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McCook, Nebraska ~ Tuesday, January 6, 2009
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Off-shore Drilling is Not Needed
Posted Wednesday, July 30, 2008, at 11:23 AM<< Previous | Read comments | Respond | Email link | Next >>
For about the last month President Bush and top Republicans have been urging Congress (actually it's closer to harrassment) to remove the ban on off-shore drilling. It was so bad that at one point Vice-President Cheney and other top officials absolutely lied about drilling that was supposedly being done off the coast of Cuba, by China. On June 11, Cheney, speaking to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce announced that China was drilling off the coast of Cuba. His source? George Will (a columnist). Unfortunately this claim wasn't even close and his office had to issue a retraction the next day (source: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,3662.... Unfortunately this did not stop other Republicans from still making the claim as if it were true.
So, for the last month, President Bush and top Republicans have been demanding that Congress reverse the ban. In June, President Bush said he would not reverse the ban until Congress had acted. One month later he changed his mind and reversed the ban and demanded that Congress follow suit. Unfortunately for him, his declaration holds no water.
He continues to demand that the ban be reversed all the way up to today. He continues to talk about this not being a short term fix but in the long run it would be beneficial, even though top economists say that any oil that is drilled from the off-shore drilling or from ANWAR (the oil field in Alaska) would only offset gas prices by 6 cents in the next 15 years.
Even John McCain AND Hillary Clinton, during the Presidential Primaries, wanted to give a summer tax break to Americans. When factored in, this tax break was only going to lower gas by about 5 cents, and 49% of Americans saw this tax holiday as a bad idea (source: http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/i....
But the whole point of this is the fact that while Republicans are up in arms that Democrats will not drop the ban on off-shore drilling, there are currently 3/4 of the 40 million acres of land that oil companies own are being undrilled (source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5111184). There is oil out there but for some reason our oil companies are not drilling for them. I believe the true reason for them not drilling is simple. The higher the oil goes the higher they can raise the gas and therefore the higher there profits rise. The oil companies continue to break records with their profits but at the same time they refuse to build refiniries becasue it's too expensive.
It's amazing to me, President Bush, who now has the lowest favorable rating of ANY president in our history and the lowest rating for job performance than any other president, refuses to put pressure on the oil companies to drill on all that land they own to help us. But he is in bed with the oil industry, so in matter of fact it doesn't surprise me at all.
Certain commentators want to give credit to President Bush for gas prices dropping because he is trying to get the ban dropped on off-shore drilling, but the fact is the real reason for the sudden dropping of prices is the economy is slipping (or already in recession, depending on who you listen to), the dollar is in the tank, but the biggest reason is people are not driving as much. In April of this year we drove 1.4 BILLION miles less than we did in April of last year (source: http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/06/18/driving....
My point to all this, if I were president (seems to be the thing to say right now) I would tell oil companies that if they did not start drilling on the land THEY ALREADY OWN, the first thing that would happen is that all their little tax breaks they enjoy so much would be taken away. And secondly if they STILL refused to drill on the land they owned the federal government would take over their lands and start selling to the cheapest bidder (so long as that bidder was going to drill). I probably wouldn't be the most popular person in the world, but maybe, just maybe it would get the job done.
One can dream can't he?
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i love that someone around here is finally talking from the liberal pov, or at least not the uber-conservative pov that we are used to.
Well done Mike. You managed to write eight paragraphs, bashing and mashing, without adding a single potatoe to the stew of life. I have read with interest your temper tantrum tirade blame game. You, and the majority of 'Lawmakers,' in Congress, seem to be of the same ilk, so busy trying to keep a second term President from being reelected, you cannot constructively function, for fear a Conservative might reep some aproval from the American voter. Does: 'If I can't have my way, I will scream, kick, and disrupt everyones life, and and I will not help you get your finger out of the door I just slamed on it,' ring a bell?
If you cannot offer a new, better way of correcting a problem, then zip the lip, and allow someone with a constructive attitude to the front of the line, to open the door that is crushing the finger.
People of your attitude remind me of the late sixties, when we, in the military, were being shot at an missed, wounded,or killed (by our 'cong' enemy), and spit at and hit (by our supposed fellow citizens). Question: Which of the two do you think hurt our American feelings the most?
That is about as respectful as I can phrase my comment. Arley Steinhour
Wow talk about your temper tantrums, Navyblue.
I guess now is as any a good time to let in on the secret ... I am not a law maker. I can't make laws, I can't change laws. But what I can do as an American citizen and voice my opinions on my government when I think it is wrong. It's in the Constitution, maybe you should take a gander at it.
Comparing my views on off-shore drilling to what you experienced during the Vietnam war (which I do, in fact, thank you for your service. Weird I know coming from one us scary liberals) is a stretch at best.
I do find interesting that you think I am working my hardest from keeping a second term president from being re-elected. Last time I checked, Bush isn't running for office and I think if you read the Constitution you will notice that Presidents can not serve more than two terms. But if it is your suggestion that those of "my ilk" lay off the president because he is at the end of his term, then I will simply suggest to you that this is one of the problems we face in America, today. Dissent is frowned upon. It's a good thing "your ilk" weren't in charge of the colonies, we'd still be part of England.
