Bush Lifts Drilling Moratorium

[panamania79 2]

he is getting close to the end of his term and needs to make his friends in big oil happier....

Maybe he wants a job after he leaves office.

[Peikko 1,575]

Is there a cartoon which depicts America as a drug addict with an oil well hyperdermic shoved in it's 'arm'?

If not, there should be...

[SMOKE 1,426]

Do you know how long it will be before we'd see any oil from new drilling?

do you know how long it will be before wind, solar or any alternative will have any effect on our dependency on foreign oil?.......thats to damn long!

i live in oklahoma we don't have the mass transit systems other parts of the country have. we need vehicles & right now & for the next 2 or so decades gasoline we get from oil will fuel those vehicles. DRILL DRILL DRILL!!!! & work on truely viable alternatives.

btw: since oil is $130 + a barrell & isn't coming down anytime soon, guess where the economy is booming & home values are rising & good paying jobs are everywhere......

[Ban Hammer 13,352]

i live in oklahoma we don't have the mass transit systems other parts of the country have. we need vehicles & right now & for the next 2 or so decades gasoline we get from oil will fuel those vehicles. DRILL DRILL DRILL!!!! & work on truely viable alternatives.

don't you know that in the midwest we only have covered wagons for mass transit?

[one...two...tree 2,762]

This won't be enough. Need to drill in Alaska too. Pretty much anywhere there is any oil in this country.

I disagree. The Republicans have for awhile tried to blame our oil problems on us not drilling enough of our own oil. The reality is we've reached Peak Oil - there is no magic bullet and opening more land as well as lifting the ban on offshore drilling will not significantly lower the price at the pumps. Any energy strategy that doesn't focus on reducing consumption is haphazard, IMO.

[Ban Hammer 13,352]

This won't be enough. Need to drill in Alaska too. Pretty much anywhere there is any oil in this country.

I disagree. The Republicans have for awhile tried to blame our oil problems on us not drilling enough of our own oil. The reality is we've reached Peak Oil - there is no magic bullet and opening more land as well as lifting the ban on offshore drilling will not significantly lower the price at the pumps. Any energy strategy that doesn't focus on reducing consumption is haphazard, IMO.

[peejay 327]

This won't be enough. Need to drill in Alaska too. Pretty much anywhere there is any oil in this country.

I disagree. The Republicans have for awhile tried to blame our oil problems on us not drilling enough of our own oil. The reality is we've reached Peak Oil - there is no magic bullet and opening more land as well as lifting the ban on offshore drilling will not significantly lower the price at the pumps. Any energy strategy that doesn't focus on reducing consumption is haphazard, IMO.

So...what do we tell the American public that owns millions of gas guzzlers that aren't even close to being worn out? Just throw them away and buy a Honda Civic or a Toyota Prius? Just take a huge money bath for the good of the USA and because it's "the right thing to do"?

Blaming "Republicans" is lame and not accurate at all. Where is the Democratic congress in all this fiasco? Waiting to see which way the wind blows on the issue?

The truth is the American public has done this themselves without any help from our politicians. We had the opportunity in the 1970's and 1980's to fix this problem, but the American people chose not to do it. In many cases we rolled back whatever progress was achieved back then. We just went back to our same old selfish, self centered, wasteful ways and now the chickens have come to roost. Now the whining and finger pointing begins. Welcome to modern America.

Sure...lots of things need to be done to get back on track...and one of them is to drill for energy right here in the USA and stop sending billions of our wealth overseas to people that hate us.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

This won't be enough. Need to drill in Alaska too. Pretty much anywhere there is any oil in this country.

I disagree. The Republicans have for awhile tried to blame our oil problems on us not drilling enough of our own oil. The reality is we've reached Peak Oil - there is no magic bullet and opening more land as well as lifting the ban on offshore drilling will not significantly lower the price at the pumps. Any energy strategy that doesn't focus on reducing consumption is haphazard, IMO.

So...what do we tell the American public that owns millions of gas guzzlers that aren't even close to being worn out? Just throw them away and buy a Honda Civic or a Toyota Prius? Just take a huge money bath for the good of the USA and because it's "the right thing to do"?

