http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/18/us/18cong.html

Quote :

"House Republicans on Thursday blocked a Democratic effort to pressure energy companies into drilling for oil on lands they already leased from the federal government, calling the legislation a sham. As the fight over gasoline prices reached the floors of both the House and Senate, the Democratic initiative to spur exploration in areas where drilling has been sanctioned fell short of the margin needed under rules used to bring the measure to the floor even though it drew majority support. The vote was 244 to 173, more than 30 votes less than required. Rejecting the measure were 162 Republicans and 11 Democrats; 218 Democrats and 26 Republicans supported it. Democrats used rules requiring a two-thirds majority for approval to deny Republicans an opportunity to offer their own proposal to open restricted coastal areas to oil rigs. Opponents said the legislation, which also called on the Interior Department to accelerate leasing in an area of Alaska specifically set aside for drilling, could diminish domestic exploration since it would bar oil companies from obtaining new leases if they were not actively exploring current holdings. Republicans said companies might be reluctant to bid on new sites they could then lose if they were seen as not moving fast enough. The White House expressed a similar view in issuing a veto threat against the bill. “By blocking some firms from competing for new leases, this legislation would further increase gasoline prices that already exceed $4 per gallon and result in unintended consequences due to litigation,” the White House said. Democrats said they were calling the bluff of Republicans on their persistent demands for more domestic production. “Drill on the leases you have or let somebody else do it,” said Representative Steny H. Hoyer, Democrat of Maryland and the majority leader. Under fire from Republicans for not opening up coastal areas to new drilling, Democrats offered the legislation to show that they favored increased domestic oil and gas production, but want it to take place where drilling is already allowed. They said oil could be produced more quickly from those areas rather than in new locales. “Let there be no mistake about it,” said Representative Nick J. Rahall II, Democrat of West Virginia and chairman of the Natural Resources Committee. “As Democrats, we are pro-drilling. We are for drilling now. We are for drilling in areas that bring near-term relief to the American public.” Democrats say oil companies are sitting on 68 million acres they could be exploring. But Republicans say many of those sites have proved to be dry holes or are the subject of lawsuits and disputes over federal permits. They said that energy companies need new stock and that technological improvements have made drilling less of an environmental threat. “We tied up offshore in the days of the eight-track tape player,” said Representative Jack Kingston, Republican of Georgia. “Today the world has iPods, BlackBerries, cellphones and everything else. Technology has moved past the good old tape player.” In the Senate, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, took steps to start debate on a measure intended to curb speculation in the oil markets, trading that members of both parties have said is the cause of at least some of the jump in oil prices. The measure, which faces a crucial test vote early next week, would provide new staff members and authority to the Commodities Futures Trading Committee to pursue suspected cases of excessive speculation. It also seeks to force traders using foreign exchanges to follow United States regulations. And it calls for new limits on the futures contracts that can be held by those who are not commercial producers and buyers of actual petroleum products for future delivery. Senate Republicans support elements of the Democratic bill and may not stand in the way of its full consideration. But they are pressing for an opportunity to offer amendments like one opening the coast to new exploration. At the same time, Senator Ted Stevens, Republican of Alaska and often a party leader on energy issues, said Thursday that he was anxious to take steps to curb speculation. “We have to do something to put these people in fear,” Mr. Stevens said. "

Why not force the companies to drill where they already have? Is it more politically expedient to say that democrats are tree huggers and blocking drilling in new areas than admit companies aren't drilling in areas they already own?

7/18/2008 9:54:07 AM

because most think that there isnt any oil to be found in those locations....which is why they are not drilling them now (if I remember correctly)

7/18/2008 10:26:15 AM

^lol the article says that as well

7/18/2008 10:28:23 AM

there you go...why drill where you dont think there is oil? wont it drive the cost up further if the company has to pay for a bunch of work that bears no fruit?

7/18/2008 10:47:43 AM

^prolly...but if the price goes up and then they drill where the oil is, they make more money

7/18/2008 10:53:48 AM

I bet the areas that currently have leases have taxes that have to be paid

and the offshore areas do not

7/18/2008 11:05:35 AM

Quote :

"Why not force the companies to drill where they already have? Is it more politically expedient to say that democrats are tree huggers and blocking drilling in new areas than admit companies aren't drilling in areas they already own?"

Brilliant! Let's have the government FORCE a company to drill where there is no oil! Why didn't we think of this sooner, this will surely solve all our energy needs.

Or maybe, just maybe, this is political show to try and make the Republicans look bad. Nah, couldn't be that cause I know the Democrats would never ever do that.

7/18/2008 11:14:12 AM

lol how does this make republicans look bad? if anything this makes dems look stupid

[Edited on July 18, 2008 at 11:16 AM. Reason : nice spin though]

7/18/2008 11:16:28 AM

I said it was the Dems *trying* to make Republicans look bad. Read the friggin topic of this thread. That's how, so they can try and say "Hey we are pro-drilling but the evilrepublicans won't let us help the American people."

Did I really need to spell that out?