But, I digress, you say that I don't offer a POTATO, then I suggest you read my last paragraph, where I not only offer a potato, I offer a good suggestion. Drill the land the oil companies already OWN, instead of trying to open up lands (and water) that don't, at this point have much to offer.
Please accept my apology. I was being facitiously boisterous, and you didn't catch my cynicism, especialy about the 'second term.' I truly should have known better.
You do, and always will, if I have anything to do with it, have the right to voice your opinion, with or without substance. I was wrong to say anything that could be construed as hostile to your First Amendment rights.
For what it is worth, I believe it were those, of my ilk,and hopfully yours also, that won our freedom from England, especially in this day and age.
In Christ I offer His Peace(Shalom). Arley
I am a Petroleum Engineer that has been in the business for close to 20 years. The facts that you cite are wrong.
As an Example, ExxonMobil's EBITDA is $43 Billion dollars over the last year. That means they paid federal income taxes of $15 Billion dollars. There Capex is $43 Billion. On a cash flow basis they were $20 Billion in the whole this year.
Anwr holds at least 10 Billion Barrels of Crude. With royalty rates on 20% that means the Federal Government has at leasr 2 Billlion Barrels. At $100 oil that means the feds stand to receive $200 Billion in income. Playing politics is expensive to the American people.
Okay let me ask this question. If ExxonMobil is in the hole $20 Billion how are they able to post a profit? I truly don't know and would like to know.
If Anwr does hold 10 billion barrels of crude how much does the land that oil companies do actually own right now that are not being drilled hold?
Mike it is obvious you have no oil drilling background so let me explain something in terms you may be able to understand, just because you own land does not mean there is oil below. an example of this is the folks in the Nothnagel subdivision south of McCook. They owned land and drilled and drilled for water and came up with nothing. The same goes with oil with the exception that it dont cost a couple thousand dollars to drill a dry oil well it cost millions. You see so what the oil companies are trying to do is drill in proven ground. As a person that works offshore in the GoM (Gulf of Mexico) I know that economy wise it would be a plus to make more jobs out here. I would invite anyone from southwest Nebraska down to Louisiana to check out the economy it is not suffering down here like it is up there.
It's obvious that there isn't a simple answer to drilling domestically and off-shore. The Denver Post has a pretty well written article today (Aug 10) about opposing forces of drilling and recreation in Colorado that explores domestic drilling and economic issues and their impact on local economies and people.
I'd like to recommend http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/c... for a pretty fair assesment of just one of the pieces of the issue.
Okay I guess my question is, even in the proven ground of the Gulf of Mexico, I would assume oil companies still have to do test drills to find out if there is oil in the area, so in the long run which is more expensive drilling in the ocean on areas that still have to be bought or drilling on lands that are bought but are just sitting there? If it so expensive to do test drills on land why do the oil companies not just simply sell that land so that it can be developed or left to mother nature?
Having said all this, none of this will ever get us off of oil dependancy. I don't generally like T. Boone Pickens politics but I like what he is doing with wind energy. We have probably one of the best wind tunnels in the world through the middle of the country. Texas and Kansas have already jumped at the chance to put up wind turbines.
I do wonder though why gas prices are suddenly dropping like they are. Yes the dollar is exceptionally weak and our economy while maybe not in a recession pretty darn close, but growing up it was always my experience that whenever natural disasters or foreign strife flare up gas prices tend to go up, and yet as we had a hurricane brush the oil fields in the Gulf and a Nigerian oil rig was attacked gas prices continued to drop.
Makes one ponder
Kman...If the oil companies are so unsure that the land they own and lease has oil, why don't they sell that land or let the leases run out instead of releasing.
Mr Dick
The easiest way I can put it is like this....
If you owned or leased say a patch of hunting ground that you have a contract on the price is dirt cheap compared to the neihboring properties, now you have never seen a big dear or a lot of pheasants on your land but all the neighbors have huge deer on thier land would you be willing to give up your land and move to other hunting ground that will cost double what you'll make on your land, and still may not have that big buck at the new spot.
There are just to many gambles out there to let the cheap land go.
As far as the hurricanes go there has yet to be any hurricane activities in the Gulf cause any Platform shut in. in other words they have not even reduced production due to storms in the gulf even with fay approaching oil ground there are no evacuations of the gulf in fact I am scheduled to leave Port Fourchon La on monday. And alot of the oil production platforms are producing maximum capacity.
Crew change is the day, we all get to go home, Everyone is excited, everyone is listening for the phone. The guys are all cheerful, their week is all done, It's time to go home, for a full week of fun. It's not for everyone, this working offshore, You have to be strong willed, and tough to the core. I've seen grown men cry like babies, totally broke down, They start begging and pleading, for a flight back to town. To live in the gulf, to be gone half your life, You are either very single, or you have a special wife. In the winter time it's very windy, and so very cold, This is when working offshore, makes a young man turn old. The worst thing in the winter, besides losing your coat, Is when the helicopters can't fly, and you have to ride the boat. So for those of us that do it, we must be warped in the mind, We will all end up in the nut house, it's just a matter of time.