Yesterday, congressional Republicans killed a Dem oil-drilling bill dead. Bush said earlier this week that he’d veto it if it came to his desk, so the Dems needed two-thirds of the vote and couldn’t get it. The bill would have made oil companies like the ultra-profitable Exxon explore for oil on land they’d already acquired before they started drilling on un
explored land.
The Republicans took an evil-looking position servicing their great donor, the energy industry. But they were able to get away with it in terms of PR fallout because all they had to do was say, “you really want to mess with where people can drill for oil when gas is at $4/gallon?” Democrats tried to get them with a “use it or lose it” motto. It’ll be interesting to see how each party tries to use the gas-prices issue to bludgeon the other this election year.
Image: flickr/Kanaka’s Paradise Life
July 19th, 2008 at 6:12 am
Sorry, am a little confused. Does this now mean that Exxon can drill wherever they wish regardless of who owns the land? And is there a great reservoir of oil still untapped in the US that could last another 100 years? Which is rumor and which is fact? Despite it all however that particular way of life is entirely unsustainable, and it must end because it has to.
July 20th, 2008 at 5:24 am
Sorry, you obviously need to pay a little more attention. The Democrats never intended this legislation to pass, it was just for show:
“A DEMOCRATIC energy bill has died in the Senate — and it’s probably just as well. For the most part, it was election-year symbolism. Several provisions, such as a Justice Department investigation of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, a windfall profits tax and an end to certain oil industry tax breaks, might have stuck it to alleged culprits, but they would have had little or no impact on prices at the gas pump.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/17/AR2008061702037.html
July 21st, 2008 at 10:12 pm
These Mega-Trillion dollar OIL “companys” just want to grab for pennies all the public owned leases for the future. They currently have more leases than they could drill on for many years to come. They know oil is NEVER going back down if they can claim they got no where to drill and it’s all “those environmental NUTS” who are causing the high prices. If they start producing oil from their current leases it will only bring oil prices back down to reasonable prices. And way should they be in a hurry, they are making more money than ever before by just setting on their current leases knowing when they get around to it the oil will already be theirs and not the American publics.
July 24th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
Yeah, it is a pretty ugly, bruttish industry. To read of it makes me feel uncultured. GodBless America.
August 19th, 2008 at 9:06 am
yo
Not sure that this is true) but thanks
September 10th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Saving Energy Natural Gas
It is a quite interesting post but quite difficult to understand for me -