“Mr. Bush, Tear Up That Offshore Drilling Ban”
I reported yesterday that GOP Rep. John Peterson’s effort to rescind the offshore drilling ban was rejected by the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior and the Environment. As I noted, California and Florida-pandering members of the Senate and the White House both oppose the measure. Thomas Pyle of the Institute for Energy Research sent this statement and letter to President Bush today:
The Institute for Energy Research (IER) today called on President Bush to exercise his authority to repeal the Executive Order banning energy production on America’s outer continental shelf (OCS). IER president Thomas J. Pyle issued the following statement:
“Our elected representatives are paid to serve the people, but not a single person or family in the United States is served by maintaining this outdated ban on American energy production. Since the Congress has made it clear – year after year – that it does not have the courage to take decisive action, President Bush should take the first step. He has the authority to tear up one of the two bans on offshore energy production that form a wall between American consumers and affordable energy. We’re asking the president to tear down that wall.”
Two federal bans keep the U.S. from producing its vast offshore energy resources. The Executive Moratorium was instituted in 1990 and is set to expire in 2012, but can be eliminated by the president at any time. The Congressional Moratorium comes in the form of an annual appropriations rider in Congress. It expires every year and must be renewed annually by a vote in the Congress. Neither have the force of permanent law.
In 2006, the Washington Post labeled the Congress’ annual appropriations rider “An Outdated Ban” on domestic energy production. Yesterday, however, the House of Representatives’ Interior Appropriations Subcommittee voted to continue the Congressional ban. The U.S. remains the only developed nation in the world to restrict access to its own energy resources in such a fashion. Currently, 97 percent of America’s 2 billion acres of OCS lands are not being used for their energy potential.
***
June 12, 2008
The President
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania AvenueDear Mr. President:
Before you left the United States earlier this week for your European tour, you stated that high energy prices were due, in part, to a lack of domestic energy supplies. We agree, and urge you to demonstrate your commitment to increasing domestic supplies by immediately repealing the Presidential Executive Order that established a moratorium on U.S. outer continental shelf (OCS) energy production.
Two federal bans keep the U.S. from producing its vast offshore energy resources. The Executive Moratorium was instituted in 1990 and is set to expire in 2012, but can be eliminated by the President at any time. The Congressional Moratorium comes in the form of an annual appropriations rider in Congress. It expires every year and must be renewed annually by a vote in the Congress. Neither have the force of permanent law.
Unfortunately, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior Appropriations yesterday rejected a proposal to modify the long-standing Congressional ban on offshore energy development so that production may occur in federal waters of the outer continental shelf (OCS) beyond fifty miles of our shores. We believe this was a failure of leadership. We ask that you show your leadership by tearing up the presidential moratorium. Doing so would remove a significant barrier to lowering energy prices for Americans, and send a signal to the world that the United States is no longer putting its energy fate solely in the hands of foreign nations.
Because of these outdated bans, more than 97 percent of our nation’s vast OCS remains fallow, with less than 3 percent being leased for energy production. We believe it self-destructive and immoral for us, as a nation, to continue to allow our consumers to suffer the economic consequences of government policies that deliberately restrict access to energy supplies. The consequences of the OCS moratoria have been devastating to American energy security. We are the only advanced country in the world that ties its own hands behind its back with such a policy. Brazil, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Australia and Norway are all examples of advanced nations and allies that do not restrict their own energy production. Americans are suffering unnecessarily.
According to the U.S. Minerals Management Service, America’s OCS contains at least 86 billion barrels of oil and 420 trillion cubic feet of natural gas – enough to dramatically increase domestic supplies, create jobs, and spur new investments in our economy. As such, lifting the moratoria would provide you with a unique opportunity to finally turn aside the failed “No New Supplies” policies of the past, and reacquaint Americans with the optimism they feel when they realize that the only limits to their growth are those imposed upon them by their government.
Sincerely,
Thomas J. Pyle
PresidentThe Institute for Energy Research (IER) is a not-for-profit public foundation that conducts intensive research and analysis on the functions, operations, and government regulation of global energy markets. Founded in 1989, IER is funded entirely by tax deductible contributions from individuals, foundations and corporations. No financial support is sought for or accepted from government (taxpayers).
Reader Rita Lake e-mails a good point about Florida hypocrisy:
Ms. Malkin,
Here in Florida, our RINO governor, Charlie Crist, and our Congressional delegation, (Dems and Reps both) are in lockstep against drilling off our coast.
At the same time, they want to saddle all U.S. taxpayers with the cost of hurricane losses in Florida. I hope this delicious hypocrisy is something that you will expose.
