Obama Kills Atlantic Offshore Drilling For Five Years

[ScienceRocks]

Obama Kills Atlantic Offshore Drilling For Five Years


Obama Kills Atlantic Offshore Drilling For Five Years
Yesterday the Obama administration announced a delaying tactic which will put off the possibility of new offshore oil drilling on the Atlantic coast for at least five years:
The announcement by the Interior Department sets into motion what will be at least a five year environmental survey to determine whether and where oil production might occur.
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell notes that a planned lease sale, which the administration cancelled last year, will now be put off until at least 2018. As you might expect, Republicans were not impressed with the decision:


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Not only stupid, but evil...As raising the price of energy hurts people that can't afford food, medicine or choose one or the other. Obama is hurting the poor. I'm all for clean advances in energy, but this is nuts.

 

[uscitizen]

Were republicans any more impressed when Bush did the same thing?

As I keep saying just a 3rd Bush term. I do not understand why you right wingers do not love the guy.

 

[starcraftzzz]

Good the economy doesn't need more oil spils and more pollution

 

[TheGreatGatsby]

This is why I laugh when Obama, Plouffe, and Axelrod pimp their saying, "There's no silver bullet to getting oil prices down." (They've all been using that saying in recent weeks).

 

[uscitizen]

And they are correct, considering globalization and a fairly free market economy for oil and oil products it is inevitable.

 

[Zander]

This is very similar to the theory that Obama has for unemployment- if we can get more people to give up looking for jobs, we will lower unemployment- if we can stop drilling for oil, gas prices will come down.

 

[uscitizen]

This is very similar to the theory that Obama has for unemployment- if we can get more people to give up looking for jobs, we will lower unemployment- if we can stop drilling for oil, gas prices will come down.

As opposed to the theory that if we pay workers less it will mean more jobs?

Hell of a way to build/grow an economy in a consumer based spending economy.

 

[rightwinger]

Living on the Atlantic coast I'm glad he killed it

Let the Gulf coast put up with that shit

 

[uscitizen]

I think they should drill all along the florida coast as well.

And who stopped that?

 

[TheGreatGatsby]

And they are correct, considering globalization and a fairly free market economy for oil and oil products it is inevitable.

Yes. They are correct, but it's a phony argument. They can't magically improve oil prices over night. But it is their policies that affect the oil prices at any given time. They want to pretend they have no control and that is a load of bs.

 

[waltky]

Obama gonna get us independent of foreign oil an' lower gas prices...

Drilling review process to speed up
Tuesday, April 3, 2012 - The Obama administration on Tuesday will announce plans to speed up the review process for oil and gas companies seeking to drill on U.S. lands.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is set to announce an automated system for tracking onshore drilling applications as he finishes a two-day tour of booming oil and gas exploration in North Dakota. On Monday, Salazar joined the state's congressional delegation and Republican Gov. Jack Dalrymple to visit a drilling rig producing oil for The Woodlands-based Newfield Exploration Co. and temporary housing for oil field workers who have swarmed the region. Under the change being detailed Tuesday, the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management will be able to better monitor permits at every step of the federal review process and quickly flag those with missing or incomplete information.

Modeled after an approach used for offshore drilling applications, the move could slash the amount of time it takes the government to process oil and gas permits by two-thirds, down from an average of 298 days. Much of the current processing time is devoted to companies and regulators passing applications back and forth to fill in holes, and bureau officials attributed 230 days of the delays to operators. Although the move would apply to drilling nationwide, it is significant for exploration in the West, where companies are using horizontal drilling techniques and hydraulic fracturing to extract oil and natural gas from dense shale formations.

In the past four years, North Dakota has exploded with activity as companies take advantage of the techniques to extract crude from the Bakken Shale. The U.S. Geological Survey estimated in 2008 that the Bakken contains up to 4.3 billion barrels of recoverable oil, though an upcoming agency reassessment may raise the number. Salazar called the region "ground zero for American energy production," adding: "There is a huge future here." "The Bakken play here in North Dakota is generating impressive energy production for our country and creating thousands of American jobs," he said.

The surge in oil production in North Dakota, both on federal leases and private lands, helped push domestic oil production up to an eight-year high in 2011. The Obama administration has been touting that development as it seeks to assuage voters worried about rising gasoline prices. But critics say the jump is mostly from drilling on private lands - not on federal leases under the administration's control. "Where the growth in oil out here has been, it's been on private land," said Rep. Rick Berg, R-N.D., who joined Salazar Monday. Berg warned that the specter of new regulations - including a rule governing hydraulic fracturing on federal lands - threatens some of the work even on privately held tracts. "What we need is common-sense regulations that are stable ... and based on sound science," he said.

MORE

 

[waltky]

Gettin' America weaned off foreign oil...

Lifting Drilling Restrictions Could Increase U.S. Reserves by 30 Percent, Study Finds
August 13, 2012 - A report from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that lifting the ban on federal oil drilling in certain areas could increase U.S. petroleum reserves by 30 percent, including an estimated 8 billion barrels of oil in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).

