Both Al-Rusty and Allergy Kagen are running an elaborate non-truth about offshore drilling past Wisconsin voters in hopes that nobody will notice.
The lie: "The Oil Companies have 68 million offshore acres under lease and they aren't using them. Why should they have more?"
Here's the more precise version of the artful dodge: “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.” Note the highlighted word, folks.
"Extrapolation," of course, makes a fatal assumption: that "all else is equal." Here's how the extrapolation plays out in the alleged minds of Feinie and Kagen:
Roughly 23 million acres of federal land are producing 1.6 million barrels each day today.
Roughly 3 times as many federal acres - about 68 million - are leased to oil companies, but are not currently producing oil or gas.
Therefore, the United States could be producing 3 times as much oil - or an additional 4.8 million barrels per day - if the lease holders for the non-producing federal lands started producing oil today.
Voila!! It's the Oil Companies' fault.
Reality, of course, is a bit different. The fact that the oil companies leased the land does NOT mean that there's oil there. It only means that the oil companies wanted to EXPLORE the land, based on the POSSIBILITY that there is oil there. If it's not, the acres remain leased regardless.
The result of Congressional bans on exploration?
The United States’ dependence on foreign sources of energy is intensified by federal government restrictions on oil and natural gas production in certain energy-rich locations here at home. These policies have closed about half the waters in the Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas exploration. Most of the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) on the East and West coasts is off limits to energy exploration, and lack of infrastructure and opposition to Alaska’s OCS has forestalled access to the area’s enormous energy potential.
The U.S. Minerals Management Service (MMS) estimates that more than 16 billion barrels of oil and nearly 60 trillion cubic feet of natural gas are inaccessible as a result of the moratoria. This estimate is considered extremely conservative by most petroleum experts because, historically, oil discoveries are not made until one is allowed to look.
Only the Democrats in Congress are preventing exploration of US territory.
Ask Feinie and Kagen why.
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5 comments:
The U.S. Minerals Management Service (MMS) estimates that more than 16 billion barrels of oil and nearly 60 trillion cubic feet of natural gas are inaccessible as a result of the moratoria.
The world consumes about 84 million barrels of oil a day, so an extra 16 billion barrels would last about 190 days, if we could pull it all up at once.
If we pulled it all at once, refined it immediately, and put it only in American cars and trucks, it would last less than five years.
And then what do we do?
I'll take the 5 years WITH petroleum.
You should probably quit using it right now, Jay. Without question, you should stop using your auto's air conditioner--and the auto, too.
In the meantime, we'll find a way around this problem.
And if I feel real nice, I'll pick you up while your hitch-hiking and give you a ride.
Gee dad, we are exporting 1.6 million barrels of fuel a day (http://www.cnbc.com/id/25518912). I think it would be great to drill everywhere the oil companies want, then export the product. Our chinese friends would really like that.
Dear Dumbass Anony:
PRICE is not determined by destination, but by supply.
Go back to 7th grade, where you should have learned that.
Gee dad, it seems a lot of the price is determined not by supply and demand, but by fear of a shortage encouraged by those that know that selling energy futures is a lot more profitable than selling the energy itself. And I agree with you, increased production will have a positive effect on the price at the pump, but only on an international scale. Which, of course, means that we need to drill everywhere there might be a drop so that we can increase international production to the point that the price drops in China. Then it drops here.
And it makes Jays estimate of how long our oil will last a little optimistic since we will be filling autos on a world wide scale.
Personally, I have found that the increased dividends from ExMob have more than made up for the increased cost of filling my car's tank. I'm in full agreement with Sen Gramm, y'all just need to quit your whining.
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