... on the east coast


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/31/science/earth/31energy.html

3/31/2010 12:22:41 AM

and i was just starting to like him. that lasted a whole week.

3/31/2010 12:28:28 AM

This still won't quiet the sorry excuses of existence who won't be happy until every last bit of pristine habitat is raped and pillaged in order to obtain every last drop of dead dinosaur. Plus, I thought the deal was to allow states to decide whether they wanted it or not and had to be coordinated with neighboring states. Yay for blobs of oil and other such pollutants to start washing up on our beautiful NC beaches!

3/31/2010 12:32:51 AM

this is definitely the mark of a far-left extremist communist though, we can all rest assured of that.

3/31/2010 12:33:04 AM

Just wondering. Is there a reason that the area between NC and SC is broken and not a continuous region? Same with the region north of Alaska, and South of TX, LA?

3/31/2010 12:39:11 AM

maybe a shipping lane so ships wont have to worry about oil rigs and oil tankers.. but idk

3/31/2010 12:54:56 AM

nah, that's not shipping lanes. if it were you'd see a break at the ches bay entrance. most likely they're just two different prescribed areas and the white line is there for visual identification. i would doubt that there is a 30 mile wide no go zone. same way there's probably not an empty triangle area around the current exploration off of delmarva

3/31/2010 1:03:55 AM

Quote :

"Is there a reason that the area between NC and SC is broken and not a continuous region?"

Because we don't want to be associated with those people.

3/31/2010 2:16:22 AM

Quote :

"It is not known how much potential fuel lies in the areas opened to exploration, although according to Interior Department estimates there could be as much as a three-year supply of recoverable oil and more than two years’ worth of natural gas, at current rates of consumption. But those estimates are based on seismic data that is, in some cases, more than 30 years old."

seriously, throw some windmills out there.

3/31/2010 2:42:02 AM

This was something from McCain's plan that I liked and wanted. Glad to see it going through (I don't know whether it will be as extensive or more extensive as McCain's plan). I will be a little surprised if there is Republican opposition.

3/31/2010 2:42:18 AM

Fuck this crap.
Where's the ELF when you need them?

3/31/2010 3:22:07 AM

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36110038/ns/business-oil_and_energy/

Quote :

"The president's team has been busy on energy policy and Obama talked about it in his State of the Union address. During that speech, he said he wanted the United States to build a new generation of nuclear power plans and invest in biofuel and coal technologies. "It means making tough decisions about opening new offshore areas for oil and gas development," he warned. Obama also urged Congress to complete work on a climate change and energy bill, which has remained elusive. The president met with lawmakers earlier this month at the White House about a bill cutting emissions of pollution-causing greenhouse gases by 17 percent by 2020. The legislation would also expand domestic oil and gas drilling offshore and provide federal assistance for constructing nuclear power plants and carbon sequestration and storage projects at coal-fired utilities. White House officials hope Wednesday's announcement will attract support from Republicans, who adopted a chant of "Drill, baby, drill" during 2008's presidential campaign. The president's Wednesday remarks would be paired with other energy proposals that were more likely to find praise from environmental groups. The White House planned to announce it had ordered 5,000 hybrid vehicles for the government fleet. And on Thursday, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Transportation Department are to sign a final rule that requires increased fuel efficiency standards for new cars."

While I understand the appeal of the "everything approach", I'm not too excited about more drilling, whose turn around time is never as quick as people imagine or how many times we are going to hear "drill baby drill" over the next few weeks.

Quote :

"Hinted at for months, the plan modifies a ban that for more than 20 years has limited drilling along coastal areas other than the Gulf of Mexico."

If they had to expand drilling I think just expanding the Gulf area would have been a better compromise than all this east coast stuff.


Here is an article on wind power in NC:
http://hamptonroads.com/2010/03/public-can-comment-nc-wind-project-plans

[Edited on March 31, 2010 at 3:44 AM. Reason : .]

3/31/2010 3:42:02 AM

UNC did a feasibility study for offshore wind in the carolina's:


http://www.climate.unc.edu/coastal-wind

3/31/2010 3:59:27 AM

dubble poast

[Edited on March 31, 2010 at 4:03 AM. Reason : ]

3/31/2010 4:02:28 AM

To me, this seems like a bit of foresight on the president's part even beyond just trying to court those in congress who are in Big Oil's pocket. He sees gas prices on the rise and will only continue to do so as the economy continues to recover, so with these steps, even if actual drilling is (thankfully) a long way off, he can say that he is doing something and beating the winguts to the punch so they can't whine and bitch that he doesn't care about energy independence (even though we all know that won't stop them ).

