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POPSGreens Pave Way for Republican Comeback
than most other sorts of development, whether they be new or expanding suburban communities, roads, farming or a green energy projects -- like wind farms, solar panel fields, and cellulosic ethanol plants. Consider, for example, how much “fragile” environment would be disturbed by T. Boone Pickens’ plan to build the largest wind farm in the world on 400,000 acres in the Texas panhandle. While the Greens say they support Pickens’ effort, in what way is the Texas panhandle less fragile than the Utah desert? Last spring, the BLM placed a moratorium on solar power projects to be built on public lands, pending environmental impact studies. The necessary transmission lines and water use might disturb the native vegetation and wildlife, says the BLM. But the solar power industry screamed bloody murder and the moratorium was soon rescinded. Given that the Greens oppose oil and gas drilling everywhere, the rest of us -- especially congressional Republicans --
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POPSDemocrats To Let Offshore Drilling Ban Expire! What's Next??? The congressional battle over offshore drilling is far from over. Democrats are expected to press for broader energy legislation, probably next year, that would put limits on any drilling off most of the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Republicans, meanwhile, are likely to fight any resumption of the drilling bans that have been in place since 1981. "The future resolution of offshore drilling will have to be addressed with a new president," Drew Hamill, spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement.
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POPSClubForGrowth Vote Alert - Energy Bill The moratorium on drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf expires at the end of the year, yet supporters of this bill want to continue that ban on nearly 90% of OCS through this proposal. Along with the tax hikes and the subsidies for alternative fuels, there is nothing pro-growth about this proposal. In addition, we recently learned that an undisclosed, non-germane $2 billion earmark was inserted into this bill in complete violation of House rules. It should be vigorously voted down.
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POPSThe Existing Ban On Drilling Expires Sept 30, 2008 Now, here's (excerpt) of the letter from AFP On behalf of our millions of members and all American consumers suffering from high energy prices, we urge you to allow the current restrictions on much-needed American energy resources to expire as scheduled under current law. Unless Congress acts affirmatively to prevent it, October 1st, 2008 will be a day fittingly described as "American Energy Freedom Day" as those restrictions expire. Now that President Bush has lifted the executive branch moratorium, the only thing prohibiting development of these energy resources is a temporary ban that is set to expire at the end of this fiscal year. We urge you to oppose the creation of any new moratorium for fiscal 2009, even if it is attached to what some people in Washington consider "must-pass" legislation.
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POPSAlaska's Waters Quietly Reopen To Drilling The moratorium remained unchanged for more than a decade until Alaskan Sen. Ted Stevens spearheaded a successful effort to suspend the moratorium in 2003. In January 2007, President George Bush lifted Clinton's moratorium on leasing the drilling rights in the Aleutian Basin. The Aleutian Basin is the only shallow-water leasing area currently offered by the Interior Department. Roughly 80% of the area's waters are less than 200 feet deep. The most promising drilling prospects are located in water depths of about 300 feet.
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POPSSenate Moves Closer To Energy Vote Deal McConnell said he has not discussed with President Bush the possibility of calling on Congress to cut short its August recess to reopen the energy bill debate, “but if he does, I’ll be happy to be here.” Democrats last week failed to pass a bill to crack down on speculation in the oil futures market, after Republicans insisted that Reid allow a more open amendment process. The GOP is pushing for an amendment that would allow them to vote on lifting the congressional moratorium on offshore oil drilling. McConnell hedged when asked Monday if he could produce enough votes for a drilling amendment. Assuming all 49 Republican senators vote for such an amendment, McConnell would still need 11 more votes to reach the necessary threshold of 60.
