Posted on 05/15/2011 11:10:56 AM PDT by Delacon
Obama looks to drilling to relieve oil prices
In an effort to defuse Republican and oil industry pressure over drilling permits and soothe public anger over gasoline prices, President Obama will order the Interior Department to conduct annual lease sales in Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve and speed up seismic work that is a precursor to drilling off the south and mid-Atlantic coasts.
In his Saturday radio address, Obama will also extend oil company leases in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska where work was delayed by the drilling moratorium the president imposed during the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill resulting from a blowout on a BP well.
He will also order the Interior Department to hold a Gulf of Mexico lease sale this year and two in 2012, thus completing the department’s five-year plan for the area.
The moves are part of an effort to fulfill the president’s pledge to increase domestic oil production and reduce oil imports, even as he acknowledges that it won’t alter gasoline prices in the short-run. They also resemble positions the president took just a month before the BP spill in the gulf.
A senior administration official said the administration believed it could move ahead in Alaska in “attractive areas” for drilling while remaining “consistent with environmental values.”
But Obama’s administrative actions come amid political hubbub over offshore drilling. Last week, the House passed three sweeping measures that would allow more drilling off the nation’s Alaskan, Pacific and Atlantic coasts as well as in the Gulf of Mexico. The bills would also make it more difficult for drilling opponents to mount legal challenges based on environmental reviews.
We. Shall. See.
ping
The if he wins another term...ALL HELL WILL BE UNLEASHED.
He will be able to finish us off with no reins.
The idiot never connects jobs to this industry. And they’re high paying jobs.
This could be a MAJOR campaign advertisement for 2012 if the freaking Republicans would start playing hardball. They need to be out there day in and day out hammering Bammy on Democrat flip-flopping like this.
I am of the “if you can’t beat them, get them to do what you want” school of thought.
I am of the “if you can’t beat them, get them to do what you want” school of thought.
We are Drilling more in the US and in 2009-2001 US oil production has increased two consecutive years for the first time since 1984-1985.
he will seem favorably disposed to drilling until november 7, 2012, the day after the election. then, if he is still in office, he will re-declare his personal war on fossil fuels.
Just ask Shell how that’s working out after investing 4 billion and being shutdown.
Allowing lease sales doesn’t guarantee drilling permits.
PALIN/WEST 2012
We better hope to take the Senate in 2012.
What? Are you an Obama troll? Production has only increased because its coming out a 20 year pipeline. Obama has nothing to do with it.
Smoke and mirrors is all he offers.
Today 60% of all the operation drilling rigs in the world are drilling in the USA. In addition, domestic oil production slightly increased in 2009-2010 after 20 years of annual decreases in production.
The EPA needs to back down off their regulation in Alaska and elsewhere, but the fact is that due to the increase in the price of oil, domestic drilling activity has increased and production has increased.
Yet another “evil Bush” policy co-opted by the p0ser.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.