This is probably the only thing that Obama is involved with that I like. A lot of people are upset about them drilling off the shores of Virginia Beach. There’s a lot of opposition to it (such as the Sierra Club). Yet, if we are going to use and drill for oil, why not within our own reach? I hear opposition to drilling from locals, yet they seem content with the oil coming from someone elses backyard.
Any thoughts on them getting rid of the drilling ban on the east coast?
sounds good to me.
It is hard to respond to this from the perspective of a libertarian since there is no property rights involved. The area in question is is controlled by the United States government and the allowing drilling to take place there will give an oil company of their choice the monoply privleage to drill there. I guess it’s better then no drilling at all but I’d still like to see some compatition.
I’m sorry, but if you believe this then you are very easily duped. The places he implied and very small and to allow “exploration” is going to cost millions of dollars and trickle down to the consumer, especially if the exploration finds little oil. Secondly, he only did this as a political ploy to these “RINOs”, if this had any merit to it then the Envirocommunists would be throwing a fit, which they clearly are not. This will be in courts for years. The man stated that they will only be able to “explore”, not drill, to say he will allow “exploration” on these new stretches is simply trivial.
There are huge amounts of oil in Alaska and the Gulf, and he picks small areas? Please
Are we really going to have this debate of whether the planner did the right thing or not?
i thought moibil oil in the late 80s had explored this area rather extinsively and felt that natural gas was there and possibly could be profitable??
I personally believe this is nothing more than a political move, though it could be a significant one.
Ever since Carter the oil industry in the US has stagnated if not contracted. Prospecting has been carried out in some areas but drilling and refining have been slowly but steadily declining. President Obama may be a narcissistic elitist but he’s no fool. He knows perfectly well there’s no Green Revolution around the corner. He knows keeping fuel prices under control is key to keeping popular discontent in check. He has to show Americans he’s doing something sensible about curbing “dependency on foreign oil” and keeping fuel prices in the “sensible” zone. And he has to do that without alienating the powerful Green lobby and the oil companies. What better way of doing it than showing he has authorized looking for oil in America’s backyard? Maybe oil be found (perhaps with Russian assistance, their prospecting technologies are way ahead of ours) but it will be announced that it will take many years to develop the fields.
Job done.
This could also be a significant blow to the powerful AGW lobby, which suffered some serious reverses last year but still effectively influences the medias. But until Bonn there’s no saying.
“There are huge amounts of oil in Alaska and the Gulf, and he picks small areas? Please”
i was wondering this too.
“Exploration costs currently run under $3 per barrel in much of the Mideast, and below $7 for oil hidden deep under the ocean. But these costs have been falling, not rising, because imaging technology that lets geologists peer through miles of water and rock improves faster than supplies recede.”
http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/miarticle.htm?id=4471
i dont know if the above info is true or not. if it is double the ccost for exploration under the ocean but transport is maybe a tenth as far??? are the east coast natural gas/petroleum sites really cheaper than the 40 percent or so that comes from the mideast??
Forget about that crap. We just need this.
I’m happy that he unlocked some areas for oil exploration/drilling. I’m disappointed that he hasn’t opened up more areas. This also shows his political pandering: he claims that this will lower oil prices (which it really won’t), but he opens up only a few areas for exploration/drilling. All areas should be opened up for the reason that they have trillions of dollars of wealth locked up which could improve the standard of living in the US.
LOL. If only every American went Atkins, then we could feed America’s oil needs…