Obama Oil Drilling Plan: East Coast, Alaska Waters
Pepe Silvia
Posts: 3,758
booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/3 ... 19553.html
Obama Oil Drilling Plan: East Coast, Alaska Waters Could Open For Drilling
Scroll down to watch video of President Obama arguing against offshore drilling during his 2008 presidential campaign.
WASHINGTON -- In a reversal of a long-standing ban on most offshore drilling, President Barack Obama plans to allow oil drilling 50 miles off of Virginia and is considering opening up significant additional stretches along the Atlantic and Alaskan coasts.
Obama's plan will cover a lot of ground -- and water -- offering few concessions to environmentalists, who have been strident in their opposition to more oil platforms off the nation's shores. Hinted at for months, the move would modify a ban that has limited coastal drilling outside the Gulf of Mexico for more than 20 years.
The Los Angeles Times, citing administration officials, summed up the four biggest elements of the plan:
Eventually open two-thirds of the eastern Gulf's oil and gas resources for drilling.
Proceed with drilling off Virginia, provided the project clears environmental and military reviews.
Study the viability of drilling off the mid- and southern Atlantic coasts.
Study the viability of drilling in Alaska's Beaufort and Chukchi seas -- areas hotly defended by environmentalists -- but issue no new drilling leases in either sea before 2013.
The New York Times spoke with officials who indicated, "the first lease sale off the coast of Virginia could occur as early as next year in a triangular tract 50 miles off the coast that had already been approved for development but was held up by a court challenge and additional Interior Department review." New drilling wouldn't occur along the rest of the central and southern Atlantic Seaboard until 2012, contingent upon geologic and environmental studies.
Obama was set to announce the new drilling policy Wednesday at Andrews air base in Maryland. White House officials pitched the changes as ways to reduce U.S. reliance on foreign oil and create jobs - both politically popular ideas - but the president's decisions also could help secure support for a climate change bill languishing in Congress.
The president, joined by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, also was set to announce that proposed leases in Alaska's Bristol Bay would be canceled. Obama is allowing an expansion in Alaska's Cook Inlet to go forward. The plan also would leave in place the moratorium on drilling off the West Coast.
In addition, the Interior Department has prepared a plan to add drilling platforms in the eastern Gulf of Mexico if Congress allows that existing moratorium to expire. Lawmakers in 2008 allowed a similar moratorium to expire; at the time President George W. Bush lifted the ban, which opened the door to Obama's change in policy.
Under Obama's plan, drilling could take place 125 miles from Florida's Gulf coastline if lawmakers allow the moratorium to expire. Drilling already takes place in western and central areas in the Gulf of Mexico.
The president's team has been busy on energy policy and Obama talked about it in his State of the Union address. During that speech, he said he wanted the United States to build a new generation of nuclear power plans and invest in biofuel and coal technologies.
"It means making tough decisions about opening new offshore areas for oil and gas development," he warned.
Obama also urged Congress to complete work on a climate change and energy bill, which has remained elusive. The president met with lawmakers earlier this month at the White House about a bill cutting emissions of pollution-causing greenhouse gases by 17 percent by 2020. The legislation would also expand domestic oil and gas drilling offshore and provide federal assistance for constructing nuclear power plants and carbon sequestration and storage projects at coal-fired utilities.
White House officials hope Wednesday's announcement will attract support from Republicans, who adopted a chant of "Drill, baby, drill" during 2008's presidential campaign.
The president's Wednesday remarks would be paired with other energy proposals that were more likely to find praise from environmental groups. The White House planned to announce it had ordered 5,000 hybrid vehicles for the government fleet. And on Thursday, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Transportation Department are to sign a final rule that requires increased fuel efficiency standards for new cars.
WATCH: Obama argued against offshore drilling and supported a moratorium on it during his 2008 presidential campaign.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8fkbEuC ... r_embedded
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/3 ... 19553.html
Obama Oil Drilling Plan: East Coast, Alaska Waters Could Open For Drilling
Scroll down to watch video of President Obama arguing against offshore drilling during his 2008 presidential campaign.
WASHINGTON -- In a reversal of a long-standing ban on most offshore drilling, President Barack Obama plans to allow oil drilling 50 miles off of Virginia and is considering opening up significant additional stretches along the Atlantic and Alaskan coasts.
Obama's plan will cover a lot of ground -- and water -- offering few concessions to environmentalists, who have been strident in their opposition to more oil platforms off the nation's shores. Hinted at for months, the move would modify a ban that has limited coastal drilling outside the Gulf of Mexico for more than 20 years.
The Los Angeles Times, citing administration officials, summed up the four biggest elements of the plan:
Eventually open two-thirds of the eastern Gulf's oil and gas resources for drilling.
Proceed with drilling off Virginia, provided the project clears environmental and military reviews.
Study the viability of drilling off the mid- and southern Atlantic coasts.
Study the viability of drilling in Alaska's Beaufort and Chukchi seas -- areas hotly defended by environmentalists -- but issue no new drilling leases in either sea before 2013.
The New York Times spoke with officials who indicated, "the first lease sale off the coast of Virginia could occur as early as next year in a triangular tract 50 miles off the coast that had already been approved for development but was held up by a court challenge and additional Interior Department review." New drilling wouldn't occur along the rest of the central and southern Atlantic Seaboard until 2012, contingent upon geologic and environmental studies.