Using estimates from the Department of the Interior (DOI), CBO said that lifting federal drilling restrictions could bring billions more barrels of oil and gas to market. “CBO estimates that about 175 billion barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) exists in undiscovered oil and gas reserves on federal lands (excluding most of the natural gas reserves in Alaska)—nearly half of it in the central and western parts of the Gulf of Mexico,” CBO said. “About 70 percent of the undiscovered oil and gas is under federal control on lands that are currently open to leasing; thus, additional receipts would come from opening the other 30 percent to leasing and production.” Thus, by lifting federal drilling bans in place in areas like ANWR and areas of the Outer Continental Shelf, oil-producing companies could gain access to an additional 30 percent of U.S. reserves – 52.5 billion barrels.

While the reserves are technically recoverable – meaning oil companies could extract the oil and gas -- legal restrictions and current administration policies prohibit oil companies from doing so. CBO excluded most of Alaska’s gas reserves because there is no infrastructure in place to transport the gas to market, a fact CBO said made them unlikely to be tapped. The figures come from an August 9 CBO report examining the benefits the federal government would receive if it lifted all current drilling bans on federal lands, including ANWAR. The report found that the government would earn $150 billion in additional revenue over the next decade if it lifted all current drilling restriction on federal lands.

However, CBO noted that the value of the leases would depend on oil prices – which largely determine whether oil companies develop the land on which they are permitted to drill. If oil prices were to drop in coming years, oil companies would probably not develop all of their leases. However, if oil prices continue to climb, oil companies would probably move to develop as many leases as they can. The oil and gas reserves that are closed to production are divided into two general categories – onshore and offshore. About 60 billion barrels of oil and gas are located onshore, of which about 20 percent – 12 billion barrels – are currently off-limits. Of those 12 billion barrels, five percent are under national parks where drilling is legally prohibited and 15 percent are on other federal lands where government policy prohibits drilling.

Most of the prohibited reserves lie in the OCS, the underwater region between three and 200 nautical miles from the U.S. coastline, which are currently off-limits due to federal policy. However, CBO and Interior estimate that due to current technological limitations, only about 350 million barrels will actually be recovered from this region over the next decade. That estimate could change should the industry make technological advances like those that have enabled current deep water drilling to take place or if prices rise sufficiently to make increased production cost effective. Also, state policy, particularly in California, will also play a large role in whether oil companies are allowed to develop reserves in the OCS.

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[bripat9643]

Living on the Atlantic coast I'm glad he killed it

Let the Gulf coast put up with that shit

When will you stop "putting up with" driving your car?

 

[waltky]

Granny says...

... somebody smack dat brat.

 

[Care4all]

why are we EXPORTING gasoline and diesal? 650 MILLION barrels a day?

why are we EXPORTING 1.7 million barrels of oil a day?

COLUMN-Surging U.S. oil exports cannot stay hidden forever-Campbell | Reuters

Your arguments all fall flat on their face. EXPORTING our oil/gas, is what is causing the prices here to stay high....NOT the drilling off the Atlantic coast.

 

[Care4all]

AND that is why canada wants the keystone pipeline....TO EXPORT MORE OIL TO OTHER COUNTRIES OVER SEAS SO to keep prices here, high.

 

[Care4all]

Wake up

 

[there4eyeM]

Anything that speeds up the transfer to alternatives is good.

Look at the consumption rates in 'barrels' of the US, then look at how much any drilling would add to the supply.
It is a very small percentage and will not 'solve' the problem of energy.
It will make the dependence worse and the pollution worse.
It will maintain the present centralization of power.
It will benefit those who could not care less about you.
Do we just want personal transportation, or do we insist on two ton behemoths with seven liter engines that roar and make teen age boys excited? There are many ways to improve the situation, but economizing is the most immediate and most advantageous. The many alternatives that exist can then be applied to what is truly needed and not confused with what is currently used.

 

[flacaltenn]

why are we EXPORTING gasoline and diesal? 650 MILLION barrels a day?

why are we EXPORTING 1.7 million barrels of oil a day?

COLUMN-Surging U.S. oil exports cannot stay hidden forever-Campbell | Reuters

Your arguments all fall flat on their face. EXPORTING our oil/gas, is what is causing the prices here to stay high....NOT the drilling off the Atlantic coast.

We brew gasoline here because it is a business that balances our trade. Wanna prohibit gasoline exports? THe amount of oil utilized in this biz SHOULD BE subtracted from imports and not counted, but it probably is..

And as for your assertion about the Keystone Pipeline, all that fear has no real basis in reality. Because if we're BLOCKED from access to that oil -- it will SURELY go elsewhere. In fact, the Chinese would be more than willing to HELP it get to a deep water port.

The Keystone goes DEEP into mid-America and refineries would get built, and jobs would be created and any politician with a smidgeon of a brain best get out of the way...

You must have missed this part of the very article you quoted...

By allowing the sophisticated refineries of the Gulf Coast to meet international demand, the world has so far avoided the surge in refined product prices that would be needed to allow simple refineries to replicate their output.

Indeed, any step to take the United States out of the oil product export market in a bid to cut domestic fuel prices would probably backfire for this very reason.

But of course, this is no guarantee that U.S. politicians will not try it given their lengthy track record of misguided attempts to shape the oil market to their satisfaction.

We are NOT exporting large amounts of crude oil.. We are exporting products MADE from that crude. A good thing for America.

 

[Political Junky]

Federal report: U.S. oil imports down, domestic production highest since 2003 - Los Angeles Times