Blaming "Republicans" is lame and not accurate at all. Where is the Democratic congress in all this fiasco? Waiting to see which way the wind blows on the issue?

The truth is the American public has done this themselves without any help from our politicians. We had the opportunity in the 1970's and 1980's to fix this problem, but the American people chose not to do it. In many cases we rolled back whatever progress was achieved back then. We just went back to our same old selfish, self centered, wasteful ways and now the chickens have come to roost. Now the whining and finger pointing begins. Welcome to modern America.

Sure...lots of things need to be done to get back on track...and one of them is to drill for energy right here in the USA and stop sending billions of our wealth overseas to people that hate us.

Nice spin. I wasn't blaming our crisis on Republicans, just pointing out that they have been essentially blaming not drilling for oil for as why we're in this predicament...just read what they are saying and who is blaming who.

We cannot drill ourselves out of high fuel prices...that's the reality of it. The fact that we've relied on Foreign Oil didn't just hit us overnight as you point out, so addressing that aspect of it is going to require a bold Energy Policy and the Bush Administration has never taken reducing consumption as a serious issue.

[peejay 327]

This won't be enough. Need to drill in Alaska too. Pretty much anywhere there is any oil in this country.

I disagree. The Republicans have for awhile tried to blame our oil problems on us not drilling enough of our own oil. The reality is we've reached Peak Oil - there is no magic bullet and opening more land as well as lifting the ban on offshore drilling will not significantly lower the price at the pumps. Any energy strategy that doesn't focus on reducing consumption is haphazard, IMO.

So...what do we tell the American public that owns millions of gas guzzlers that aren't even close to being worn out? Just throw them away and buy a Honda Civic or a Toyota Prius? Just take a huge money bath for the good of the USA and because it's "the right thing to do"?

Blaming "Republicans" is lame and not accurate at all. Where is the Democratic congress in all this fiasco? Waiting to see which way the wind blows on the issue?

The truth is the American public has done this themselves without any help from our politicians. We had the opportunity in the 1970's and 1980's to fix this problem, but the American people chose not to do it. In many cases we rolled back whatever progress was achieved back then. We just went back to our same old selfish, self centered, wasteful ways and now the chickens have come to roost. Now the whining and finger pointing begins. Welcome to modern America.

Sure...lots of things need to be done to get back on track...and one of them is to drill for energy right here in the USA and stop sending billions of our wealth overseas to people that hate us.

Nice spin. I wasn't blaming our crisis on Republicans, just pointing out that they have been essentially blaming not drilling for oil for as why we're in this predicament...just read what they are saying and who is blaming who.

We cannot drill ourselves out of high fuel prices...that's the reality of it. The fact that we've relied on Foreign Oil didn't just hit us overnight as you point out, so addressing that aspect of it is going to require a bold Energy Policy and the Bush Administration has never taken reducing consumption as a serious issue.

Again...you blame Bush and the Republicans. What about personal responsibility? Are the American people mindless idiots or children that have to decisions made for them by gummit? Like bad ol' Bush and Cheney made us go out and buy those huge SUV's and full sized pickup trucks? And build all those McMansions which has become the standard for American housing? Yeah right.

As if the American people listened to Jimmy "Peanut" Carter when he took up the banner of conservation during the 1970's oil shocks. Do you have amnesia or are you just in denial? Or is it just hatred of Bush and the Republicans that have clouded your memory?

Whether putting more American oil on the market will lower the price significantly is irrelevant. The question is...can America continue to ship our wealth overseas to the tune of mega billions on $150 a bbl. oil indefinitely. Our money needs to stay at home in our own economy. America needs to wean itself from using 70% of our energy needs from foreign sources. The price of oil needs to go even higher to wake the American people up to the fact that this is not temporary.

We need to drill here in the USA and the price needs to stay high long term. That will force conservation on the people without gummit being our mommy to save us from ourselves. As demand goes down...prices probably will too.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Again...you blame Bush and the Republicans. What about personal responsibility? Are the American people mindless idiots or children that have to decisions made for them by gummit? Like bad ol' Bush and Cheney made us go out and buy those huge SUV's and full sized pickup trucks? And build all those McMansions which has become the standard for American housing? Yeah right.

