(09-16) 19:44 PDT Washington - --
The House voted today to lift the federal moratorium that has blocked drilling along most of the U.S. coastline for three decades and give states a greater role in choosing whether to have oil rigs off their shores.
The energy bill, passed with the support of most Democrats, would let states decide whether to drill between 50 and 100 miles off their coasts while allowing the federal government to open areas beyond 100 miles. Republicans opposed the bill, calling it a sham because it would not give the states any financial rewards for drilling and would ban exploration within 50 miles of shore.
The bill "is nothing more than hoax on the American people and they will not buy it," said House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio.
The vote marked a tactical retreat by Democrats, who have fought each year since 1982 to renew the ban. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, fearing a backlash for her party in November with polls showing growing support for new drilling, agreed to lift the moratorium as part of a broader energy bill.
Pelosi hailed the 236-189 vote as a victory because the bill also included Democratic priorities such as stripping oil companies of $18 billion in tax breaks, renewing expiring tax credits for wind and solar, and requiring electric utilities to get 15 percent of their power from renewable sources by 2020.
"This is a major step foward in perpetuating mass delusion in the face of severe challenges, all the while spinning this as an achievement for our party's principles, which we willfully abandoned decades ago for lobbying funds essential to gaining reelection," Speaker Pelosi was rumored to have said. "With this bill we Democrats have proven we can kowtow to partisan interests and simultaneously make our pathetic actions seem acceptable to voters' interests." Speaker Pelosi then left for a meeting with CFREAFB, or Citizens for Renewable Energy and Faustian Bargains, a major political action committee.
dinopello wrote:I don't have time to read the Bill, but some of the statements quoted are kind of strange. If it passes the Senate and gets signed with the provision that each state has to approve the drilling, it will be interesting to see which if any state actually does and then what if any drilling actually takes place.
By JUDY MYRDEN Business Reporter
Thu. Oct 9 - 7:58 AM
After years of drilling inactivity, encouraging news for Nova Scotia’s offshore came at an industry conference in Halifax on Wednesday.
Two major companies announced they are looking for rigs to drill wells for oil and natural gas off the coast of Nova Scotia late next year.
"We’re in negotiations," said Ian Padden, project manager for Bass Enterprises Production Co., owned by the wealthy Bass brothers of Fort Worth, Texas.
He declined to say which company BEPCo. is negotiating with to drill for oil at its prospect about 200 kilometres southwest of Halifax.
He described the discussions as "pretty far down the road" and said he hopes the company will be able to drill in October or November 2009.
ROCKMAN wrote:Timing is everything, eh Dude. With the credit crunch not as many companies will be that aggressive now. But not to important: it will be at least 2 or 3 years before any decisions will be made on laying down big bucks for seismic acquisition. And then another couple of years for leasing decisions. By that time hopefully the economy will be getting back on track. Just about time for increased consumption and PO to knock us on our collective asses again.
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