Posted on 06/19/2008 1:54:20 AM PDT by bruinbirdman
Suppose for a moment that Congress listens to President Bush's remarks Wednesday and removes the decades-old ban on offshore drilling for oil and natural gas on the Outer Continental Shelf. Who wins, aside from the oil industry?
Uncle Sam, of course.
Why? Because the U.S. government collects royalty payments and upfront cash from oil companies that lease federal lands for oil and gas exploration and production.
The U.S. Interior Department's royalty rate for deep-water drilling in the Gulf of Mexico is 18.75%--up from 12.5% two years ago. This move helped the government take in $7 billion in offshore royalties, rents and bonuses from oil companies drilling in U.S. waters last year.
The government's take would undoubtedly increase if the offshore drilling ban were lifted, though by how much is not immediately clear.
Royalty revenue-sharing agreements would have to be worked out between the states and the feds. One government official estimates that if enough land were made available for drilling, the upfront cash paid to Uncle Sam for one lease agreement could reach $1 billion.
But it's not all about the federal coffers. Plenty of businesses outside of the Beltway stand to make some handsome gains as well. Though profits would most likely ripple throughout the industry, Chevron (nyse: CVX), Shell, BP (nyse: BP) and Anadarko Petroleum (nyse: APC), which have some of the largest offshore operations in U.S. waters, are the most likely winners.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
” Because the U.S. government collects royalty payments and upfront cash from oil companies that lease federal lands for oil and gas exploration and prod “
I’ll bet that the Dems wouldn’t turn all that money down — apparently, there’s *good* ‘windfall profits’, as well as *bad/evil* ‘windfall profits’.......
Its not just about the Royalty payments to Uncle Sam and the Up Front Lease payments that will help to shrink the deficit. Having American companies produce the oil in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico is good for the environment. What the heck do these lame brain progressos think China is going to do if they drill for it ? They will probably be spilling it all over the place, you maroons !
Yes, but the Dims don’t want you to even know about the royalty paid to the government, let alone give it a second thought!
Their first choice would be, however, to stop any additional drilling, let gas prices rise, and, like another article postulates, we all shut up and suffer in our dark sweltering homes.
The Democrats want us all to live in Paleolithic Squalor.
They want the suburbs shut down and people to crawl back into the cities, in a sort of reverse Pol-pot. Cities that will be darkened, unheated and uncooled.
Leftist collective paradise. Everyone living in an absolutely miserable heap with the leftist at the top telling us all what to do.
Slaves will be cheap. Who else will tend the GoreBall’s gardens and shine the shingles on John Edwards’ Metastizing Mansion?
They want to take away our way of life, people. They hate us. They hate us with every fiber of their being.
Ping!
Demoralization is the tool of the loser. If a ruler is a loser, the high morale of his subordinates is a threat. This is the legacy of the grievious ever-grieving Democrates... and yes, they hate us through and through.
That is the dream of every leftist. Curiously, it coincides with the Islamic dream, which also features a bleak, non-productive, ignorant society with a slave population governed by a few special people (the mullahs, many of whom come from families where this is an hereditary profession, not to mention the truly special ones who trace their lineage to Mohammed himself). I guess the race is on to see which group gets to us first; or perhaps whether they will work out some way of joining forces.
Who cares? We need to start our plans today, because the oil situation is never going to get any better as long as we depend on one drop of oil from enemy countries. Drilling in the U.S., nuke power, and alternatives are a sure bet for our future and for the future of our children.
We should have started years ago, so now is the time to put our American know-how and technology to work. There is no more of a stark contrast between the right and the left than this issue. The Lefties and the Greens want us on foot and freezing.
Call the Congress and make them act before they run away and hide for Fourth of July because that is their plan.
We prevailed with the amnesty bill and we can do it again.
Right now the left has decided to accept the islamonazi’s as their allies, just as Stalin accepted Hitler.
That’s why Obama is such a savior. He’s the Marxist-Islamic pact made flesh.
We just need to follow the suggestions of brilliant economists like Maxine Waters(D) and turn the entire oil industry over to the government so us lowly serfs can be paying 50 bucks for a gallon of gas by Christmas.
The Lefties and the Greens want us on foot and freezing.Now THAT's a good bumper sticker!
The real problem is the Marxist congress wants ALL of the revenues from oil.
www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2021415/posts
And yet the MSM/demo myth persists, that they are the “party of the little guy”.
You got that right.
[Leftist collective paradise. Everyone living in an absolutely miserable heap with the leftist at the top telling us all what to do.]
The cat of nine tails will be used again on all dem dumbo slaves fo not high steping it to get the lemonade.
So true, so true. BUT I think this may be the last straw.
It is with great distress I contact your office today. I have been reading about the proposal to “nationalize” the oil refineries and control the flow of gasoline to the market place. This is a type of socialistic fascism our country does not need.
This American understands there is no shortage of gasoline. The refineries are running at near capacity. The entire problem rests with the traitors who seek to control the American people. They have worked long and hard for many years to get to this point and regrettably the GOP failed in the last 7 years to undo their plans.
We had our chance to build more refineries, none have been built in the last decade. We had our chance to bring more drilling online in our own country. I've watched in total awe the hubris of socialists trying to convict CEO’s in congressional hearings. If they have broken any law...take them to court and stop wasting my money on congressional hearings (very fascistic tactic).
We need to get a clear message out to the American public of who is responsible for the dangerous position our country is in now. Socialists have voted 3 times in the last month to not allow extraction of oil on US land, instead they propose to ration it. Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY),
“We (the government) should own the refineries. Then we can control how much gets out into the market.” They mean to ration it and will tout it as a form of price control.
What will happen if Iran drops a nuclear weapon in the Middle East? All oil from that region will be contaminated, supply will drastically be reduced. And the only nation on earth with the ability to respond long-term will be brought to it's knees.
That oil belongs to the American people, not the socialists, congress, or really the government. The government simply holds that land in stewardship for the American people.
This is a very historic time and election cycle. Never in my wildest imaginations would I have thought Socialists would run the United States of America. Never would I have believed Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand would be true.
Sen. Voinovich, I appreciate your statement of 6/18/2008 and your reasoned response to addressing our energy needs both now and in the future. This game being played by the socialists must be check-mated. President Bush needs to act on Executive Order and open up the drilling on United States Lands. Statement from Sen. Voinovich: http://voinovich.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=NewsCenter.PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=9c2a0593-931a-1cba-5e39-0209156cf153
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