Posted on 09/19/2008 10:09:13 AM PDT by Graybeard58
For at least at least a year, Americans struggling to pay record gasoline, heating oil and natural-gas prices have begged Congress to permit energy exploration off the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf coasts, where 80 percent of the nation's known energy reserves sit just waiting to be tapped. But every time Congress had a chance to lift its moratorium on offshore drilling, Democrats and liberal Republicans told consumers to stop their whining.
But with the public now solidly behind more drilling and with the congressional elections just seven weeks off, House Democrats found themselves between a rock — voters — and a hard-left place — the counter-industrial revolutionaries.
So on Tuesday, the Democrats passed an energy bill that would permit drilling in offshore regions where little or no oil or natural-gas deposits exist, but only if the adjoining states agree. To ensure the states don't agree, the measure reserves to the federal government the tens of billions in royalties that oil companies would pay for the privilege of sinking dry wells. As a final safeguard, the Democrats refused to include a provision that would prevent lawsuits by green zealots seeking to forestall drilling indefinitely.
As a bonus, the legislation would revoke $18 billion in subsidies for oil companies, which would translate into higher energy costs for Americans as the industry passes this tax increase to consumers.
The mostly party-line vote was 236-189. Among the 15 Republicans who voted for this fraud was Rep. Christopher Shays, RINO-4th District, who heretofore was opposed to lifting the moratorium under any circumstances. As usual, the state's four Democratic House members voted in lockstep with their party.
The measure faces an uncertain future in the Senate, but that's beside the point. The Democrats crafted this non-drilling drilling bill because they are heavily invested in their "save-the-planet" rhetoric and in the belief that more domestic drilling would not bring energy prices down, even though the mere hint that America might address energy-supply questions sent oil prices plummeting. Oil has fallen from $150 to under $95 a barrel since July, when President Bush lifted his father's executive order that banned offshore drilling.
The Democrats passed their meaningless bill solely so they could campaign on the claim they voted for more drilling when they did nothing of the sort. Is it any wonder why Congress' approval rating is below 20 percent and why 3 in 4 Americans think their country is on the wrong track? Election Day is Nov. 4.
Reference is to Connecticut.
Ping to a Republican-American Editorial.
If you want on or off this list, let me know.
Unless you teleported to earth this morning from the planet Xenon 7, this shouldn't be a surprise. We knew that Nancy Pelousy would come up with a political stunt like this that no INTELLIGENT human being could support.
Unfortunately for America, this is just business as usual for 9% Nancy!!
I am a trucker who drives for a large trucking company. One that buys its fuel on the futures market, thus we get fuel at lower prices than the Independent Owner-Operators, and small companies. Thus, when the price of oil goes up, We will be able to drive the small companies, and O-O’s out of business. Once there are 3-5 companies left in each segment of the trucking industry (LTL, FTL, Refrigerated, tanker, etc,) we can unionize these remaining companies, and force the truck companies to pay me an outrageous wage, for doing the same job I am now only being pay a pretty good decent wage. And it will be the consuming public who has to pay for it.
After-all, the Liberal/Democrat/Progressive motto of “As long as I get mine, the rest of the country can go screw” has a certain attraction to someone who has no morals, eh???
Democrats crafted this bill so that even if it passed both houses drilling would never happen. This is how they accomplished that feat - As a final safeguard, the Democrats refused to include a provision that would prevent lawsuits by green zealots seeking to forestall drilling indefinitely.
Oh and don't think that if the drilling ban is allowed to expire on Oct. 1 that all will be hunky dory and oil will flow freely. See the paragraph above this one for the explaination.
We need a bill and not be content with just letting the OCS ban expire! A bill that not only allows drilling anywhere (OCS and On Shore) but also removes the environmentalist and their lobbyists from the equation. Just letting the current ban expire does nothing to prevent such groups from suing every oil lease awarded. Such cases often remain tied in court for years and thus preventing drilling. Just ask Chevron about their Destin Dome lease in the eastern Gulf of Mexico.
According to research presented by Rep. John Shadegg (R-Az), the Bush Administration issued 487 leases last February in the Chukchi Sea -- environmental lawyers challenged every one. Oh and those were challenges just to the issuance of the leases - when the oil companies try do do actual exploration there will be more litigation - and when they actually want to drill - guess what?
ping
Here is why: http://ragingdebate.com/article1.php . I own that website, it is in beta mode, so forgive that the articles are a bit dated.
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