Bush to Congress: Open coastlines to exploration now

WASHINGTON - President Bush is calling on Congress to lift the ban on offshore oil and gas drilling that has been in place for 1981, saying it could eventually yield 18 billion barrels of oil.

The White House characterizes his call as a new position for Bush, who has kept in place a separate executive order that also bars offshore drilling. Bush says that if Congress lifts its ban, he will lift the executive restriction. But he wants Congress to take the step first.

Bush says that with gasoline prices topping $4 a gallon, American families are looking to Washington for help.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A House panel put off a vote Wednesday on extending Congress' ban on offshore drilling, even as President Bush was poised to publicly renew his call for lawmakers to open U.S. coastal waters to oil and gas development.

Drilling for oil and gas off nearly all the American coastline has been banned over the past quarter-century, in part to protect tourism and to lessen the chances of beach-blackening spills. Now, $4-a-gallon gasoline prices are a part of people's daily lives and motorists are clamoring for something to be done about the record price of oil, much of it produced in foreign countries.

In response, Bush was to call again Wednesday for exploration, arguing that it's high time to battle high prices with increased domestic production. He planned to ask Congress to lift the drilling moratoria that have been in effect since 1981 in more than 80 percent of the country's Outer Continental Shelf and to let states help to decide where to allow drilling.

"The president believes Congress shouldn't waste any more time," White House press secretary Dana Perino told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "He will explicitly call on Congress to ... pass legislation lifting the congressional ban on safe, environmentally friendly offshore oil drilling."

Keith Hennessey, the director of the president's economic council, said that Bush will lift a parallel executive order banning offshore drilling if Congress does likewise with the law. Asked why Bush doesn't act first and lift the ban, Hennessey said: "He thinks that probably the most productive way to work with this Congress is to try to do it tandem."

Bush, in a Rose Garden statement, will also call on Congress to make it easier for oil refineries to be expanded.

Even a quick change in law is expected to have no immediate effect on oil supply. The impact, Hennessey said, "is definitely measured in years." But he said that allowing a greater oil supply in future years could trigger the market to use more supply now and reduce the price of oil.

For their part, some lawmakers had their own plan: Legislation that would continue the ban into late 2009, and which had been scheduled to be considered Wednesday by the House Appropriations Committee. But the session was postponed because the committee was focusing on disaster relief measures involving the Midwest flooding.

Congressional Democrats, joined by some GOP lawmakers from coastal states, have opposed lifting the prohibition that has barred energy companies from waters along both the East and West coasts and in the eastern Gulf of Mexico for 27 years.

On Monday, GOP presidential candidate John McCain made lifting the federal ban on offshore oil and gas development a key part of his energy plan. McCain said states should be allowed to pursue energy exploration in waters near their coasts and get some of the royalty revenue.

Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic candidate for president, opposes lifting the ban on offshore drilling and says that allowing exploration now wouldn't affect gasoline prices for at least five years.

McCain called for reform of the laws governing the oil futures trading market, and drew a standing ovation from his audience Wednesday when he repeated his day-old support for an end to the federal moratorium on offshore oil drilling. He favors allowing states to decide whether to explore offshore waters.

That drew a rebuttal from Obama, who said his opponent had switched positions from when he first ran for president in 2000. "I think he continues to find himself being pushed further and further to the right in ways that in my mind don't show a lot of leadership," he said.

Obama also said there is "no way that allowing offshore drilling would lower gas prices right now. At best you are looking at five years or more down the road."

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, energy secretary during the Clinton administration, called it "another bad idea."

"It's going to take 10 years to fully get that oil out of the ocean. It's a fragile ecosystem," he said on CBS's "The Early Show."

"You know this president, all he wants to do is drill, drill, drill. There is very little on conservation, on fuel efficiency for vehicles. Just last week the Congress failed to pass a solar tax credit — give more incentives to renewable energy, solar and wind. A one track mind — drill drill drill — that's not going to work," Richardson said.

The 574 million acres of federal coastal water that are off-limits are believed to hold nearly 18 billion barrels of undiscovered, recoverable oil and 77 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, according to the Interior Department. The country each year uses about 7.6 billion barrels of oil and 21 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

In another development, Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida has dropped his long-standing support for the federal government's moratorium on offshore drilling and endorsed McCain's proposal to let states decide for themselves.