7/18/2008 11:39:53 AM

When the dems asked Bush to release SPR oil onto the market, at that point I realized that they have NO CLUE how the oil market works. I laughed my ass off. Honestly, it was so funny it is simply sad.

7/18/2008 11:42:41 AM

most political shit is sad

7/18/2008 11:45:56 AM

Yeeaah... this would only make republicans look bad if you only read the first paragraph.

Blatant political move.

7/18/2008 11:50:28 AM

^

indeed...and shit like this has me extremely frustrated with people on both sides of the aisle.

ENOUGH WITH THE POSTURING. LETS GET SOMETHING DONE THAT ACTUALLY MATTERS. STOP THE PETTY BULLSHIT.

the republican executive branch vs. the democratic legislative branch are in a no-holds barred pissing match.

7/18/2008 4:44:10 PM

I don't feel like looking into it, but maybe someone here knows. In the labrynth that is Federal oil licensing, if I own a lease and find myself unable to drill can I then either contract with another company or lease the land to that other company for drilling purposes? I would hope so, but government rules rarely make obvious sense.

7/18/2008 5:23:12 PM

Quote :

"Why not force the companies to drill where they already have?"

are you an idiot?

7/19/2008 3:07:39 PM

I am sure the oil companies who hire and spend millions on engineers/scientists to investigate oil deposits know a little more about where the oil is than a bunch of windbag politicians playing armchair geologist/environmentalists in their comfy deskchair in DC drawing circles on maps

7/19/2008 7:36:00 PM

exactly...why cant they just give up the land they know there isnt shit on, and trade it for land that might have something

7/19/2008 7:39:00 PM

the oil companies are drilling new spots everyday in the northern gulf, there are hundreds of what they call "jack up rigs" on the move out there and I've seen a few dozen being assembled in port right now.

Many of these are already working rigs, they get tugged right to where they wanna drill, anchor up, lower the columns, do their thing and move on.

also, there are rigs that have been built as early as 1955 that are still drilling and at work out there, it's pretty cool to think how tough these things are



http://www.chouest.com/Index.html

the orange ship in the pic next to the jack up rig is a tender boat boat owned by Chouest(all of their ships have the same paint scheme), they have a fleet of hundreds of these things that keep the rigs going, bring supplies for new rigs being built, and to ferry workers back and forth 24/7...

[Edited on July 19, 2008 at 8:05 PM. Reason : .]

7/19/2008 7:52:37 PM

isnt there some deadzone in the gulf now because of all the oil shit they've done?

7/19/2008 7:53:19 PM

I dunno, I'm sure google will tell us, I didn't see anything like that, if there is I would assume that it is from back in the day. all the rigs can cut off flow from the sea floor, plus there are numerous cut off valves along the floor of the ocean so they can cut any given pipe section off if something were to happen

plus most of the pipes are just 18" or so, not as big as I'd assumed they'd be

friend of mine gave me a chart with all the locations for the pipes/cut off valves/junctions/etc that are scattered off the Louisiana/Mississippi coast and it's amazing how many there are

7/19/2008 7:57:41 PM

Quote :

"Why not force the companies to drill where they already have? Is it more politically expedient to say that democrats are tree huggers and blocking drilling in new areas than admit companies aren't drilling in areas they already own?"

Wait a minute. Are these the same corporate greedy evil big oil companies that we're talking about? If they were that greedy, if they were bent on MORE record profits... WOULDN'T THEY BE DRILLING THE LAND THAT IS LEASED TO THEM IF THEY BELIEVE OIL IS IN THE GROUND?

My God, I could lease them my backyard, but that doesn't mean there's oil in my backyard.

Force the oil companies to drill... that is quite something. If this bill ever gets passed, I hope Congress foots the bill for a dry hole too. Or else... that cost will be passed down to the consumer as well and we can further thank Congress for record gas prices.

7/19/2008 8:13:30 PM

Quote :

"isnt there some deadzone in the gulf now because of all the oil shit they've done? "

there is a "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico, but it has nothing to do with offshore drilling. The Mississippi River flows into the Gulf, and dumps a bunch of nutrients and shit from the Midwestern farms (fertilizer, livestock shit, etc). This causes a bunch of stuff to grow in the water (algae, i think...maybe certain single-cell organisms and stuff, too) that hogs the oxygen supply.

7/21/2008 4:27:01 AM

http://www.yahoo.com/s/921923

7/23/2008 10:09:14 AM

420,000 gallon oil spill in the gulf today

noice


i know it's not related to the storm but that's a pretty major oopsie

[Edited on July 24, 2008 at 1:06 AM. Reason : .]

7/24/2008 1:04:33 AM

hopefully it was in that deadzone

7/24/2008 3:57:05 AM

how convenient

7/24/2008 8:02:49 AM

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080729/ap_on_re_us/dead_zone;_ylt=AhT1PobB_ABYYb7rpL2a6oms0NUE

7/29/2008 10:49:27 AM

7/29/2008 11:47:58 AM