3/31/2010 4:03:45 AM

Keeping the troops in the war...
Offshore drilling...

What a far-left liberal agenda this President has...

3/31/2010 8:13:42 AM

Quote :

"Where's the ELF when you need them? "

3/31/2010 8:42:31 AM

Fuck coal, fuck off-shore drilling and fuck his shitty climate change bill. He practices environmentalism where it's questionable, and neglects where it's inarguably needed.

and fuck his hybrids

[Edited on March 31, 2010 at 8:55 AM. Reason : Let us have diesel]

3/31/2010 8:52:52 AM

Good to see this, though he's probably partially doing this to sway favor.

3/31/2010 9:33:07 AM

^ahahha

"I'm happy he's doing something that I want...

..but HE PROBABLY HAS SOME SECRET FUCKING AGENDA THAT ASSFUCK "

3/31/2010 9:34:04 AM

Wow, no one here has noticed the cause for this. Money. The government is broke and selling these leases will raise a nice giant pot of money to stave off the reckoning for a few more weeks. Like libertarians say, if you want to legalize something, then first you must bankrupt the state and leave Congress begging for sin-tax dollars.

3/31/2010 9:50:22 AM

hey maybe this will extend to legalized pot.

word.

3/31/2010 10:20:24 AM

the thing is that we are saying we wont drill offshore of our country, but if you go off our shores into international waters.......which is what, 3 miles? other countries are drilling there. so whats the point, we are losing our own oil to these countries

3/31/2010 10:32:39 AM

The point is to not destroy the ocean's ecosystem.

3/31/2010 10:34:41 AM

Pres. Obama has shown himself to be big on talk. But if energy independence isn't as big a priority as taking over health-care...that is all we may get from him on this...talk.

3/31/2010 10:37:15 AM

i agree that he is simply trying to find ways to pay for the health care and his bail outs and the continued war in the middle east. We know that war isnt close to being over. I estimate 4 more years. Now, he knows this and doesnt want to show as much of loss each day as bush had. then he can say he did good cause he finished the wars

3/31/2010 11:00:15 AM

^^^good thing this new development isn't going to do that

3/31/2010 1:14:56 PM

Call it hypocritical if you want, but I actually trust this president to implement a policy that will be mindful of potential damage to ecosystems and habitat to the extent that he is far more likely to retract this endeavor if the environmental study came back stating a high risk as opposed to previous cowboy mentalities of "Drill here, Drill NOW, Drill in the skulls of baby seals!".

3/31/2010 1:29:32 PM

^I'd be interested to see a source saying that is a quote from Bush

It's our oil and if we don't drill it some other country will (for several of these areas). I think I'd prefer it to be done via our rules and regulations instead of another country's.

3/31/2010 1:46:49 PM

Quote :

"This still won't quiet the sorry excuses of existence who won't be happy until every last bit of pristine habitat is raped and pillaged in order to obtain every last drop of dead dinosaur. Plus, I thought the deal was to allow states to decide whether they wanted it or not and had to be coordinated with neighboring states. Yay for blobs of oil and other such pollutants to start washing up on our beautiful NC beaches!"

waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh

3/31/2010 2:15:12 PM

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36110038/ns/business-oil_and_energy/

Quote :

"Republicans criticized the plan, saying it keeps the biggest U.S. offshore energy resources from being developed. "Opening up areas off the Virginia coast to offshore production is a positive step, but keeping the Pacific Coast and Alaska, as well as the most promising resources off the Gulf of Mexico, under lock and key makes no sense at a time when gasoline prices are rising and Americans are asking 'Where are the jobs?'" said House of Representatives Republican Leader John Boehner. "

Looking at the map at the top of this thread, there doesn't look to be much gulf coast left that isn't approved for drilling after this expansion, and there is new territory for drilling in Alaska. Those who predicted Republican dissatisfaction with this, looks like you were right. This plan doesn't go too far enough!

Here is the CNN summary clips of the President's speech (2:44 mins long)

3/31/2010 2:21:23 PM

Supplanter, I know you don't believe in capitalism or any of that lunatic balogney,

but imagine an online source where you could put all your links and sources and then gather visitors that are interested in your massive vault of knowledge you could share. then you don't have to waste energy trying to 'convert the trolls' like us. there might even be a way to get capital out of it somehow...hmmmm... i know this is probably all very new to you so i won't explain further, and just let this sink in for lesson 1a part I.