When Republicans held the majority, the House twice voted to lift the ban, only to have the legislation die in the Senate. The Senate last month by a 56-42 vote rejected a GOP energy plan that would have allowed states to avoid the federal ban if they wanted energy development off their coast.

Bush's father, President George H.W. Bush, issued a parallel executive drilling ban in 1990, which was extended by President Clinton and then by the current president until 2012.

GOPUSA is asking for action.

Tell Congress to put America First. Drill for Oil Now!

For decades, Congress has put a strangle hold on domestic oil production. Rather that increase our own supply, America has had to rely on the unstable Middle East and a cartel of nations to supply us with the most valuable commodity on earth.

Congress has put our national security in the hands of the most unstable and volatile region of the world and has hurt America's ability to produce oil and lower gasoline prices.

This must change now!

Please contact Congress today and tell them to stop their needless regulations on domestic oil production. We must increase supply. That will lower gasoline prices and enhance our national security. Let's put the price of energy in our own hands.

  

http://capwiz.com/gopusa/issues/alert/?alertid=11506926&PROCESS=Take+Action

And if I did contact my Congressmen, Boxer and Feinstein, then what. Get the "we want the tax and not the near term fix!!!!"

Everytime I hear a Dem open their mouth and spew off they know better, it makes me sick. First Boxers support for the Warner Lieberman Bill which would have raised taxes, Feinsteins attacks on big oil(?), and their frickin' agenda that bigger government is better for all of us. Socialism at its finest. Their no base value system is so wrong and I still wonder what it is going to take for them to wake up and face reality and listen to the people!!!

No doubt we must drill. The Liberals reacted to Bush call for drilling. I didn't have to watch to know that the Liberals most likely said-- NO WAY! They, the Liberals continue to worship their goddess, Gaia (The Environment) And they will go to great lengths to protect their Gaia. They don't care whatsoever to lower prices to do so. They are as well continuing their campaign to get their socialist Obama by jacking oil and food prices. The media is promoting this also, thinking that they care.

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I just got off reading the SF Chronicle comments about Bush's drill plan. As usual all the Liberals are spouting Global warming, Bush the idiot, and we shouldn't rely on oil. Well we can't go out and build millions of sq feet of solar panels in a jiff, manufacture ethanol with out oil, or even have plastic. I guess they can't put two and two together and get four.

67% of the US want us to drill. These gas prices will hurt our country in the longrun and the libs just won't see it. Their to busy pushing their agenda and saying how right they are.  It made me sick reading what they had to spew forth.

 We need to do this, go nuclear and at the same time continue our research on alternate energy, but we can't have oil lag and drag our economy down. If it is done right and the state population get residuals from the oil then so be it. Alaska folks love it. Now what will the libs say when they get a freebee from oil? I say let's do it and do it now!!! We have to also tap South Dakota too and get that oil outta there and build up our refineries without the "green weenies" crying about the byproducts.

I never cease to be amazed by liberals -- let's see -- the oil companies are "evil" because of record profits (by the liberals' determination -- so much for capitalism -- so let's slap a "windfall profits tax" on them -- that should give them incentive to drill for more oil and/or refine more gasoline) --

Analogy: You Americans need to help the economy recover by getting out there and buying more in your local stores, so .......... we're going to raise your income taxes!  Sound about the same?  What dolts!

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These left wingers are truly amazing,,,all of a sudden they are experts on how much oil is there,,how much we need and what really pisses me off is they are experts on how long it will take etc etc.....That  guy on CNN ??? I wonder how many locations he has been on  or how many completion rigs he has observed working??? I bet  u hes never  been out of NYC!!!! Sad thing is,,,,  a lot of  people  will  listen to  this idiot and believe  evry  word he  spouts. ,,,He  knows nothing except what he has  read apparently  written by other left wingers  who  know nothing,,,,, So God Bless George Bush,  at  least  for  this, for this,,,,he  does  know  what he is talking about.

