Pirate's Cove

From a press release Monday

“Tomorrow, I’ll call for lifting the federal moratorium for states that choose to permit exploration. I think that this, and perhaps providing additional incentives for states to permit exploration off their coasts, would be very helpful in the short term in resolving our energy crisis. We’ve seen the impact of it in the form of food prices, the form of gasoline, and the form of threats of inflation, and indeed indications of inflation. We must embark on a national mission to eliminate our dependence on foreign oil and reduce greenhouse gases through the development of alternative energy sources. And, as I said, exploration is a step toward the longer term goal. And, I will repeat my advocacy of a gas tax holiday, which is impacting low-income Americans on a fixed income who are driving automobiles that consume gasoline at a greater rate, and they’re driving further, and I think that they deserve a break.

That’s a good start that goes to the heart of Conservatism: let the States decide. The Gulf Coast states should be no problem, North Carolina could be iffy, California is in a world of its own. The hard left leaning legislature will resist, and the Governator is a tossup. The People will demand drilling, but the hard left courts could stop it.

I think McCain is wrong on ANWR, but, moving on, Democrats, as usual, are blocking every meaningful attempt to extract oil from our won property. They think we should drill in the areas that already have leases, but, wait a moment

 The latest example: the Democrats’ “use it or lose it” hoax.  Rather than unlocking America’s vast natural energy resources both on land and in deep ocean energy zones – areas with known quantities of oil and gas reserves – the Democratic Majority is suggesting that there are millions of acres of federally-owned land right now under lease that energy companies are not bothering to tap.  And they are demanding that the companies “use” the lands or “lose” their lease on them.  But there are two problems with the Democrats “use it or lose it” hoax. 

First, as House Republican Conference Adam Putnam (R-FL) notes, this policy already is the law of the land.  Indeed, federal energy lease holders already must produce oil or natural gas within five to 10 years after drilling on the land begins – and the Secretary of the Interior has the power to cancel the lease if the energy company fails to comply. 

Second, it takes years for an energy company to actually begin drilling for oil or gas on federally-owned land; it first must map the land and actually determine that there is oil and gas present before drilling can commence.  And even so, according to today’s Wall Street Journal, the federal lands currently under lease for oil and gas exploration aren’t producing much oil and gas in the first place – only about a quarter of those lands are generating any energy, in fact:

 “The industry and its backers say such arguments reflect a fundamental misunderstanding of the oil industry.  Companies don’t know how much oil is under the lands they lease, so they buy up large swaths in the hope that a fraction will work out.  Much of the area that isn’t producing, they say, doesn’t have oil or gas in commercially viable quantities.”

“Moreover, bringing a new field into production can require years of mapping, testing, drilling, and construction – during which time the land would show up in statistics as being ‘not in production,’ even as companies spend millions or even billions of dollars to bring it online.”

In other words, just because land is leased, doesn’t mean it is all worthwhile for oil extraction. But, that matters little to Democrats, who are more interested in helping their special interests than the American People.