Shadegg in the WSJ

In case you missed this.

Democrats Still Aren't Serious About Drilling

After a five-week paid vacation, Democrats are back in Washington and claiming that they want to do something about oil prices.

But the problem is that their plan, which passed the House yesterday and will likely come up for a vote in the Senate later this week, will not produce a single drop of oil.

Why? Because it does nothing about environmental groups that are suing to stop drilling.

The Democratic proposal is not a death-bed conversion, it's designed to solve their political problem. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told her members in August that they can say they are in favor of drilling, but that she wouldn't allow a vote on a drilling bill. Now that she has been forced to, she knows her environmental allies will block new drilling from going forward.

Comments

[Retrorv]

Its such a gimmick I don't understand why the Democrats just don't say Okay-drill! Its not like the oil companies are chomping at the bit to do so. Heck, they're not using all the OCS leaseholds now. Just approve it and the issue goes away. Instead, they get beat over the head with it. Since this has nothing to do with actually drilling oil and everything to do with politics, just call their bluff and approve it.

[DGN]

Oil companies do not drill on every lease, because leases are purchased with the idea of covering vast tracts of land (or water) under which there MAY be oil.

For example, if you knew that there was a vein of gold under a 100 acre plot near Show Low (Not really. I don't want to start the Arizona Gold Rsuh, though wouldn't that be fun?) you would be reasonable by buying the entire 100 acres.

But what if the gold, which does not follow the nice lines on any map, winds its way under a total of 55 of those acres?

There might be tons of gold under 10 acres, little bits under 45 acres, and none at all under another 45 acres. But the plot was only for sale if you bought all 100 acres.

Oil leases are the same. A company buys a vast tract of line that has potential for oil exploration, knowing that only a portion - if any - of that land may actual yield oil.

So to say that companies are merely ignoring certain leases is incorrect. Those leases may be a part of a larger area that is being explored. And it's possible that some of those unused lease areas are awaiting new technologies that would make drilling feasible.

Much of what the House passed is pure cynicism. They know it won't be considered in the Senate anyway and the bill opens up almost no new areas to exploration. It's politics, pure and simple.

[Nick]

Retrorv

11 Days Until Congressional Offshore Energy Ban Expires!

How many Democrat lawsuits will be filed
during the next 18 months to prevent any
new drilling?