 

AmericanSolutions.com/drillnow

www.AmericanSolutions.com/drillnow

Plenty of blame to go around, Janna:

President Bush is calling on Congress to lift the ban on offshore oil and gas drilling that has been in place for 1981, saying it could eventually yield 18 billion barrels of oil.  [BRAVO]

The White House characterizes his call as a new position for Bush, who has kept in place a separate executive order that also bars offshore drilling [So now he's seen the light?  An oilman? -- yet he kept an executvie order in place and now chastizes Congress?]. Bush says that if Congress lifts its ban, he will lift the executive restriction. But he wants Congress to take the step first [This is really, really important Congress -- but ... uh .... you go first ...... Hmmmm, guess cancelling the executive order first would show too much leadership and commitment?].

  The dipsticks truly are in Washington .............

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Glenn Beck had a point.  He said that with 67% of the country screaming for oil drilling off the coast NOW, the Dems hands are tied.  If Obama suddenly agrees that we should drill he'll look like a complete fool and as transparent as glass.  Gore certainly won't agree to drill.  Pelosi won't.  The real liberal idealism has come out...fight for the liberal, socialist cause and screw the American people by taxing them to death. 

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Whole thing is nothing more than convenient politics.  All of a sudden we need to drill off shore ? ? ?  We've needed to drill off-shore for the last 30 years.  Where was Bush and the GOP when we had the majority for years?  As a card carrying capitalist, conservative Republican, I stopped blaming the tree hugging greenies years ago.  We did it to ourselves ! ! !

Drill ANWAR........yes.  Drill off-shore........yes.  More infield drilling..........yes.  Mine oil shale..........yes.  Mine oil sands...........yes.  But if anybody thinks this is going to bring down the price of gas...........no way.  This is a national security issue, nothing more, nothing less.  Oil suppliers will continue to keep the supply down and buyers will continue to speculate and keep the prices high.  All I hope for is to have our own oil available and not be at the mercy of suppliers who are not necessarily our 'friends'.

And since I'm on a rant...........we get only a relatively small percentage of our oil from the Middle East.  Our biggest suppliers, second to our own development, is Canada and Mexico.  So, if we want to scream and yell at oil suppliers to open the spigots, it's not Saudi Arabia to blame, it's our neighbors to the north and south we should be talking to.

Sorry folks, I've stopped blaming everybody else except my own GOP ! !  The greenies have been consistent for decades in their opposition to developing our own energy.  What's the most frustrating was the lemming like migration of many Republicans to join the libs in stifling development of our own resources.  Thus endeth my rant for today.

drill now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Goodby greenies.

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Just wrote Pelosi a reality check e-mail. We all should contact our legislative types and tell tehm how we really feel. May not get us anywhere, but it sure feels good giving her another piece of my mind. I may make it on her hate list yet!

We have to drill, we want to drill, but we are not experts!! Just ask a liberal, they are the experts on everything!!!

This is kinda fun, actually.  Dontcha just know the Dems were happy to complain about high oil prices when they could blame it on Bush.  The last thing they want is to do anything that would make him look good.  They are probably more concerned about giving him something that would make him look good than of offending their enviromentalist wacko friends.  Some might call it karma.  I call it interesting.

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BillBrady, Bush has  been saying  this  same thing since 1999 and  only  got made fun  of by everybody... I will defend him in  this,,,,, he has  been called  everything  under  the  sun,,,,,,the  lefties  have  made oil and oil companies  a dirty word in  this  country...and now  they  are  working on  making  the  word "profit" a  dirty word..Anyway   he has been  labeled "A Texas Oilman"  which is about as libelous as you can get in our society  today,,,,as for me,,,, I  would  like  to see  em freeze their asses off in the  dark,,,,,(,so to speak)  DRILL HERE. DRILL  NOW !!!!!!

The irresponsible, liberal Democrats in Congress have let this issue boil over and now they continue to look like the true idiots that they are and always have been in regard to what's best for our country.

Bush is right on this one and has been for some time.  He has tried to put the issue into the forefront, over and over, and the Democrats continue to use it as a wedge to supposedly make him look bad, and they will take down the American people at the same time with their utter stubborness and foolishness--not for one moment caring about the results for Americans.

I don't know how anyone in their right mind could support these liberal nitwits, or their Presidential candidate. 

