Print
E-mail
Share
del.icio.us
digg
Newsvine
Facebook
WASHINGTON -- The battle over who can convince voters they have the solution to $4 a gallon gas is in full swing on the Hill.
INTERNET ENHANCED
Expanded coverage
Related story
- July 14, 2008 -- Bush trumps Congress; Moves first on drillings
Republicans, increasingly emboldened by polls showing public support for more drilling as part of their "all of the above" energy strategy, are trying to swing Democrats, who believe the country cannot drill its way out of the crisis and must rely more heavily on conservation and green energy sources.
After President Bush announced his executive order this afternoon to rollback restrictions on off-shore drilling, Republicans spent the day chiming in. They plan to unveil a petition Tuesday signed by 1.3 million Americans urging Congress to do something to lower the pain at the pump.
Democrats, meanwhile, noted that today was Day Five of their call for Bush to free up oil in the strategic petroleum reserve, believing that single act could immediately lower prices.
Democrats dismissed Bush’s call for more drilling, and are not likely to take up the congressional action needed to make it so. They repeated their concern that oil companies are already sitting on 68 million acres of leased federal land, and they should develop that before they set up shop along coastlines.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid called Bush’s announcement a "political gimmick," and promised to unveil legislation this week to rein in oil market speculators who many experts believe are driving up prices.
The price of gas at the pump in Norway is $9.86 a gallon, yet the Norwegian economy is booming, low out of work, high wages, and confidence is high amongst the people, so why should the $4 a gallon be creating such a huge problem in the USA, more out of work, food prices rushing up up up, housing problems, finance businesses in trouble, banks in freefall. Is the biggest economy in the world still the strongest economy in the world.
What can immediately lower oil prices: cut speculation by closing the Enron Loophole... that lovely piece of legislation created by McCain economic advisor Phil Gramm that allows speculation with little-to-no oversight.
More drilling MAY result in a few pennies per gallon in 10 years, but it is not a short-term answer. Republicans have no short-term answer.
Obama was the first presidential candidate to pledge to close the Enron Loophole.
I'm no petrogeologist but I don't think one barrel of crude has ever been pumped from D.C. However, if hot air ever becomes an energy resource, D.C. will be its epicenter.
Even if D.C. gave Big Oil a free pass today to drill anywhere and everwhere it wants, it would be 15 years before any of that got in anyone's gas tank.
The finite hydrocarbon resources are quickly coming to the end of their limits. Everyone knows this but the U.S. who can't see the party is over and its time to move along.
Like you say, the fossil fuel party is over, but D C still cant see this for all the pollution the fuels are emitting. We saw this when the first big oil scare came in the very early 70s, pledges were made to become independent of fossil fuels for energy production. We made the shift to hydro and nuclear, which together with renewables give us over 99% of our energy. Still not satisfied, we are embarking on vast wind parks, more hydro, and renewables are now giving more than 50% of our homes and industries heat and hot water as well as electricity from CHP plants. We are a small country, but with big ideas, so if we can then the USA can as well, all it needs are some leaders with guts and determination. Sverige, AKA Sweden.
"The price of gas at the pump in Norway is $9.86 a gallon, yet the Norwegian economy is booming."
uddeboda, thank you for supporting new oil and gas drilling.
I agree with you that we should follow Norway's path.
They have all this black gold and they do not have Reid or Obama blockheads that do not want to drill for it.
Thanks for the support.
"Norway's oil industry is the world's third largest ranking "oil exporter and the seventh largest oil producer. In 2003, Norway was the world's third largest gas exporter and the eighth largest gas producer"
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?tit...
" it would be 15 years before any of that got in anyone's gas tank."
This is a broken record that gets played every 5 to 10 years.
Reid, Obama and Democrats have put their foot down on drilling for years and now we are paying the price.