I'm new to this site, but the partisanship here is so ridiculous I couldn't help but start posting.
As for these offshore sites, most of these won't be used, it's just a savvy political move by Obama. How can I assure this? Well, I'll quote a friend of mine so that I won't have to go into a lengthy diatribe. I think he sums it up pretty succinctly:
This legislations goal is not to increase domestic production, but to provide leverage when it comes to alternative energy bills and possibly a future C&T bill.
By pointing your fingers at the left and "na-na booing" them for Obama reneging on his promise, you encourage GOP support of this bill and subsequently pave the way for more leftist initiatives in the future. Lol.
As for these offshore sites, most of these won't be used, it's just a savvy political move by Obama. How can I assure this? Well, I'll quote a friend of mine so that I won't have to go into a lengthy diatribe. I think he sums it up pretty succinctly:
OR, it could be a ploy to call the oil companies and the GOP's bluff...
The oil companies won't drill these leases because it is not economical to drill them.
They already have thousand of leases in the gulf and they don't drill them because of economics.
If you factor in all the costs of finding, drilling and pumping off-shore oil, it is more than $85 a barrel
The current spot oil price is $82 a barrel. Who wants to lose $3 for every barrel you pump?
The cost of finding, drilling and pump oil in Saudi Arabia is $2.50 a barrel.
The oil companies just want the leases because they represent assets on their balance sheet, even if they are never drilled. That makes their stock prices higher
These leases are far off shore.
50 miles off the Virgina coast.
125 miles off the Florida coast.
If you look on Google earth you will see they deep water leases, in places where the ocean floor is any where from 300 feet to more than 2,000 feet deep. These kinds of leases are very expensive to explore, drill and produce. The costs are way beyond $85 per barrel.
Right now, the oil companies have 4,764 leases in the western gulf of Mexico that are undrilled. A thousand leases expire each year without ever being drilled.
Given the costs, most of these leases will never be drilled.
This legislations goal is not to increase domestic production, but to provide leverage when it comes to alternative energy bills and possibly a future C&T bill.
By pointing your fingers at the left and "na-na booing" them for Obama reneging on his promise, you encourage GOP support of this bill and subsequently pave the way for more leftist initiatives in the future. Lol.