China's Drilling for Oil in America's Backyard, Republicans Say

[ScreamingEagle]

June 11, 2008

(CNSNews.com) - House Republicans want the American people to know that right now -- around 60 miles off the coast of Key West, Fla. -- China is drilling for oil, thanks to a lease issued by Cuba.

But 1,200 miles north of Key West, Democrats in Washington are blocking the United States from conducting its own environmentally-safe oil and gas exploration in similar U.S. coastal areas, said a news release from House Republican leader John Boehner's office.

"By prohibiting the United States from taking part in the same type of energy exploration that the Chinese are conducting just miles off our shores, the Democratic Majority on Capitol Hill continues to prove itself complicit in an energy crisis that has saddled American families and small businesses with gas prices that have reached $4.05 per gallon today," the news release said.

"Do congressional Democrats actually believe China has more ingenuity and more concern for the environment than the United States?" Republicans asked.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Energy Department said gasoline prices are expected to remain close to $4 a gallon through 2009.

Republicans are pushing an energy plan that would expand domestic oil exploration and production; encourage the opening of new American oil refineries; and invest in alternative energy sources such as wind, nuclear, and captured carbon dioxide.


China's Drilling for Oil in America's Backyard, Republicans Say -- 06/11/2008

 

[Care4all]

The Republican Government and Congress in Florida is AGAINST IT, the Republican US Senators and Representatives are against drilling in the Gulf and the US Air Force has a strategic NO FLY ZONE for practices and training in the Gulf of Mexico and are against it?

It is disturbing that China is drilling 60 miles off the Coast of Key West, if they are as careful as they are with all else that they do like making toys with lead in it and poisoning our pets with tainted dog food then one would have to expect a catastrophe that would affect Key west's eco system and tourism to be happening in just a matter of time....

On top of this, the usa governent opened up hundreds of thousands of acres of gvt land for the oil companies to explore and drill of which the oil companies have only done so on 30% of it......so, what is with that....? They are spending their money exploring in Nigeria and places like this instead.....? And they want us to give up the Artic National Wildlife reserve...while all of these other gvt lands that have potential are not even explored by the Big Gun Oil companies? Some little guys are in there drawing some oil out, but they don't have the kind of operation that a big gun would have in extracting the oil....heard this on c-span this week....

care

 

[Manuel]

...if they are as careful as they are with all else that they do like making toys with lead in it and poisoning our pets with tainted dog food ...

I bet 80% of the products in your home are made in china ... and your still alive.

 

[Ravi]

The Republican Government and Congress in Florida is AGAINST IT, the Republican US Senators and Representatives are against drilling in the Gulf and the US Air Force has a strategic NO FLY ZONE for practices and training in the Gulf of Mexico and are against it?

It is disturbing that China is drilling 60 miles off the Coast of Key West, if they are as careful as they are with all else that they do like making toys with lead in it and poisoning our pets with tainted dog food then one would have to expect a catastrophe that would affect Key west's eco system and tourism to be happening in just a matter of time....

On top of this, the usa governent opened up hundreds of thousands of acres of gvt land for the oil companies to explore and drill of which the oil companies have only done so on 30% of it......so, what is with that....? They are spending their money exploring in Nigeria and places like this instead.....? And they want us to give up the Artic National Wildlife reserve...while all of these other gvt lands that have potential are not even explored by the Big Gun Oil companies? Some little guys are in there drawing some oil out, but they don't have the kind of operation that a big gun would have in extracting the oil....heard this on c-span this week....

care

They aren't Care, it's all bullshit. China is not drilling off the coast of Florida.

More fearmongering by the Republicans.

 

[LordBrownTrout]

To hell with the people, keep tossing the political footballs, driving the wedges. What is it? Will it take 10 dollar a gallon gas to register? We have solutions but we're all tied up in political bullshit.

 

[Ravi]

To hell with the people, keep tossing the political footballs, driving the wedges. What is it? Will it take 10 dollar a gallon gas to register? We have solutions but we're all tied up in political bullshit.

This is what happens when you lie. No one believes you.