As if the American people listened to Jimmy "Peanut" Carter when he took up the banner of conservation during the 1970's oil shocks. Do you have amnesia or are you just in denial? Or is it just hatred of Bush and the Republicans that have clouded your memory?

Whether putting more American oil on the market will lower the price significantly is irrelevant. The question is...can America continue to ship our wealth overseas to the tune of mega billions on $150 a bbl. oil indefinitely. Our money needs to stay at home in our own economy. America needs to wean itself from using 70% of our energy needs from foreign sources. The price of oil needs to go even higher to wake the American people up to the fact that this is not temporary.

We need to drill here in the USA and the price needs to stay high long term. That will force conservation on the people without gummit being our mommy to save us from ourselves. As demand goes down...prices probably will too.

To ignore the power the current Administration has had towards forging a real Energy Policy is basically saying that the President and his Administration has no political power over our Energy Policy. That my friend, is absurd. Now look at Bush...he's saying we don't need more stringent fuel efficiency standards imposed on the auto industry, but what we need to do is drill for more oil. Of course personal responsability is part of the equation in reducing our consumption of oil, but you're being naive to think that it just boils down to personal responsability and the Federal Gov't hasn't neither the power nor the will to do anything to curb consumption.

.........

As for real solutions...from the NRDC

America Cannot Drill Its Way to Energy Independence

The Bush administration and their industry allies claim that the way to ease the oil demand crunch is to expand drilling on public lands, even in pristine wilderness areas, and to speed up the process by relaxing environmental protections. Not only does this approach threaten the environment and public health, a "drill first, ask questions later" strategy is not an effective, sustainable solution.

First of all, increased domestic oil production cannot significantly reduce our reliance on imported oil. Domestic production peaked in 1970 at 9.64 million barrels per day and has since declined by 40 percent.<a href="http://www.nrdc.org/air/transportation/gasprices.asp#note12">'>http://www.nrdc.org/air/transportation/gasprices.asp#note12">¹²

....

Fuel efficiency standards had a profound impact on U.S. oil demand. In 1975, Congress passed the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA), with the goal of saving 2 million barrels per day by roughly doubling the fuel economy of cars and light trucks. According to the National Research Council, Corporate Automobile Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards had reduced oil consumption by 2.8 million barrels per day in 2000,²¹ a 25 percent reduction in gasoline demand or a 13 percent reduction in overall U.S. demand (see Figure 2, above). CAFE standards saved consumers about $70 billion in 2000, $66 billion in direct consumer savings and another $3 to $6 billion through lower imported oil costs.²²

Saving Oil: We Did it Before, We Can Do It Again

For years, OPEC kept prices within a band of $22 to $28 per barrel,²³ enough to maximize profits without triggering serious reductions in demand by oil consumers. But OPEC prices started going up in early December of 2003. OPEC's decision to tighten production then helped drive up prices to today's $40 per barrel. This suggests that cartel leaders have decided that higher prices can be sustained without inducing oil importing countries to start getting serious about reducing demand.

But just as we did in the 1970s, America can break OPEC's grip on the oil market by using well-known technologies and policies. The most crucial step on the path to independence is to raise the bar on energy efficiency of our cars, pickups, minivans and SUVs. These passenger vehicles currently account for 40 percent of our petroleum consumption,²⁴ and the transportation sector as a whole is projected to account for a whopping 89 percent of the growth in petroleum demand through 2020.²⁵ Raising fuel economy performance to 40 mpg over the next 10 years alone could cut passenger vehicle oil demand by about one-third or 4 million barrels per day by 2020. By 2015, increased fuel efficiency would save 2 million barrels of oil each day (see Figure 5, below) -- about equal to current daily imports from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait (see Table 1).