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POPSPelosi: The Power Of One "In the House, the power rests in the speaker, the power of recognition, of setting the agenda. . . . Very different rules," Pelosi said. Acknowledging her ability to influence decision-making, Pelosi said in the CNN interview that she gets to operate differently than her Senate counterpart, Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada. Reid must reach out to Republicans to muster 60 votes — enough to stop a filibuster — to get anything done. It's an example of the vast power placed in the office of the speaker, who sets the agenda for the 435-member House. Members can force a vote if enough of them sign a petition, but that's a rarity because it requires rank-and-file Democrats to line up against their boss. In this case, Pelosi is going against a rising tide of public opinion. Faced with rapidly increasing gasoline prices, 73 percent of Americans now favor offshore drilling, according to a poll conducted by CNN/Opinion Research Corp.
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POPSBravo For Bush And Bravo For The Traders Well, if Congress moves to seal the deal, oil prices will probably keep on falling. That’s the way traders work. They discount the future. Psychology and expectations can turn on a dime. The congressional ban on offshore drilling expires September 30, so that becomes a key date. A new report from Wall Street research house Sanford C. Bernstein says that California actually could start producing new oil within one year if the moratorium were lifted. The California oil is under shallow water and already has been explored. Drilling platforms have been in place since before the moratorium. They’re talking about 10 billion barrels worth off the coast of California. There’s also a “gang of 10” in the Senate, five Republicans and five Democrats, that is trying to work a compromise deal on lifting the moratorium. So it’s possible a lot of action on this front could occur much sooner than people seem to think. Deregulate, decontrol, and unleash the American energy industry.
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POPSStop The Pelosi Anti-Energy Package! The most common-sense energy solution in the short term is to increase domestic oil production in the United States by allowing more exploration and drilling. Currently, there is a Congressional moratorium on drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) that has been in place for 27 years. This moratorium translates into roughly 85% of the OCS that Congress has declared off-limits for oil exploration and drilling. It simply does not make sense for the United States to allow its domestic oil resources to sit unused and depend on other nations in unstable regions of the world for its energy needs.
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POPSBush To Press Congress On Offshore Oil Drilling Bush also will reiterate his call for development of oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, Perino said. McCain has opposed drilling in the refuge, maintaining that the pristine areas in northeastern Alaska should be protected from energy development. On Monday, McCain made lifting the federal ban on offshore oil and gas development a key part of his energy plan. The Arizona senator said states should be allowed to pursue energy exploration in waters near their coasts and receive some of the royalty revenue. Bush has made clear in recent weeks that the drilling moratorium in coastal waters should end to allow for more domestic oil production and help "take the pressure off the price of gasoline." Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic candidate for president, opposes lifting the ban on offshore drilling and says that allowing exploration now wouldn't affect gasoline prices for at least five years.
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POPSCongress Shows How Clueless It Is, Once Again [continued[ or offshore, where another 30 billion await. If you think Congress' decision-making on energy couldn't get any worse, think again. While Bush was in Riyadh urging the Saudis to pump more oil, congressional Democrats were busy undercutting him, threatening to halt arms sales to our Mideast ally. If we don't sell arms to Saudi Arabia, Russia will. The result would be a loss of American leverage with the Saudis, who, like many, feel threatened by a nuclear Iran and the menace of al-Qaida. At least Bush convinced the Saudis to boost output 300,000 barrels a day. That helps. But we still have to do more ourselves. The U.S. uses about 21 million barrels of oil a day. But only 8 million come from our own sources. That leaves a 13-million-barrel-a-day deficit that, at $126 a barrel, will cost us $600 billion to plug this year. That's more than two-thirds of our total trade deficit.
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POPS Congress' Disappointing 'New Direction' “Our job is to take America in a new direction, and we are working hard to do that,” a spokesman for Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) Of the 106 bills signed by President Bush into law this year, nearly half (46) name post offices, courthouses or roads. Another 44 bills were equally non-controversial measures, such as reconstruction of the I-35 bridge in Minneapolis. Of the remainder, 14 bills merely extended existing laws. So much for “a new direction.” As last week’s Democratic debacle over the State Children’s Health Insurance Program revealed, even moderate Republicans who have supported “new direction” initiatives from the Democrats are losing their patience. “I used to think they cared about the policy. Now I think they care more about the politics,” moderate Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.) told the Washington Post.
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