......House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick J. Rahall (D-WV) and others in the House leadership issued an ultimatum to oil companies: Drill on the leases you have or lose the leases!
“Big Oil, as many Americans already suspect, are perfectly fine with high gasoline prices at the pump while they hold back domestic production on federal leases and enjoy world record profits. I am calling them on the carpet. I am calling their bluff. We are not going to continue to allow them to speculate and profiteer with public resources to the detriment of the American people.”
It turns out that massive amounts of leased land, leased for natural gas and oil exploration, are lying fallow. Lying fallow with the potential to double US oil production. In the face of this, Republicans (and Republican stooges like George Will) scream about drilling in national parks and in sensitive off-shore areas.
Just released is the House report The Truth About America’s Energy: Big Oil Stockpiles Supplies and Pockets Profits which highlights some critical points:
Increased drilling and increased drilling permits from 1999-2007 have had a noticeable impact on gasoline prices.
Energy companies are not using the lands already opened to exploration drilling, with about 25% of leased lands involved in energy production.
If we extrapolate from today=s production rates on federal land and waters, we can estimate that the 68 million acres of leased but currently inactive federal land and waters could produce an additional 4.8 million barrels of oil and 44.7 billion cubic feet of natural gas each day.
If accurate, this is a massive amount, enough to enable cutting imports by a third....................
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