barred by law from developing large oil fields off the coasts of Florida and California. Enormous oil-shale deposits in the Rocky Mountain states could go a long way toward supplying American consumers' needs, but the Democratic Congress won't allow those resources to be developed. ANWR contains vast petroleum reserves, but we don't know how vast, because Congress, not wanting the American people to know how badly its policies are hurting our economy, has made it illegal to explore and map those reserves, let alone develop them.

In short, all Americans are paying a terrible price for the Democratic Party's perverse energy policies. I own some small interests in tiny, 4 barrel-per-day oil wells in Wyoming. We have 14 agencies that have iron-hand jurisdiction over us. If we drop any oil on the ground when the refinery truck comes to pick up oil from our holding tanks, we are fined. Yet down the road the state will spray thousands of gallons of used oil on a dirt road to control dirt. When it rains that oil runs into rivers and creeks. Yet a cup of oil on the ground at our wellhead is a $50,000 EPA fine plus additional fines from state regulating agencies. They treat oil as if it were plutonium that has the potential to leak into the environment. We are fined if our dirt burms are not high enough around a holding tank, yet the truck that picks up our oil runs down the road at 60 mph with no burm around it. People wonder why there is no more exploration in this country. It's because of the regulators; people who have lived their whole lives doing nothing but imposing fines on small operators like us for doing mostly nothing.

So, America enjoy your $4.00 per gallon gasoline. Your dollar is now worth 0.62 Euro-Cents. The lack of American production of GNP, the massive trade deficit (as labor markets have moved overseas to fight insanely high union imposed labor costs in America) and the run away printing of money (backed by nothing of value here in America) has caused the dollar to become more worthless on the international market. And that's where our oil comes from. It's paid for with dollars that become more worthless everyday. If we had just kept par with the Euro we'd be paying $62 dollars per barrel for oil (42 gallons) or about $1.50 instead of $2.50 a gallon for crude oil.

What the US government also does not tell you is that it is the leaseholder and royalty recipient of most oil production and receives 25% of the gross oil sales before we pay for electricity to lift the oil, propane to keep the oil-water separators from freezing in the winters. We pay a pumper to visit each well everyday plus we have equipment failures all the time. We pay for that out of our 75% of gross sales. The government does not share in any expenses to run any production well. So, if the Big Oil Companies are making record profits, then so is the federal government from it's 25% tax on every molecule of oil sold to a refinery in this country. Why isn't the government on the stand for 'Record' profits? What you don't see is this 25% of the sales price of crude oil being siphoned away by the government. That money plus the road taxes, state taxes, etc. amounts to over $1 per gallon of gasoline you are buying while the governments only admit to about 50 cents per gallon.

To all you Democrats, when you go vote for your candidate, a blazing liberal like Barrack Hussein Obama or Hillary Clinton, just keep in mind that their liberal spending habits will further decrease the value of the American dollar on the world market and your gasoline costs will hike even higher. As they introduce more give-away programs, raise taxes on everyone to pay people not to produce or work, your dollar will continue to dwindle on the world market and you will be paying $10.00 per gallon at the next election. Cheap hydrocarbon fuel is all over. Enjoy! Enjoy the fruits of your decision to elect these folks when you are there in that voting booth and you stab your pin through a Democrat's name.

William 'Bill'Phillips



Compliments of the Democrats in Congress!

[americaprd]

Agreed, I have been talking to a lot of friends and was surprised at how many have become single issue voters — on drilling domestically! This is an issue that wasn’t even on the radar screen of most Americans at the beginning of the year!

[B-Cause]

This is not a note of agreement or disagreement, but another perspective of a highly controversial subject.

---

FIRST… do you know what ANWR is?

ANWR = Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Now a Comparison



And some perspective…



NOTE WHERE THE PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT AREA IS…
(It's in the 'ANWR Coastal Plain')



THIS IS WHAT THE DEMOCRATS, LIBERALS AND 'GREENS' SHOW YOU WHEN THEY TALK ABOUT ANWR …and they are right… these ARE photographs of ANWR




ISN'T ANWR BEAUTIFUL?  WHY SHOULD WE DRILL HERE (AND DESTROY) THIS BEAUTIFUL PLACE?
WELL…THAT'S NOT EXACTLY THE TRUTH
Do you remember the map?
The map showed that the proposed drilling area is in the ANWR Coastal Plain.
Do those photographs look like a coastal plain to you?
WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?
The answer is simple...
THAT IS NOT WHERE THEY ARE WANTING TO DRILL!
THIS IS WHAT THE PROPOSED EXPLORATION AREA ACTUALLY LOOKS LIKE IN THE WINTER


AND THIS IS WHAT IT ACTUALLY LOOKS LIKE IN THE SUMMER




HERE ARE A COUPLE SCREEN SHOTS FROM GOOGLE EARTH





AS YOU CAN SEE, THE AREA WHERE THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT DRILLING IS A BARREN WASTELAND. OH… AND THEY SAY THAT THEY ARE CONCERNED ABOUT THE EFFECT ON THE LOCAL WILDLIFE…HERE IS A PHOTO (SHOT DURING THE SUMMER) OF THE
'DEPLETED WILDLIFE' SITUATION CREATED BY DRILLING AROUND PRUDHOE BAY*…
DON'T YOU THINK THAT THE CARIBOU REALLY HATE THAT DRILLING?



