Interior bans drilling on 11.5 million acres of 'petroleum reserve.'

[Jroc]

The petroleum reserve apparently is not for producing petroleum in Obama's world..

President Obama is campaigning as a champion of the oil and gas boom he's had nothing to do with, and even as his regulators try to stifle it. The latest example is the Interior Department's little-noticed August decision to close off from drilling nearly half of the 23.5 million acre National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska.

The area is called the National Petroleum Reserve because in 1976 Congress designated it as a strategic oil and natural gas stockpile to meet the "energy needs of the nation." Alaska favors exploration in nearly the entire reserve. The feds had been reviewing four potential development plans, and the state of Alaska had strongly objected to the most restrictive of the four. Sure enough, that was the plan Interior chose.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar says his plan "will help the industry bring energy safely to market from this remote location, while also protecting wildlife and subsistence rights of Alaska Natives." He added that the proposal will expand "safe and responsible oil and gas development, and builds on our efforts to help companies develop the infrastructure that's needed to bring supplies online."

The problem is almost no one in the energy industry and few in Alaska agree with him. In an August 22 letter to Mr. Salazar, the entire Alaska delegation in Congress—Senators Mark Begich and Lisa Murkowski and Representative Don Young—call it "the largest wholesale land withdrawal and blocking of access to an energy resource by the federal government in decades." This decision, they add, "will cause serious harm to the economy and energy security of the United States, as well as to the state of Alaska." Mr. Begich is a Democrat.

The letter also says the ruling "will significantly limit options for a pipeline" through the reserve. This pipeline has long been sought to transport oil and gas from the Chukchi Sea, the North Slope and future Arctic drilling. Mr. Salazar insists that a pipeline could still be built, but given the Obama Administration's decision to block the Keystone XL pipeline, Alaskans are right to be skeptical.

Alaskans also worry that the National Petroleum Reserve will become the same political football as the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve, or ANWR, which Washington has barred from drilling because of dubious environmental objections. The greens now want Congress to rename the energy reserve the "Western Arctic Reserve

"


Review & Outlook: Obama's Great Alaska Shutout - WSJ.com

 

[waltky]

Westeners don't want unsightly drill rigs in their neighborhoods...

Oil, gas drilling rile West's energy embrace
17 Dec.`12 — This used to be a land proud of its oil barons. Now the energy industry that has brought wealth and jobs across the interior West is prompting angry protests by citizens sporting gas masks and using bullhorns at public hearings.

A generation after the fictional oil tycoons of the TV soap "Dynasty" gave Denver's oil and gas industry a glamorous sheen, the Rocky Mountain region appears to be questioning its romance with the industry. New drilling technology has moved oil and gas production from the sparsely populated plains, where oil rigs are embraced as job creators, closer to cities and suburbs. Now, conflicts are increasing along the populous eastern fringe of the Rockies. Gas-mask-wearing protesters are confronting city and county officials considering whether to limit or ban hydraulic fracturing, a drilling procedure in which water, sand and chemicals are forced deep underground to pry oil and gas from rock. Fracking, as the procedure is called, has led to an energy boom in areas previously unattractive to energy producers, but it is also raising concerns about air and water quality.

The protests in Colorado have gotten intense. At hearings across the state, shouting opponents harass oil and gas representatives. Even Colorado's governor, a Democrat and former geologist who says fracking is safe, has been mobbed by protesters. Leaving a suburban Denver meeting about drilling earlier this fall, Gov. John Hickenlooper ducked into an SUV and pulled away as a crowd of protesters, some of them children, chanted, "Dirty water, dirty air, we get sick and you don't care!" Opposition to fracking has also surfaced in Idaho, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has probed whether the procedure may be responsible for groundwater contamination near the Wyoming town of Pavillion. State officials and others have disputed that claim.

This Dec. 5, 2012 photo shows an oil pump jack in a field adjacent to a sub-division near Fredrick, Colo.

The West's anti-fracking movement hit a watershed moment in a Denver suburb in this year's elections. Longmont, a town of about 85,000 located 30 miles from Denver, voted overwhelmingly to buck state law and prohibit fracking in the city, setting up a legal showdown over whether individual communities can challenge the powerful Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission, which regulates the industry statewide. The vote inspired other fracking opponents from Fort Collins to Colorado Springs — and underscores the energy industry's challenge as it looks to expand into new production areas. "It's the classic case ... of where you stand depends on where you sit," said David Kennedy, head of the Bill Lane Center for the American West at Stanford University. "The historic battle in the West has been the cities and the farmers. Now it's the cities, farmers and the frackers, all battling for water."

The battle is one fracking opponents say they can win, despite a legacy of pro-drilling policies across the state and region. "We're an oil and gas state. We know that. We're going up against a huge industry," said Neshama Abraham, a freelance writer in Boulder who has helped lead fracking opposition in her county. "This is tremendously dangerous technology that is at our front door." The "fracktivists" are making noise even in heavily Republican areas. At a recent city council meeting in Colorado Springs, fracking protesters waved signs warning of environmental destruction while passing drivers honked their support. "You can't drink oil," read one poster. "I think Longmont gave people hope that it is possible to take on this industry," said Laurel Biedermann, a fracking skeptic in Colorado Springs. "We don't have to bend over and be a doormat for this industry."

More Oil, gas drilling rile West's energy embrace - Yahoo! News

 

[OohPooPahDoo]

The petroleum reserve apparently is not for producing petroleum in Obama's world..

Is a savings account for spending?

Alaska favors exploration in nearly the entire reserve

WOW. How SURPRISING that a state government almost entirely dependent on taxes from PETROLEUM activities would favor drilling for oil. WHO WOULD HAVE SEEN THAT ONE COMING?

 

[tap4154]

Obama wants to starve America of our own massive oil and natural gas reserves as he helps other nations exploit theirs. It's all part of his plan to bring America to her knees as payback for our past sins.

The only new drilling is on private land. Anywhere he can (on federal land), King Barry is halting drilling and fracking.

America's worst enemy resides in the White House, not in a cave in Afghanistan.

See the movie "2016" for details.

 

[PUCrussel]

we better not to touch the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Instead, we need to build the keystone pipe line to get oil from Canada.

 

[TheOldSchool]

we better not to touch the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Instead, we need to build the keystone pipe line to get oil from Canada.

We should build 2 or 3 of them to be safe