This goal is achievable using technology already on the road today, including new, more powerful hybrid versions of Ford, Toyota and Lexus SUVs hitting showrooms later this year, as well as simple improvements in conventional drive train design. Other measures include:

Mass-producing gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles, which get double the mileage of today's cars. Toyota and Honda already have hybrids on the road, and more are coming. Lawmakers should provide consumer tax credits to support the transition to this new technology.Expanding use of renewable, non-petroleum fuels, such as ethanol made from crop wastes, by steadily increasing requirements for "renewable content" in gasoline. A renewable fuels standard ramping up to 5 billion gallons per year would save 175,000 barrels of oil per day by 2013.²⁶

Encouraging "smart growth" instead of suburban sprawl to increase our transportation choices, reduce the need to drive and enhance our quality of life.Ensuring that replacement tires are as fuel efficient as original vehicle tires. This alone could save 270,000 barrels oil per day.²⁷

Keeping tires properly inflated. If motorists kept their tires properly inflated, total savings in 2013 could be as much as 200,000 barrels of oil per day.²⁸ This would have the added benefits of longer tire life and improved safety.Using fuel-efficient engine oil. Selecting the proper grade of motor oil and using motor oils with additives that reduce friction may increase a vehicle's fuel economy by 1 percent to 2 percent.²⁹ Widespread use of efficient motor oils could reduce fleet-wide gasoline consumption by 1 percent in 2013, saving 100,000 barrels per day.³⁰

http://www.nrdc.org/air/transportation/gasprices.asp

Edited July 15, 2008 by Jabberwocky

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

That's not the only alternative option available...and Bush knows that. The quickest and most cost effective ways we can reduce our dependency on Foreign Oil is reducing our consumption...and a lot can be done in that area alone.

yeah, ban all democrats from driving

it's a start

[peejay 327]

Again...you blame Bush and the Republicans. What about personal responsibility? Are the American people mindless idiots or children that have to decisions made for them by gummit? Like bad ol' Bush and Cheney made us go out and buy those huge SUV's and full sized pickup trucks? And build all those McMansions which has become the standard for American housing? Yeah right.

As if the American people listened to Jimmy "Peanut" Carter when he took up the banner of conservation during the 1970's oil shocks. Do you have amnesia or are you just in denial? Or is it just hatred of Bush and the Republicans that have clouded your memory?

Whether putting more American oil on the market will lower the price significantly is irrelevant. The question is...can America continue to ship our wealth overseas to the tune of mega billions on $150 a bbl. oil indefinitely. Our money needs to stay at home in our own economy. America needs to wean itself from using 70% of our energy needs from foreign sources. The price of oil needs to go even higher to wake the American people up to the fact that this is not temporary.

We need to drill here in the USA and the price needs to stay high long term. That will force conservation on the people without gummit being our mommy to save us from ourselves. As demand goes down...prices probably will too.

To ignore the power the current Administration has had towards forging a real Energy Policy is basically saying that the President and his Administration has no political power over our Energy Policy. That my friend, is absurd. Now look at Bush...he's saying we don't need more stringent fuel efficiency standards imposed on the auto industry, but what we need to do is drill for more oil. Of course personal responsability is part of the equation in reducing our consumption of oil, but you're being naive to think that it just boils down to personal responsability and the Federal Gov't hasn't neither the power nor the will to do anything to curb consumption.

Since you insist on making this issue a political finger pointing and blame game event... since when did Bush become king, tsar, or absolute ruler? Where does the Democratic congress fit into this scenario? Where is the legislation from the Democratic congress? Are they waiting to see which way the political winds are blowing on this issue? Or are they just playing election year political games at the expense of the American public by taking cheap shots and blowing smoke while doing absolutly nothing? You do realize there are 3 branches of government in the USA?

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Since you insist on making this issue a political finger pointing and blame game event... since when did Bush become king, tsar, or absolute ruler? Where does the Democratic congress fit into this scenario? Where is the legislation from the Democratic congress? Are they waiting to see which way the political winds are blowing on this issue? Or are they just playing election year political games at the expense of the American public by taking cheap shots and blowing smoke while doing absolutly nothing? You do realize there are 3 branches of government in the USA?

peejay, just look at the OP of this thread - Bush lifts drilling moratorium....not Congress, not SCOTUS....Bush. And while he can't simply lift the ban himself, he's playing political hardball with Congress to make them out to look like the bad guys to the voters if they don't approve lifting the ban. Americans feel the pinch at the gas pumps and they want to see some kind of action taken. That's when real leadership has to take place. Real leadership would say to the American people, "You're going to need to tighten your belts, because the days of abundantly cheap oil are over. We can't simply drill our way out of these problems, but we can significantly reduced our consumption by taking some steps like tighter regulations on fuel efficiency."