HERE'S THAT SAME SPOT DURING THE WINTER.



HEY, THIS BEAR SEEMS TO REALLY HATE THE PIPELINE NEAR PRUDHOE BAY*…



*Prudhoe bay area accounts for 17% of U.S. domestic oil production NOW, WHY DO YOU THINK THAT THE DEMOCRATS ARE LYING ABOUT ANWR?

REMEMBER WHEN AL GORE SAID THAT THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD WORK TO ARTIFICIALLY RAISE GAS PRICES TO $5.00 A GALLON?

WELL…

AL GORE AND HIS FELLOW DEMOCRATS HAVE ALMOST REACHED THEIR GOAL!

NOW THAT YOU KNOW THAT THE DEMOCRATS HAVE BEEN LYING, WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?

YOU CAN START BY FORWARDING THIS TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW… SO THAT THEY WILL KNOW THE TRUTH.

LET'S START BY DUMPING THOSE LIBERAL POLITICIANS, WHETHER THEY BE DEMOCRATS OR REPUBLICANS...!

[John123]

And don’t forget to take lots of pictures of the Polar bears and penguins and stunning views of our national treasure...

[Christian4Bush]

+1

[toddlintown]

Finally. Drive an SUV up there and I’ll be even happier about this.

[xcamel]

FReepmail me to get on or off

Click on POGW graphic for full GW rundown

New!!: Dr. John Ray's
GREENIE WATCH

The Great Global Warming Swindle Video - back on the net!! (click here)

Ping me if you find one I've missed.

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More ANWR

[bray]

One step at a time. Get America for drilling the oceans and then move to the next obvious location. We also need refinaries and Nuculear.

If you like $5/gal, Thank Congress. If you want $10, Vote Obama.

Pray for W and Our Troops

[txflake]

Great stuff.

[lesser_satan]

Bush needs to smack down this idiocy about the oil companies not drilling their current leases. Do these dem dumbf#$ks think that with oil at 140/bbl they wouldn’t be drilling it if there was oil there? Also, how much of that land was leased for pipelines, staging and storage areas, water rights, etc?

[Happy Rain]

Great,at this time of year the giant Alaskan skeeters will carry them off for a big feast.
Unless of course,they being congresscritters,the big bloodsucking parasites show them professional courtesy.

[Conservativegreatgrandma]

AMEN!!!

[DustyMoment]

we need to take steps now to reduce our dependence on foreign oil,”

No, we needed to take steps 5 or 10 years ago and we would not be having this problem today!!

My prediction is that this will be more about the smoke, but not the fire.

[rabidralph]

Paul Stark's website. Still under construction. Paul is very passionate about fixing what's wrong with Congress and he could use every Wisconsinite's vote, as well as support from the rest of us. He's a very nice man, great family, and a business owner.

[Tribune7]

Craig Williams ping

[sneakers]

bump

[ken21]

those pubies are sure bright folks and johnny on the spot!

/s

[ken21]

nice maps and pics.

um...aunt pelosi said the other day, reported on drudge,

that “oil is making us sick”.

[Disambiguator]

If you like $5/gal, Thank Congress. If you want $10, Vote Obama.

Great bumper sticker idea.

[TNoldman]

No penguins near the North Pole! Penguins are in Anartica.

[sasportas]

As an Alaskan who has worked in Prudhoe, I can tell you the pics and comments you have posted are absolutely correct. I live now on the southern end of the pipeline (Valdez).

The is absolutely no reason that should prevent them from drilling. What the democrats have done is pure demogoguery.

[Republican Wildcat]

Hopefully with the cameras rolling to get some campaign ad footage to use.

[Bobkk47]

Cue the Democratic Response:

WE CAN'T DRILL OUR WAY OUT OF HIGH GAS PRICES!

(End of Democratic Response)

[Darth Hillary]

Professional courtesy... That’s a good one...

[B-Cause]

um...aunt pelosi said the other day, reported on drudge, that “oil is making us sick”.

---

Thanks ken21 for the great comment.


“oil is making us sick”.

[Arthur McGowan]

We live in an age when computer graphics can make all sorts of complex things clear. Various industries do it all the time.

