Obama Interior Nominee to Consider New Ban on Oil

cns news ^ | Today | Josiah Ryan

[jessduntno]

Obama Interior Nominee to Consider New Ban on Oil

Interior Secretary-designate Sen. Ken Salazar D-Colo., right, shares a laugh with Sen. Mark Udall D-Colo. on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2009, during Salazar's confirmation hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)(CNSNews.com) - President-elect Barack Obama’s secretary of the interior nominee, Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Colo.), said he will consider restoring parts of an expired federal ban on offshore oil drilling, but told CNSNews.com that he has “no idea” how much of the drilling restrictions should be reimposed.

Salazar spoke to CNSNews.com outside his confirmation hearing in the Senate Committee on Natural Resources on Thursday.

Back in June, President George W. Bush lifted an 18-year-old executive order banning new offshore drilling that had been put in place by his father, President George H.W. Bush, and extended by President Bill Clinton.

At the end of September, Congress, which was in the midst of crafting a $700 billion financial bailout and facing nationwide pressure to lower gas prices and remove the ban, allowed a 26-year old moratorium of offshore oil drilling that had been annually attached to the Interior Department funding bill, to expire. A more recent moratorium on developing shale-oil lands, which are mostly in the west, also was allowed to expire.

Since then, the Bureau of Land Management has allowed bidding on leases for oil exploration and some land has been leased.

Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), told CNSNews.com on Thursday that they are concerned the incoming Obama administration will try to restore the ban.

When Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) asked Salazar about a possible reinstatement of the ban, he said, “There are places in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) where it is appropriate for drilling.”

[jessduntno]

But when CNSNews.com asked Salazar how much of the ban he would push to restore as secretary of the interior, he said he did not know.

“I have no idea,” said Salazar.

Good grief...

[WOBBLY BOB]

waiting for Greenpeeps to tell him...

[Darkwolf377]

Remember the days when if a nominee dared answer “I have no idea” we’d see 24/7 news coverage about “stonewalling”? Now for some reason it’s a sign of wisdom, and not jumping to uninformed conclusions...hmmm, wonder why?

[ChicagahAl]

So now we’re going to have an economic depression AND $10 a gallon gasoline.

Obama must be trying to beat FDR’s depression record length of fifteen years. Lucky us.

Boy, I’m sure glad that Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Anonymous Mofo elected Obie.

[thackney]

The Mineral Management Services is trying to open up new areas for offshore exploration.

The 2010-2015 Draft Proposed Program will be published in the Federal Register on January 21, 2009. The public may submit comments during the next 60 days by using the online commenting system, http://www.regulations.gov
or by mail to:
Minerals Management Service
Attention: Leasing Division (LD)
381 Elden Street, MS-4010
Herndon, VA 20170-4817

More info at:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2165880/posts?page=3#3

[TCH]

What an effing ignorant rump-swabing tool... The economy is in the tank, so magnify it 100 times over by not allowing off-shore drilling.

These bozos had better be really good at doging fast-moving projectiles. Every man has a breaking point... and 280 million pissed off Americans are going to cast these clowns into the sea before they know what the hell happened to them. No wonder Oslumber wants that 600,000 member civilian “security force.”

[screaminsunshine]

Wow. I am trying my best to get a job overseas in the South Pacific. I want no part of what is coming.

[jessduntno]

I thought Anonymous Mofo was the President Elect???

[Steamburg]

It will be a direct relationship to the size of the bribe. After all, he is part of the Pay to Play Administration.

[houston1]

actually the ban makes sense for the country long term, when the oil in the M.E. runs out, our children will be glad to have those reserves, the U.S. will then be the new Saudi Arabia

[AGreatPer]

"actually the ban makes sense for the country long term"

So you like being a slave to people that want to cut off your head?

[houston1]

no, re-read what I said, in 100 years we'll have all the oil and the M.E. will have a lot of sand, at which point we won't have any need for them unless they want to buy some from us.

[ChicagahAl]

“I thought Anonymous Mofo was the President Elect???”

ROFLMAO

Actually he’s Infamous Mofo. Anonymous Mofo is the Vice President Elect. You know; what-his-name?

[ChicagahAl]

“our children will be glad to have those reserves”

Your comment seems so silly that I'm sure you forgot the sarcasm tag. However, just in case....

Unfortunately the Elected-For-Life Democrats will still be in charge and drilling will be still be illegal. Plus, destroying our economy in the meantime isn't worth some ephemeral future when the Saudis run out of oil. Besides, when the Saudi’s run out, the Brazilians will still be pumping, and the Cubans will have pumped all the oil out from under the US via angular drilling (they are already working on it).

You may also have missed the fact that the day Bush removed the Executive Order prohibiting drilling, oil peaked, headed down, and hasn't looked back. Guess what the opposite of that is.