Obama was set to announce the new drilling policy Wednesday at Andrews air base in Maryland. White House officials pitched the changes as ways to reduce U.S. reliance on foreign oil and create jobs - both politically popular ideas - but the president's decisions also could help secure support for a climate change bill languishing in Congress.
The president, joined by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, also was set to announce that proposed leases in Alaska's Bristol Bay would be canceled. Obama is allowing an expansion in Alaska's Cook Inlet to go forward. The plan also would leave in place the moratorium on drilling off the West Coast.
In addition, the Interior Department has prepared a plan to add drilling platforms in the eastern Gulf of Mexico if Congress allows that existing moratorium to expire. Lawmakers in 2008 allowed a similar moratorium to expire; at the time President George W. Bush lifted the ban, which opened the door to Obama's change in policy.
Under Obama's plan, drilling could take place 125 miles from Florida's Gulf coastline if lawmakers allow the moratorium to expire. Drilling already takes place in western and central areas in the Gulf of Mexico.
The president's team has been busy on energy policy and Obama talked about it in his State of the Union address. During that speech, he said he wanted the United States to build a new generation of nuclear power plans and invest in biofuel and coal technologies.
"It means making tough decisions about opening new offshore areas for oil and gas development," he warned.
Obama also urged Congress to complete work on a climate change and energy bill, which has remained elusive. The president met with lawmakers earlier this month at the White House about a bill cutting emissions of pollution-causing greenhouse gases by 17 percent by 2020. The legislation would also expand domestic oil and gas drilling offshore and provide federal assistance for constructing nuclear power plants and carbon sequestration and storage projects at coal-fired utilities.
White House officials hope Wednesday's announcement will attract support from Republicans, who adopted a chant of "Drill, baby, drill" during 2008's presidential campaign.
The president's Wednesday remarks would be paired with other energy proposals that were more likely to find praise from environmental groups. The White House planned to announce it had ordered 5,000 hybrid vehicles for the government fleet. And on Thursday, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Transportation Department are to sign a final rule that requires increased fuel efficiency standards for new cars.
WATCH: Obama argued against offshore drilling and supported a moratorium on it during his 2008 presidential campaign.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8fkbEuC ... r_embedded
don't compete; coexist
what are you but my reflection? who am i to judge or strike you down?
"I will promise you this, that if we have not gotten our troops out by the time I am president, it is the first thing I will do. I will get our troops home. We will bring an end to this war. You can take that to the bank." - Barack Obama
when you told me 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em'
i was thinkin 'death before dishonor'
what are you but my reflection? who am i to judge or strike you down?
"I will promise you this, that if we have not gotten our troops out by the time I am president, it is the first thing I will do. I will get our troops home. We will bring an end to this war. You can take that to the bank." - Barack Obama
when you told me 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em'
i was thinkin 'death before dishonor'
Post edited by Unknown User on
0
Comments
when do you think the republicans will come out and condmen this plan? i mean, "drill baby drill" was only their battle cry in 2008....
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
Ugh. Just thinking about this stuff makes me see red ...
Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a law-breaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. - Louis Brandeis
How about we conserve our energy consumption and have the decrease taken from the amount of light crude we buy from the Middle East?
Better yet... how about we just buy the oil from the Middle East, say 'Grasias, MotherFuckers' and quit trying to leverage our costs by meddling in their internal affairs with our bulshit foriegn policy in that region?
Hail, Hail!!!
+1
+1
:evil:
I always say at voting I vote for the best liar and although I didn't vote for nobama a Lot of folks did
and ooooooboy I'll bet they're pissed about this drilling stuff, now the rest of those that voted for nobama
can honestly say "that asshole lied to me"
Godfather.
Although to be fair, he didn't rule out the possibility of offshore oil drilling when he was campaigning, in fact he specifically supported it, IIRC.
the big oil companies have several oil fields in latin america.
i wouldn't rather keep buying from saudi arabia, i'd rather be putting that money into something else. instead of giving tens of billions to coal, nuclear, oil....give a comparable amount to actually clean alternatives, put that money in starting the infrastructure to make it easier to convert.
how long will it take that oil to get to market? how much gas would it even be? because i remember during bush's administration the best estimates didn't think there was even a years worth in ANWR.
we don't need to rely on fossil fuels, there's no reason we can't have a bunch of solar panels in the desert where there's nothing around, or those turbines that are powered by the ocean's tide and areas where it's really windy put some windmills....
what are you but my reflection? who am i to judge or strike you down?
"I will promise you this, that if we have not gotten our troops out by the time I am president, it is the first thing I will do. I will get our troops home. We will bring an end to this war. You can take that to the bank." - Barack Obama
when you told me 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em'
i was thinkin 'death before dishonor'
what are you but my reflection? who am i to judge or strike you down?
"I will promise you this, that if we have not gotten our troops out by the time I am president, it is the first thing I will do. I will get our troops home. We will bring an end to this war. You can take that to the bank." - Barack Obama
when you told me 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em'
i was thinkin 'death before dishonor'
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
This is all too complicated......how about we just drill
yup. I saw what happened in the gulf. Now let's have the world stop drilling. :roll:
Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a law-breaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. - Louis Brandeis
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."