President George W. Bush today said he is lifting the executive ban on offshore drilling and he expects Congress to do the same.
Congress, however, has other ideas. Rep. Tim Bishop, D-Southampton, quickly slammed the president for failing to implement a long-term energy policy.
“To no one’s surprise, he has decided to deal with a substantive issue with a political response,” Bishop said in an LIBN interview this afternoon. Bishop said drilling offshore won’t lead to a quick drop in gas prices. “He’s trying to create the notion that if only Congress would let oil companies drill offshore, this problem would go away. It’s not true.”
Bishop, along with Rep. Steve Israel, D-Huntington, and other Democratic members of Congress have pushed President Bush to release 10 percent of strategic reserves, which would immediately put 70 million barrels of oil into the open market.
“That would help drive down prices,” Bishop said. “This, the president can do right away. He doesn’t need our permission.”
As for the president, he seemed unmoved. His focus was on drilling everywhere and anywhere. From the Associated Press:
Bush says offshore drilling could yield up to 18 billion barrels of oil over time, although it would take years for production to start. Bush also says offshore drilling would take pressure off prices over time. In addition, the president has proposed opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for drilling, lifting restrictions on oil shale leasing in the Green River Basin of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming and easing the regulatory process to expand oil refining capacity.
Congressional Democrats, joined by some GOP lawmakers from coastal states, have opposed lifting the prohibition that has barred energy companies from waters along both the East and West coasts and in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. A succession of presidents, from Bush’s father — George H.W. Bush — to Bill Clinton, have sided against drilling in these waters, as has Congress each year for 27 years. Their goal has to been to protect beaches and coastal states’ tourism economies.
Oh please, the Republicans want to drill to put money in their friends pockets. Screw them.
Good job Congressman Bishop.
By the way, don’t vote for Zelden. He’s not honest in his statements. All politics.
Is it true that during Hurricane Katrina, the offshore oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico did not spill a single drop? If so, what are we arguing about?
something like 75% of the continental shelf is open for exploration and exploitation and the oil and gas companies haven’t taken advantage of it. what we’re arguing about Derf, is putting the countries public natural resources in the hands of private companies that haven’t even used what they already have. and yes, it’s more or less about getting the .1% of the american population richer than that already are.
As for ANWR, by the governement’s own estimates, there’s only 300 days worth of oil there. why on earth would we want to destroy such pristine land for 300 days of oil?
What all you clowns don’t realize is if we don’t drill off our shores somebody else will……it is international waters! As we speak the Chinese are drilling off the coast of Key West. I’m a big fan of alternative energy, but I think it is insane to stop Americans from tapping national resources off our shores in the name of saving the environment, when it is fair game to any other country in the world. What is wrong with you people, are you so brain washed that you have forgotten how to reason?
The reasons that the oil companies are not producing oil from the existing leases are twofold: 1) many of the proven reserves off the coast of Florida can not be produced because the Government will not give the oil companies permits and 2) the remaining leases do not have enough oil and gas to be profitable.
The Government waters off the Pacific and Atlantic coasts are not “given” to the oil companies, they are leased for money. We must open these waters to exploration and oil production; otherwise we are committing suicide.
actually, i would argue we’re committing suicide by lulling the public into believing that all our problems would be solved by just opening up these waters for further drilling. unless someone thinks there’s an unlimited supply of fossil fuels there, all we’re doing is telling a nation addicted to oil not to worry and that we’ll find it ‘one more hit’ to take the edge off.
this whole conversation serves as not much more than a distraction to what we really need to be focusing on, which is weening our country off of fossil fuels. this isn’t just an environmental argument, but an economic one. the supply, no matter how rich deposits in our oceans might be, are never going to outstrip the demand and fossil fuels, by nature, are finite resources. the sooner we begin to ween ourselves off them, the less the hardship will be for our entire nation.
Jon,
Few advocates for opening more public waters to drilling argue that the ONLY solution to the rising price of gasoline is more drilling.
Alternative energy sources are already being pursued…without Government interference in the market.
The market will solve the problem…Government will just interfere with the solution process and cost us dearly.