Political ads remain stuck in the 1930s—or earlier. Point the camera at the candidate, let him talk, superimpose some text now and then. Primitive and boring.

One good PSA or campaign commercial could make the ANWR issue crystal clear: the drilling area (about the size of Reagan National Airport—2,000 acres) show ANWR, then Alasak, then the continental United States, then zoom back in to Alaska, ANWR, and then the tiny drilling area again.

People generally HAVE NO IDEA of the relative magnitudes of any two things. They have no idea of how tiny a group of “millionaires” really exist—who are supposed to pay “their fair share” of taxes. They have no idea of the amount of oil that seeps naturally into the ocean—annually, about 150 times as the biggest oil spill that has ever happened. It goes on and on.

Political ads are generally made to manipulate, not inform. I think the most effective ads would be informative. Show how bogus the Global Warming Terror is. Show how gigantic the earth really is, compared with the amount of pollution we actually generate. Show how much carbon dioxide is DISSOLVED IN THE OCEANS, compared with how much the human race generates. Etc.

[Arthur McGowan]

The graph, of course, is out of date. Could an updated one be posted?

[6323cd]

Thanks for the link; I wish I lived in his district. I’ll send him the $$$ the RNC’s not getting from me this year.

[bray]

Feel free to use it liberally.

Pray for W and Our Troops

[meyer]

...aunt pelosi said the other day, reported on drudge, that “oil is making us sick”...

Perhaps she ought to quit drinking it. It's great for lubrication and combustion but a steady diet of oil is bound to cause an upset stomach.

[B-Cause]

As an Alaskan who has worked in Prudhoe, I can tell you the pics and comments you have posted are absolutely correct. I live now on the southern end of the pipeline (Valdez).

There is absolutely no reason that should prevent them from drilling. What the democrats have done is pure demogoguery.

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Powerful comment sasportas - and right from someone who knows. Thank you.








What the democrats have done is pure demogoguery.

[americaprd]

Thanks for the PA Ping!

[americaprd]

One of the best articulated arguments I have seen. Great work! Now if only the national news would show the debate from a similar perspective...

[B-Cause]

Thanks Arthur McGowan - for the correction

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How does $4.99 work?


Name a number.

[RichInOC]

In “Casino”, Frank Rosenthal was portrayed (more or less) by Robert DeNiro. Tony Spilotro was portrayed by Joe Pesci. Harry Reid was portrayed by...Dick Smothers.

No wonder Harry looks like that.

[B-Cause]

Now if only the national news would show the debate from a similar perspective...

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Thanks americaprd


Now if only the national news would show the debate from a similar perspective...

[B-Cause]

Harry Reid was portrayed by...Dick Smothers.

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Thanks for the great comment RichInOC - Who would be the right actor for Obama in any movie??


Who would be the right actor for Obama in any movie??

[Tribune7]

bump for Williams!

[TheCause]

If there was a way to make the “Head Up Your Ass” picture into a .pdf file. I know a lot of people would make that into a poster or a large bumper sticker for all the world to see!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Any takers?

[Arthur McGowan]

Should be good for a week or two.

[Enterprise]

There absolutely needs to be cameras. They need to capture the emptiness of ANWR and shove it in McCain’s face and ask him if he still wants to preserve its pristine condition.

[B-Cause]

If there was a way to make the “Head Up Your Ass” picture into a .pdf file. I know a lot of people would make that into a poster or a large bumper sticker for all the world to see!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

---

Thanks for the reply TheCause - let me know an email address via Freepmail that I can email it to, and I'd be happy to put it in a pdf file for you.


Is this the one you want?

[dalereed]

“This is an issue that wasn’t even on the radar screen of most Americans at the beginning of the year!”

It’sbeen an issue with me since the early 70s.

Not only did we do contract construction work for all the oil companies in So. Calif but former candidate for governor Joe Shell was a good personal friend and in the 70s was the president of the Independant Oil Producers of California.

When Carter put in the 10% “excess profits tax” Joe told me that not only was it a well head tax that had nothing to do with profit but that it was the straw that roke the camels back and shut down 2/3 of the oil production in California.

He had 3 wildcat wells under way and the day that that tax became law BofA pulled his loans and told him to shut them down necause no matter how much oil they recovered they could never make a profit.

Calif. has a few hundred years of oil on and off shore thqt should be tapped and used.

[jmaroneps37]

This is a winning issue. Let’s hope more of our candidates get on this one.

[Trteamer]

They better take their mosquito repellent or they will get eaten alive.

[TheCause]

YES!!!!

[thackney]

That is why ExxonMobil, as well as all of the other majors have sold off most of their domestic production

Not true.

In the USA, they can make a 1% return on their investment

Also not true.

In my career, many times I have had to assist with the economic project justification of the capital investment. Never are the projects this low, 15% is more typical over the last couple decades.