HR 91 will create a federal catastrophe reinsurance fund to cover costs of hurricanes, wildfires, earthquakes, etc. According to the Wall Street Journal on 5/31/08, the bill passed the House with bipartisan support last year 258-155. The fund would not provide any insurance that the free market is unwilling to provide. In fact, the WSJ article implies it would replace reinsurance coverage purchased from companies such as Lloyds of London, Swiss Re, Hanover Re, General Re and any number of companies in the Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate, run by the Dems favorite businessman, Warren Buffett.
After the 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons, when eight hurricanes made landfall in Florida and the insurance industry paid out tens of billions of dollars in losses, guess what: the reinsurers raised their rates. This is what the Florida panderers, er, politicians object to. The bed-wetting voters down here, especially in the vote-rich counties of Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade squealed like the pigs they are and Gov. Crist and our legislators, both state and federal, are now looking for taxpayers across the country to pay the tab for people who choose to live in risky coastal and earthquake and fire-prone areas.
This, by itself, should sicken anyone who believes in free markets. Combined with the sanctimony of not allowing exploration off Florida’s coasts, it’s truly repulsive.
I am not sure of the California reps’ voting record on this bill, but I bet a fair share of the 258 affirmative votes are from there.
Two of the bills sponsors are Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite and Sen. Bill Nelson.
Thank you for the great job you do (and have done for many years – you must have started when you were 12!). I enjoy seeing you on FNC.
***
VDH lays out the moral imperative for drilling.
See what others have said
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- Get Busy Drillin’ or Get Busy Dyin’ | Cold Fury
- Right Voices » Blog Archive » Iran To Build Seven New Refineries!
- The DaleyGator » Blog Archive » President Bush it is time to tear up that offshore drilling ban!
- New Refineries for Iran but Nothing for Us | The Sundries Shack
- Random Nuclear Strikes » Here’s one Executive Order I would like to see signed
- Born Again Oil Man: John “spud” McCain–Praise The Lord and Start Drilling « Pronk Palisades
- Michelle Malkin » Lifting the drilling ban: Just do it now, Mr. President
- Michelle Malkin » Lifting the drilling ban: Just do it now, Mr. President
- Michelle Malkin » Finally: Bush to lift offshore drilling ban
- President Bush Lifts Offshore Drilling Ban, Crude Drops $6.00 a Barrel « POLITISITE: Politics from the RIGHT Side of the WEB
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Categories: Enviro-nitwits
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We need McCain to get over his drilling bans as well.
That’s the problem with being a RINO president: even when you occassionally do the right thing, you get hammered for it.
Should Bush tear up the ban? You betcha.
Will he? Will he stand up against the accusations of him being “in bed with Big Oil?”
I doubt it. Our President has never recovered from his Supreme Court nominee battles with his “base,” and I see no reason why we should think that he’ll suddenly act conservative now…
Executive order baby. Hard for any new president to rescind.
An executive order is about the only way I can see this insanity will end in the short term. President Bush tear down this moratorium!
AMEN. What a blessing this would be if OCS was open up to exploration and drilling.
Do it president bush.
I feel like I live in a Bizzaro world where people are wandering around inside a fully stocked supermarket complaining that they are starving because the food in the store across the street costs too much. There is food all around them and they are hoping the grocers across the street will take care of them.
Would they just DRILL ALREADY ? ?
Bush has always been a part of “Big Oil”, even his days in TX. We need to drill off-shore and in ANWR if we don”t want to run out of oil. I just don’t undrstand why Congress keeps refusing to let us get the oil where we have it. We can’t keep depending on terrorist countries to provide us.
The man can’t (or will not) even free two innocent border patrol agents from jail. No way he will do this. His spine has turned into that of a jellyfish.
What’s interesting is that the Chinese are drilling off the Florida coast (in Cuban territorial waters), yet we’re not allowed to.
Who do you suppose is more technologically advanced, “ecologically aware” and “environmentally sensitive” — the Chinese, or our own oil companies?
Yet we’re the ones letting the Luddite-Left act like we’re the enviro-rapists. It’d be funny in a way, if it wasn’t so disgusting.
Florida is concerned that oil rigs off the coast will affect tourism. Uh, Florida, how do you think $5-$10 a gallon gas is going to affect tourism?
Note to commenters: Please do not post entire articles in the comment section. Use the link button.
If Bush wants a legacy as well, this may be it. No political hatred can overcome the economy for the American people. The people will remember prices dropping 200% overnight way before they will remember another stupid comment from Durbin or Schumer or even McCain for that matter.
You say, “but Donut, your logic has more holes than you do, prices won’t drop overnight, it will take years.”
Drilling will take years yes, but the reaction by OPEC of the US eating into their global supremacy will send production crews soaring, just like it has in the past everytime the US has threatened to produce more, increase more, or legitmately look at alternatives.