 DRILL NOW DRILL !!!!!

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Kaksdesign said:

I don't know how anyone in their right mind could support these liberal nitwits, or their Presidential candidate. 

You answered your own question, Kaks  - LOL!

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With the Issue of gas prices getting to #1 in America, even the Democrats will HAVE to do better on exploration or suffer huge losses come November.
And they will backtrack as soon as they can figure a way to do so without fatally angering the powerful Environmentalists Lobby.
McCain needs to drop all pretense and come forth NOW with support for ALL forms of exploration. ANWR, Off Shore, Shale/Coal oil extraction, Nuclear, etc.
Yes, he will be flip flopping, but all he has to say is that after all the Americans he has talked to at the Town Halls, he realizes it's what the American People want, and the People's wants and needs trumps his own opinion when Americans are hurting. This will stop the "flip flop" talk and get MILLIONS of voters energized for McCain, as the Democrats are just talking more taxes, more regulation, and throwing more cash at development that will take years.
Hearing a Politician say he is doing the will of the People over his own opinion would be a refreshing change, and would be DYNAMITE for his campaign.
But he HAS to beat Obama to it!
And Obama is already backtracking. Just two days ago he said that Nuclear Energy, if approached safely, is on his table. This is a HUGE reversal of opinion that no one seemed to notice, and I believe it is the beginning of a new Energy Attitude in the Democratic Party. They WILL turn around, sooner than later!

One more thing to note, and we ALL should be contacting our Reps about this TODAY.

The Oil Companies legally have the rights to any exploration and production of crude in this country.
This HAS to be changed. WHEN (not if) we remove the barriers to exploration, the same new laws should mandate a block on ANY domestic oil going on the Open Market! At this time, it is perfectly in the rights of the Oil Companies to do so since it's their exploration and refinement resources. We have to STOP that policy. ALL domestic fuels should be sold only in America, PERIOD! It would be insane not to do so.
The whole purpose of opening up exploration is to lower prices here, stop us from being at the mercy of unfriendly countries, and give us some breathing room to GET OFF OIL!
NOT to make the Oil Companies and distribution companies wealthier by selling our production overseas! We will NEVER have a surplus until we  can get completely away from using oil, so do not send our resources overseas, for ANY reason!

We need Federal Owned Refineries. Use the revenues to pay for construction/maintenance AND new energy development. This will create Millions of jobs, and assure that we will be funding new technology. Also, make sure the refineries are modulary designed so that whole systems can be refitted to other types of fuel production as we get the capabilities, and as we get off oil. This will ensure that we won't be abandoning $100's of Millions in construction costs, and the jobs that were created STAY WHERE THEY ARE, PERMANENTLY.

DO NOT outsource production!

 McCain needs to make the American People know that this all will happen. There will be some mad Americans if they find out our oil is being sold on the open market after all the suffering they will have to endure until the prices come down.

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I have to write what I am thinking on this.

I have been reading 100's of blogs on this subject and have found a very funny, but at the same time, disturbing repeat statement.

There will invariably be someone post that:

"We don't need more oil, we just need to build cars that run from solar/wind/hydrogen cells"!

At first I dismissed it as just young kids talking, but I have noticed that more and more seemingly adults are saying the same thing!

Do they think we are in a sci fi movie? Wind and solar are decent alternatives for single family dwellings, but they may NEVER be capable of providing the energy we need.

Some are saying that the Honda hydro car they unveiled this week was going to make gas cars obsolete. And that the Republicans are making sure we are behind in that area (?).

Well, h cells MAY be big a part of the solution, but did they not read the whole report? Honda says that they a going to put TEN (10) of these cars on the street NEXT YEAR. And 200 in two years, and IF they are viable, be in a LIMITED production in SIX years!

And isn't the extra WATER vapor these things produce (if millions are made), be harmful to the environment?

I mean, wouldn't billions of gallons of water, where there shouldn't be in nature, affect our climate as bad as cow farts? These tree huggers and moon howlers just doesn't make sense!

Yep, lets just all go into suspended animation and wait for that to happen. After all, we are in a sci fi movie.

These Liberal A** Holes better wake up! 

 

Has anyone else seen this drivel on the blogs? 

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