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House Approves Bill to Lift Drilling Moratorium

cpwill

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One good thing about gas prices rising maybe is they will force our will upon the politicians and get them to open up drilling.


The House of Representatives voted to open more of the nation's oceans for oil and gas exploration on Thursday by a vote of 243 to 179.

The "Reversing President Obama's Offshore Moratorium Act," requires the Interior Department to set a production goal of three million barrels of oil per day for its 2012-2017 leasing plan.

In order to reach that target, the legislation requires the department to hold lease sales off the coast of Southern California, in the Arctic Ocean, off Alaska's Bristol Bay, and in the Atlantic Ocean from Maine to North Carolina....
 
One good thing about gas prices rising maybe is they will force our will upon the politicians and get them to open up drilling.

No, this won't pass the Senate. Sadly.
 
its too bad something cant be done to make the oil industry pump the capped wells they have, instead of just grabbing up more leases to hold on to.
 
Is the intent or expectation to lower prices at the pump?
 
One good thing about gas prices rising maybe is they will force our will upon the politicians and get them to open up drilling.

If that did happen CP it wont be until after the election...Obama couldnt afford to piss off his base right now
 
No, this won't pass the Senate. Sadly.

2012 is an election year, and an uncommonly large number of Democrat's names are on the ticket. I'm thinking they are going to have a tough time justifying that decision to their constituents. Far more likely Reid makes sure it never comes up for a vote than it gets' defeated.
 
Is the intent or expectation to lower prices at the pump?
If you look at comments from Republicans about these bills, it is always brought up that these bills will help decrease gasoline prices now. This goes hand in hand with the views of many conservatives that expanded drilling will be sort some of panacea both in the short term and long term. In reality, there will probably be no noticeable short term decreases in the price of gasoline, and only minimal gains long term.
 
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its too bad something cant be done to make the oil industry pump the capped wells they have, instead of just grabbing up more leases to hold on to.

If they're capped, then they're probably not producable.
 
I'm all for the lowering of gas prices, but I don't think the lifting of the drilling moratorium is the correct solution. We're all aware of the environmental impacts that oil drilling has on the environment, and by continuing onward with it ignorantly we're only worsening the problem.

Perhaps this is a temporary solution, but I certainly think that clean energy projects should be moving forward simultaneously so that the concept of drilling oil altogether slowly deteriorates.

To me, many supporters of more oil drilling is merely short term thinking. Lower gas prices today, environmental consequences tomorrow.
 
I'm all for the lowering of gas prices, but I don't think the lifting of the drilling moratorium is the correct solution. We're all aware of the environmental impacts that oil drilling has on the environment, and by continuing onward with it ignorantly we're only worsening the problem.

Perhaps this is a temporary solution, but I certainly think that clean energy projects should be moving forward simultaneously so that the concept of drilling oil altogether slowly deteriorates.

To me, many supporters of more oil drilling is merely short term thinking. Lower gas prices today, environmental consequences tomorrow.

Better start coming with ideas to replace all those jobs and fast.
 
Better start coming with ideas to replace all those jobs and fast.

That of course is among the main reasons why we haven't seen the clean energy industry become more prominent. While the growth of that industry would create jobs, it would also be putting those in the oil industry out of work. Nonetheless, that doesn't make the fact that oil drilling does harm the environment, and that some solution is necessary.
 
If they're capped, then they're probably not producable.


right..
around here, pump-jacks were idle until the price is high enough. now farmland is being ruined to punch more holes.. one more thing to give a farmer a reason not to plant.

IMO, companies are sitting on these wells. there is plenty of feedback and commentaries on the thousands of "tapped-n-capped" wells capable of producing, yet left untouched.

its the same sort of con game the diamond mining industry is openly known for.

plenty is already accessed, just to be sat upon to maximize profits.
is this wrong? no.. not legally.. but morally and ethically yes, particularly when its federal land and resources being used.
 
I'm all for the lowering of gas prices, but I don't think the lifting of the drilling moratorium is the correct solution. We're all aware of the environmental impacts that oil drilling has on the environment, and by continuing onward with it ignorantly we're only worsening the problem.

Perhaps this is a temporary solution, but I certainly think that clean energy projects should be moving forward simultaneously so that the concept of drilling oil altogether slowly deteriorates.

To me, many supporters of more oil drilling is merely short term thinking. Lower gas prices today, environmental consequences tomorrow.

Let's hear about these longterm effects, starting with the Gulf.
 
Let's hear about these longterm effects, starting with the Gulf.

Heavy metals being released into the environment, BTEX's compounds, napthalenes all being released into the environment. Certain toxins are bioaccummulative and effect the organism higher on the food chain to a greater degree.

In Alberta it appears that populations downstream of the oils sands have higher rates of cancer then other populations, I expect that fish from the gulf will have higher levels of toxic compounds and metals for quite a few years. The people who were involved with the clean up and not supplied with proper respirators and cartridges will most likely have negative health effects for years. Shale oil and gas it appears is causing hydrocarbons to be released into the well water of communities in the NE US and in N and SD among other areas. Drilling for Coal bed methane did the same in Alberta


In areas of South America (Ecuador) oil companies have left toxic dumps of waste oil and water in ponds that will take decades to be cleaned up naturally. All the while causing negative health effects for the people around them
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Let's hear about these longterm effects, starting with the Gulf.

I can't discuss the longterm effects of the BP oil spill. It hasn't been nearly long enough for the longterm impacts of the spill to be fully understood. Based on a report made by TIME, the short term effects are the most prominent of that spill. Also, don't mistake what I'm saying here. I'm not discussing the dangers or consequences of screwing the process of oil drilling up, that's an entirely different discussion that prompts us to change our ways even more.

What I'm discussing is the process when carried out normally. The burning of oil creates carbon dioxide, which adds to the issue of climate change we're seeing. Whether we try to increase our use of ethanol (which doesn't stop the release of carbon dioxide, but merely gets us more energy with less ethanol), hydraulic fracturing (which also has its possible downfalls), or any of the other ideas being posed to our society is the issue.

I'm not saying we need to stop drilling immediately. To do so is illogical and would destroy economies. What I'm getting at is that we need to be thinking about ways to decrease our dependence on oil in the future. The environment is a peculiar thing, and has ways of fixing itself. Much of the oil from the BP spill, for example, has been eaten and digested by bacteria by this point. That doesn't mean that the tens of thousands of birds that were killed, or the ecosystems that were destroyed never happened.
 
Too bad for the Republicans, still clinging to old outdated ideas. Must be hard being one of them.
 
I'm pretty sure Obama already lifted the Moratorium and is seeking to expand oil production especially on already leased land. Oil production is being controlled to reap the most profit a company can


Better start coming with ideas to replace all those jobs and fast.

pretty ease. The government can start redesigning all their building to be energy efficient and create it own solar/wind power plants.
 
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Better start coming with ideas to replace all those jobs and fast.

Creating jobs does not make a project inherently worthwhile.
 
Creating jobs does not make a project inherently worthwhile.

considering it's not government spending creating those jobs, but rather increases in private production, i'm going to have to ask you to expound on that statement.
 

You mean this part.

Republicans seized on Obama's shift, accusing the presumptive Democratic nominee of inconstant and politically motivated policy stands. The Republican National Committee sent out a news release noting that on Wednesday in Missouri, Obama declared: "I want to be absolutely clear to everybody about this. If I thought that I could provide you some immediate relief on gas prices by drilling off the shores of California and New Jersey ... if I thought that by drilling offshore, we could solve our problem, I'd do it."
 
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