Sometimes even a bluff is good enough if you know when to hold ‘em.
Bush, Tear up that executive order!
Well, Floridians will still have their pristine beaches, until the Cuban offshore rigs start leaking.
Yes, it is hypocrisy. As I posted yesterday:
“My orange-tanned governor is all for it, invoking Alaska, Montana, and other states and the need for domestic output, but when pressed on drilling off the Florida coast, he opposes it, and began spouting off the need for alternative energy sources, blah blah blah. But he’s all for oil it if comes from Alaska.”
Bush isn’t going to resind the order, becasue it helps Democrats…
Bush’s goal from day one, is Amnesty for upto 100 million Illegal aliens..and knows the Democrats are the pathway for that to happen.
Look at when he finally replaced Rumsfeld… right after the election…if he truly wanted to have republicans retain power he would have got rid of him earlier…and takien him out of the debate.
IMO Bush has been promised something by the Mexican Gov’t (Maybe a big honkin’ donation to his presidential library if he can get all these illegals Amnesty). I don’t know.. but somehow there is this unholy, blind determination to force Amnesty on the American citizens, and something has to be behind it..
Lindsey Williams – The Energy Non-Crisis .http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbakN7SLdbk
How about approaching oil wells as “FREEDOM WELLS”… put a positive spin on them. Why not get some private corporations to put some in as a sign of USA spirit. Think of the publicity! If we make them a positive then maybe states would WANT them offshore.
Maybe some large company would sponsor some Freedom Wells on land they own. Heck, put some along the freeway with a sign on it saying “Disney supports freedom from foreign oil!”
Can oil companies be permitted to drill in ANWR by executive order?
A big reason I voted for Bush in 2000 because I thought he would have a decent energy policy as an oil man. Here we are 8 years later with bupkiss.
Bush should have done this 7 years ago. As far as I am concerned BUSH is to blame for our current pump prices.
Mister P
Try blaming Clinton instead …
Hold him responsible for vetoing the bill passed in 1995 to allow drilling in ANWR and off shore …
But ANWR is just S-O-O-O pristine. Spitting image of the Grand Canyon.
Give or take a few measly mosquitos.
maybe about 5 (my S.W.A.G.) years ago the threat of drilling domestically would have helped OPEC to ’see’ the light about pumping more oil…
Not now with China and India becoming buyers of oil.. US will have to allow private companies to drill stateside if they want cheap energy…
I think OPEC can call that bluff with no worries because they have 2 other hungry customers ready for more oil..
Here’s a link to PowerLineblog where Republican whip Roy Blunt put together a chart showing the practical effects of Democratic vs. Republican policies on the price of gasoline at the pump.
Feel free to share it with your Congressional Reps and Senators.
Link to PowerLineblog and Gas Price chart
OOPs, Got lazy, apologies. Will use the link button. I’m a big fan of Dr. VDH and want to get his work out.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/06122008/postopinion/opedcolumnists/the_moral_imperative_for_drilling_115065.htm
I commented on this before but the point is worth repeating; And in full-disclosure, I am a native born Floridian (not a seminole, just born there y’all.)
It isn’t that no one is drilling off our coasts, it’s that we are not availing ourselves of our own natural resources. And if someone, anyone is drilling off our coasts, then there is always a risk of spillage. The difference is, those of us who have a vested interest in not having a spill are not in control of the drilling.
How exactly does that help things?
Well FIRST Bush needs to do his job, then I will start blaming Clinton. But how can Republicans blame Clinton if Bush is causing the exact same problem?
Plenty of blame to go around– Of course there a lot of congressmen who have been in office for many different presidents.
But the bottom line is “WE” are to blame for allowing this to happen. We are in charge, we just forget that sometimes.
Yep, we are to blame. We do NOT hold our politicians accountable. We let them take orders from party leaders or special interest groups (who fund campaigns). A recent poll said 80 percent of the citizens say drill oil, rather than worry about green house gases. So what are the politicinas doing?
Drill now.
Bingo! I haven’t checked the data, but I would bet the majority flies into Florida. Rental car… etc.,
From what I’ve read and heard, the majority of Americans want to drill here. But, our “leadership” (including Juan McAmnesty) are against it.
How do these people get into leadership positions when they really don’t represent us?
I can tell you as an eye-witness, most drive down. Probably not very many this year. At least Disneyworld will not be as crowded this year.
We have to be as vocal in our demands to drill here as the Libs are on saving the “Spotted Georgian Fruit Knat.”
Mobilize now.
I vividly remember the oil spill on the beaches in Santa Barbara when an off shore well blew out. That has been about 40 years now and by this time I am sure that the technology has progressed to the point where the same type of occurance would be minimal at best. I have not heard of any wells blowing out in the Gulf of Mexico. It is time for everyone in D.C. to pull their collective heads out and START DRILLING!!!!!