Looking beyond mere political finger pointing, the facts show that fuel efficiency standards over the last 30 some years have had a significant impact on fuel prices. Read below (particularly the parts in red) which contradict your assertion that federal regulations have little impact over consumer demand:

....

In 2002, a committee of the National Academy of Sciences wrote a report on the effects of the CAFE standard.^[7] The report's conclusions include a finding that in the absence of CAFE, and with no other fuel economy regulation substituted, motor vehicle fuel consumption would have been approximately 14 percent higher than it actually was in 2002.

...

A plot of average overall vehicle fuel economy (CAFE) for new model year passenger cars, the required by law CAFE standard target fuel economy value (CAFE standard) for new model year passenger cars, and fuel prices, adjusted for inflation, shows that there has been little variation over the past 20 years. Within this period, there are three distinct periods of fuel economy change. (1) from 1979-1982 the fuel economy rose as the price of fuel rose dramatically; (2) from 1984-1986 the fuel economy rose as the CAFE standard rose; (3) from 1986-1988 the fuel economy rose even as the price of fuel fell and the CAFE standard was relaxed due to pressure from US automakers^[10] before returning to 1986 levels in 1990. These are following by an extended period during which the passenger car CAFE standard, the observed average passenger car fuel economy, and the price of gasoline remained stable, and finally a period when prices rose dramatically and fuel economy was relatively unchanged.

Simple economics would predict that an increase in gasoline prices would lead in the long run to an increase in the average fuel economy of the US passenger car fleet, and that a drop in gasoline prices would be associated with a reduction in the average fuel economy of the entire US fleet.^[11] There is some evidence that this happened with an increase in market share of lower fuel economy light trucks and SUVs and decline in passenger car sales, as a percentage of total fleet sales, as car buying trends changed during the 1990s,^[12] the impact of which is not reflected in this chart. In the case of passenger cars, US average fuel economy did not fall as economic theory would predict, suggesting that CAFE standards maintained the higher fuel economy of the passenger car fleet during the long period from the end of the 1979 energy crisis to the rise of gasoline prices in the early 2000s. Most recently, fuel economy has increased about one mpg from 2006 to 2007. This increase is due primarily to increased fuel efficiency of imported cars.^[13]Similarly, Simple Economics predicts that due to the US's large percentage consumption of the world's oil supply, that increasing fuel economy would drive down the gasoline prices that US consumers would otherwise have to pay -- reductions in petroleum demand in the United States helped create the collapse of OPEC market power in 1986.^[7]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_Average_Fuel_Economy

Edited July 15, 2008 by Jabberwocky

[Ban Hammer 13,352]

peejay, just look at the OP of this thread - Bush lifts drilling moratorium....not Congress, not SCOTUS....Bush. And while he can't simply lift the ban himself, he's playing political hardball with Congress to make them out to look like the bad guys to the voters if they don't approve lifting the ban. Americans feel the pinch at the gas pumps and they want to see some kind of action taken. That's when real leadership has to take place. Real leadership would say to the American people, "You're going to need to tighten your belts, because the days of abundantly cheap oil are over. We can't simply drill our way out of these problems, but we can significantly reduced our consumption by taking some steps like tighter regulations on fuel efficiency."

how brilliant! and for every person that thinks that's a great idea, 10 more would condemn him for not doing something about it. overall it's political suicide.

let's see if your boy obama provides us with some "real leadership" and tells america to suck it up.

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

If Bush was really interested in drilling and thought doing so woulf free Americans from dependence on foreign oil he would have lifted the ban right after 9-11 when he had considerably more leverage, political capital and a solid Republican majority in Congress. He could have more effectively made the case in those months following the attacks and we would probably have that oil right now. Before 2006, the Democrats in Congress did not control this issue. The fact he is lifting the moratorium now is pure politics.

But - I don't blame Bush as much as the people out there driving gas guzzlers who are generally whining the loudest.