LETTER TO THE EDITOR:

Reality check on drilling for oil

James J. Poupard, Henderson

Sat, Jul 19, 2008 (2:01 a.m.)

The Republicans repeatedly harp about the environmentalists, whom they blame for our high gas prices, but let’s look at some facts for a change.

George Herbert Walker Bush was the president who signed the executive order to ban offshore drilling. A son of his, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, fought hard to prevent drilling off Florida’s coasts.

For 30 years, the Big Oil folks have used “bottleneck” economics to stop any new refineries.

A friend of mine who retired from the Energy Department told me that if the Big Oil people really wanted the new refineries, 30 years ago they had enough power to get it done.

And I ask a last question: Does anyone really believe OPEC and other oil-producing nations really want us to drill for more oil here? The answer is no!

Discussion: 3 comments so far…

By jfnance32

7/19/08 at 2:33 a.m.

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"Does anyone really believe OPEC and other oil-producing nations really want us to drill for more oil here? The answer is no!"

That is correct that other oil producing nations do not want the USA to drill for its own oil.

Yes, we have lots of black gold and Reid, Obama and the Democrats have locked it down for years and continue to do so.
By PatriciaLV

7/19/08 at 1:16 p.m.

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Well, Mr. "jfnance32", you seem to have all the answers. Tell us; how is drilling for the TINY BIT of oil that MIGHT BE left underground here in the good ol' USA going to help NOW? Surely with your obvious vast wealth of knowledge you must be aware that ANYTHING that is pulled out of the ground or from under the sea(s) NOW won't be realized for AT LEAST five to eight years.

Oh and how do you figure "Reid, Obama and the Democrats have locked it down for years" when the REPUBLICANS had control of the ENTIRE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT for SIX YEARS?

It boggles the mind that there are STILL sheep like you bleating the right wing mantra ..... even after having been proven wrong over and over and over again.
By petersterling

7/20/08 at 10:59 a.m.

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There is an extremely dangerous game being played by the White House, Congress, and certain activist organizations that is placing the economy and the security of America at great risk. As a matter of national security and as a significant boost to the American economy, it makes no sense to not assure and achieve hydrocarbons energy independence.

America faces a very dark future as rapidly-increasing energy costs threaten to bankrupt the entire economy, bringing about a depression with no end.

Dr. Roy Cordato from the conservative think tank John Locke Foundation said. "This is a government driven scarcity," Dr. Cordato added. "It's driven by laws that has kept the United States off the exploration market."

Do we have enough domestic energy? The answer is yes we do!

In 2003, the MMS estimated that there was 406.1 Tcf of remaining undiscovered technically recoverable natural gas and 76 billion barrels of oil in U.S. offshore regions. A precise inventory with modern equipment has not been conducted in over two decades due to the uncertainty created by federal moratoria.

These MMS estimates for available recoverable reserves are too low.

1) There are more reserves than the entire continental shelf estimates for the Blake Ridge gas deposit alone than the MMS oil estimates for the entire US OCS moratorium area.

2) The Bering Sea Abyssal probably contains 20 billion barrels OEL in natural gas alone.

3) The Gulf of Mexico (GOM) Deeps probably contains at least 150 billion barrels.

4) The Chukchi Sea probably contains 50-100 billion barrels OEL.

5) The Beaufort Sea (Alaska-Canada) probably contains 20-50 billion barrels.

6) The part of the Arctic Ocean Commons area adjacent to Alaska and Canada’s EEZ probably contains 400 billion barrels.

7) The mean estimate of technically recoverable oil in ANWR is 10.4 billion barrels, all of which is now economically recoverable. That is more than twice the proven oil reserves in all of Texas, and is almost half of the total U.S. proven reserve of 21 billion barrels. That represents a possible 50 percent increase in total U.S. proven reserves.

8) The Strategic Unconventional Fuels Task Force has estimated that 800 billion barrels of oil equivalent could be recoverable from oil shale resources in the Green River Basin depending on technology and economics - enough to replace the amount of oil we currently import for more than 160 years. And 576 of the 800 billion barrels of oil are owned or controlled by the Federal government.

These amounts of oil and gas could easily last America hundreds of years!

See: http://www.strategicnine.com/STERLING-AM...