3/31/2010 2:30:22 PM

^lolwut

3/31/2010 2:50:50 PM

I can see why the Republicans are upset over Obama's plan. There's not enough red when compared to their plan:

3/31/2010 3:50:17 PM

why can't we drill in those letters in the gulf of mexico!?!?

3/31/2010 3:58:08 PM

Cute. He made a picture.

3/31/2010 4:06:40 PM

Quote :

"I think I'd prefer it to be done via our rules and regulations instead of another country's."

So true. While I don't expect you to answer for the GOP you are, and have been, one of the more reasonable people on this (as well as other issues) so I ask what is up with the 'it's never good enough' mentality from those on the right? Look no further than the minority leader's own words for proof. The president is already getting serious outrage from my peeps who feel betrayed by this. The president would go a long way to assuage folks by also tackling real environmental dangers such as pollution or hell, how about the giant island of plastic in the Pacific that is decimating wildlife?

[Edited on March 31, 2010 at 7:27 PM. Reason : .]

3/31/2010 7:27:02 PM

^ Did it occur to you that the right is trying to lessen the flak from Obama's left by acting outraged as if Obama is doing nothing?

3/31/2010 8:29:09 PM

Why would the right care about the concerns and grumblings of the president's base which is presumably the left thus do anything that might be perceived as helping them? Hell, if anything they'd exploit this to say "See, see! Those enviro-nazi, far-left, eco-terrorist, tree-hugging hippy loons don't care about energy independence!!1"

3/31/2010 8:38:39 PM

yeah, I was actually kinda surprised by this. while, yes, I'm wondering what the angle is, I'll give him props for making a decision that actually doesn't suck

3/31/2010 8:42:52 PM

^ what angles are there?

Obama has always billed himself as not being an ideologue. The past couple of times OBama has made some decision the right agrees with, someone always asks what the angle is… when are they just going to think maybe he meant his rhetoric about bipartisanship and cooperation that he’s been talking about for years?

The only reason you even perceive him as being some far-left extremist is because you bought into Fox News’ and the conservative radio’s unsubstantiated propaganda about Obama. You’re as gullible as the tea-baggers.

But the fact is that since OBama took the presidency, the actual far left left has been grumbling that he’s not left enough. Since Obama backed off the public option, his mild approach to DADT, bailing out the massive car companies, buckling to pressure about the KSM trial, keeping around the warrantless wiretapping, or being too slow with closing gitmo, Obama’s been fairly moderate so far.

3/31/2010 8:52:07 PM

I'd like for someone on the right to step up and call Boehner out for being a big fucking liar because of course his complete distortion of the truth was championed by the chorus in the wingnut echo chamber furthering the lie about what is and isn't open for plunder exploration.

3/31/2010 9:21:12 PM

The President's decision on drilling "continues to defy the will of the American people"
-Boehner 03/31/10

4/1/2010 2:09:00 AM

Sweet!

4/1/2010 2:23:00 AM

^^ The fuck? Their GOP candidate for presidency 2 years ago was fucking promoting the hell out of off shore drilling. I guess since McCain wasn't voted in, that meant the "will of the American people" did not want off shore drilling.

Every time I see this Boehner tard on TV, I can't help but brand him as an idiot. I think I'll throw him in with Reid and Pelosi.

4/1/2010 3:09:07 AM

No, no I'm pretty sure what he means by "defy the will of the blah blah blah" is that the president's measure doesn't go far enough in his, and therefore of course, the American People's eyes. Unless, I am mistaking your meaning.

4/1/2010 3:21:42 AM

I'm pretty sure Boehner doesn't really care about making an actual point so long as he gets the opportunity to make Obama look bad... at least in this case.

4/1/2010 6:41:34 AM

He's just pissed because the president didn't make more dead dinosaurs available so that Koch Industries could dump more money into his campaign. . .

4/1/2010 6:55:07 AM

I'd love to watch the GOP collectively say "HELL NO YOU CAN'T" to this one. Those would make for some damn entertaining campaign ads this fall.

4/1/2010 8:10:55 AM

you people do know that oil doesn't really come from dead dinosaurs, right?

4/1/2010 8:12:18 AM