Let’s see …. the first offshore drilling moratorium Executive Order was by GHW Bush in 1990.
18 years later his son has refused to rescind it.
I daresay the President has the legal authority to invoke national security to allow offshore and maybe even ANWAR drilling – but “W” has refused to use it.
Could it be W and his backers are beneficiaries of $140/bbl oil?
I’m sure if offshore drilling were to be allowed the current insane oil prices would collapse.
Yet another shining example of the malfeasance of the Bush II Regime.
Floridians I know want to drill ASAP before China sucks the reserves dry.
Hear, hear, Michelle!
#38
That reminds me of the final scene of the movie “There will be Blood”, when Plainview informs Eli he has already drained Eli’s land of oil, without putting one oil rig on Eli’s land.
China could be our Plainview, if we don’t get there first.
I think we’ll have to wait until the citizens start rioting before the government acts.
.
Yet another shining example of BSD.
Just the knowledge of our intent to allow drilling likely would result in stabilizing or lowering oil prices. We could be working on energy independance, while prducing and consuming our OWN oil and put Americans to work in oil and gas industry in the meantime.
Good for our economy overall.
.
Yet another shining example of “BSD” – should be “BDS”.
OT.. is that worth the rent?.. it looks to me from the preview that it’s a hollywood PC twofer.. the evil oil man and the evil scam preacher trying to out-evil each other..
I’ve only read a couple of reviews about it..
I would love to see him go on prime tine TV and do this. The envirowackos would go nuts.
For those who have bought into the claim that China is drilling off Florida, you may want to read this:
http://www.star-telegram.com/464/story/696354.html
SilverCat, you totally miss the point. Whether or not China is currently drilling or not doesn’t matter. The point is that China CAN drill just off the Florida Keys, and thanks to the Democrat Congress, the US CAN’T. See a full timeline of the agreements between Cuba and China here.
This coastal Floridian says
DRILL HERE!
DRILL NOW!
PAY LESS!
#42, we certainly know the Democratic leadership has a lot of responsibility for our current energy situation … HOWEVER which party had a majority in Congress 2001-2006?
“W” certainly had the ability to rescind his dad’s executive order which he has not.
“W” also has the Bully Pulpit where he could have taken the need to do offshore drilling to the American people if the “Libs” wanted to fillibuster in the Senate.
A decided lack of leadership here, just like his Dear Old Dad back during Desert Storm where GHW Bush should have exercised some LEADERSHIP to remove Saddam and his cronies from power in Iraq as soon as SCUDs started falling in Israel.
Feel free to tell me to adjust the tinfoil, but I see a situation on the horizon where the plutocracies of Canada and Mexico may force the Senate to ratify a North American Union treaty as a condition of being able to buy oil from them.
I see that as the REAL reason we need to drill offshore.
Point is China is no closer to drilling off Florida than we are. So why is Cheney spreading that misinformation? And why are Charlie Christ and Mel Martinez against drilling off their shores if its such a great idea?
Probably for the same reason Kennedy and Cronkite and all the other loaded residents of the Cape Cod shoreline are against wind farms in Nantucket Sound: it obstructs their view, a particularly hypocritical application of the NIMBY syndrome.
Christ and Martinez? They are vote counting, being more interested in their own political welfare than the welfare of the country.
And why wouldn’t Castro (either) make a very lucrative deal with China to drill for oil in the Gulf? Their economy, if you can call it that, sucks. Aside from the money, the opportunity to stick the U.S. in the eye would be attractive to them. And judging by our pols fear of offending the greenies, I think that China has a considerably better chance of drilling there than we do.
Why are we against drilling for oil in our own territory while having no qualms about other countries doing so in equally pristine or ecologically important areas? As I recall, it is one not-big-enough planet. Why is it okay to drill in Siberia and not ANWR?
While I agree with MM’s take on Bush showing some leadership by lifting the executive order, the notion of drilling isn’t such a simple issue.
We don’t insert a tap and suddenly have oil. It will take years before any oil comes from new drilling on the shelf.
And I disagree with VDH. Gas consumption has dropped, but not precipitously. He implies that drilling now will have an immediate effect. It will not.
And, while I am not some rabid environmentalist, I believe that questions regarding the impact of drilling or spills are valid.
Bush should lift the executive ban as a symbolic maneuver, and Congress should let the current ban expire if they don’t have the nerve to kill it now, but these actions will have no impact on gas prices or oil production for years.
This is just so much more political blather for this election year. Both major parties continue to show how inept they are and how much contempt they have for us.
Ooops. All of these posts start looking alike after awhile.