 

[Alpha1]

The Republican Government and Congress in Florida is AGAINST IT, the Republican US Senators and Representatives are against drilling in the Gulf and the US Air Force has a strategic NO FLY ZONE for practices and training in the Gulf of Mexico and are against it?

It is disturbing that China is drilling 60 miles off the Coast of Key West, if they are as careful as they are with all else that they do like making toys with lead in it and poisoning our pets with tainted dog food then one would have to expect a catastrophe that would affect Key west's eco system and tourism to be happening in just a matter of time....

On top of this, the usa governent opened up hundreds of thousands of acres of gvt land for the oil companies to explore and drill of which the oil companies have only done so on 30% of it......so, what is with that....? They are spending their money exploring in Nigeria and places like this instead.....? And they want us to give up the Artic National Wildlife reserve...while all of these other gvt lands that have potential are not even explored by the Big Gun Oil companies? Some little guys are in there drawing some oil out, but they don't have the kind of operation that a big gun would have in extracting the oil....heard this on c-span this week....

care

The difference between R's and D's is clear....
Published on 6 Sep 2006 by Energy Bulletin
Clarification of the Huge Chevron Gulf Oil Discovery | EnergyBulletin.net | Peak Oil News Clearinghouse

The US Senate is weeks away from voting on the lifting of the 25-year ban on offshore drilling off the majority of the coasts in the US. This offshore drilling bill was approved in the House of Representatives but political analysts believe the bill will face more opposition in the Senate. The oil industry stands to make high profits if Congress will open up Florida and the Offshore East coast to drilling. To date the offshore drilling bill has not been approved by both houses because of environmental interests. A large potential oil “discovery” in the Gulf would provide evidence that the passing of the offshore oil bill would be beneficial.

lol..Weeks away??? Yeah, sure...this was in 2006
a 25 year ban ....
who is beholdin' to the enviro-nuts ??? guess!
----------------------------------------------------------------
President Lifts Ban on Bristol Bay Offshore Exploration and Drilling
Thursday, January 18, 2007
The Bush administration recently announced that it has lifted a ban on offshore oil drilling in Bristol Bay, Alaska. The move is a shot in the arm for the Alaska oil and gas industry, which is hoping for approval to build a new natural gas pipeline.
************************************************

May 7th, 2007
Bristol Bay.
S. 1311: Bristol Bay Protection Act

A bill to permanently prohibit oil and gas leasing in the North Aleutian Basin Planning Area, and for other purposes.

Sponsor:
Sen. John Kerry [D-MA]
WASHINGTON, D.C. -Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) has introduced the Bristol Bay Protection Act, which will permanently prohibit oil and gas drilling in Alaska's Bristol Bay, situated north of the Alaskan peninsula.
H.R. 1957: Bristol Bay Protection Act

To permanently prohibit oil and gas leasing in the North Aleutian Basin Planning Area, and for other purposes.

Rep. Jay Inslee [D-WA]

 

[LordBrownTrout]

This is what happens when you lie. No one believes you.

Not sure I understand what you're saying.

 

[jreeves]

They aren't Care, it's all bullshit. China is not drilling off the coast of Florida.

More fearmongering by the Republicans.

Fearmongering??

China, India, Cuba in Gulf oil partnership - May. 9, 2006

Plans for foreign oil companies, some from India and China, to drill off the cost of Cuba are prompting calls from lawmakers to ease environmental restrictions that prohibit coastal drilling in most of the U.S., according to a report Tuesday.

At a time of rising soaring gasoline prices caused partly by a lack of supply, legislators are fuming that Cuba is opening up its continental shelf for oil and gas exploration while most of the U.S. continental shelf outside the Gulf of Mexico, which extends 200 miles from shore, has been off limits for drilling since the early 1980s, the New York Times reported.


Firms from China and India will be drilling for oil off the coast of Cuba, but U.S. companies are prohibited from bidding on the contracts, according to a recent report.




Adding insult to injury, the Times said U.S. firms were invited to bid on the Cuban contracts, but were barred by the U.S. government due to the country's longstanding economic embargo of communist Cuba.

"Red China should not be left to drill for oil within spitting distance of our shores without competition from U.S. industries," Sen. Larry Craig, Republican of Idaho, told the Times.

Firms from Canada and Spain will also drill off the Cuban coast, the article said

Craig is introducing a bill to exempt U.S. oil firms from the embargo, much as food and drug firms are, according to the article.

There are also several bills moving through Congress aimed at opening up areas more areas of the U.S. to oil and gas exploration, including coastal waters and Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Supporters of the bills, including the oil industry, say it would help bring down oil and gas prices and decrease the country's reliance on oil imports from the volatile Middle East.

 

[Ravi]

Yes, jreeves, fear mongering.

Here you go:

McClatchy Washington Bureau | 06/12/2008 | GOP claim about Chinese oil drilling off Cuba is untrue

China-Cuba rumors fuel renewed offshore drilling debate - 06/12/2008 - MiamiHerald.com

 

[RetiredGySgt]

Yes, jreeves, fear mongering.

Here you go:

McClatchy Washington Bureau | 06/12/2008 | GOP claim about Chinese oil drilling off Cuba is untrue

China-Cuba rumors fuel renewed offshore drilling debate - 06/12/2008 - MiamiHerald.com

Dishonesty seems to be your stock in trade. The Chinese HAVE purchased the RIGHT to drill, just because they have not started yet does not change that fact. There is oil and gas there according to independent sources, so your bullshit claim they won't drill is just that Bullshit.

 

[editec]

Apparently China has decided that the embargo against Cuba is not in their national interests.

Would that America was that sane, too.

Had we lifted that embargo I suspect that Fidel would have been ousted decades ago.

 

[CSM]

This is what happens when you lie. No one believes you.

Now you understand why you have no credibility.

 

[Annie]

They aren't Care, it's all bullshit. China is not drilling off the coast of Florida.

More fearmongering by the Republicans.

Yes and no:

Perhaps a better way to have stated it would be Chinese companies are being allowed to explore for oil off US coasts, while US companies are blocked. Even that is probably worthless, since those are already proven. Note it's a fact that Cuba has given the leases, they just haven't started the drilling yet:

The Associated Press: Cheney's false comment on oil drilling attacked

...Jorge Pinon, a senior energy fellow at the University of Miami specializing in Latin America, said Cuba has awarded offshore oil leases, or concessionary blocs, in its offshore waters to six oil companies — none of them Chinese — and soon may announce an agreement with Brazil's state oil company, Petrobras.

"But no one is currently drilling in any of those concessions," said Pinon in a telephone interview. Pinon, who supports drilling in the eastern Gulf and believes it can be done without hurting the environment, said China is being raised as an unnecessary "boogeyman" by drilling proponents.

"There is no actual drilling yet. ... There is exploration," said Johanna Mendelson-Forman, a senior fellow on energy and Latin America at the Center for Strategic and International Studies...

 

[Ravi]

Dishonesty seems to be your stock in trade. The Chinese HAVE purchased the RIGHT to drill, just because they have not started yet does not change that fact. There is oil and gas there according to independent sources, so your bullshit claim they won't drill is just that Bullshit.

Here's the title of the thread:

China's Drilling for Oil in America's Backyard, Republicans Say


Now show me where China is drilling for oil.

 

[Ravi]

Apparently China has decided that the embargo against Cuba is not in their national interests.

Would that America was that sane, too.

Had we lifted that embargo I suspect that Fidel would have been ousted decades ago.

I agree. A pretty stupid foreign policy decision.

 

[CSM]

Here's the title of the thread:

China's Drilling for Oil in America's Backyard, Republicans Say


Now show me where China is drilling for oil.

You first...show me where ALL Republicans claim that China is drilling for oil.

 

[Ravi]

You first...show me where ALL Republicans claim that China is drilling for oil.

Never said they were. I said it was a republican talking point. And it is.

 

[editec]

The yellow devil is (or is not) in the details, I guess

 

[CSM]

Never said they were. I said it was a republican talking point. And it is.

I dunno..."Republicans" seems pretty inclusive to me.