Rep. Markey: Bush’s new WMD = ‘Wells of mass deception.’
Rep. Markey: Bush’s new WMD = ‘Wells of mass deception.’
President Bush announced today that he will lift the presidential moratorium on offshore oil drilling established in 1990 by his father, George H.W. Bush. In response, Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA), Chairman of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, said that Bush is pushing “another WMD: wells of mass deception“:
Today President Bush is invoking the specter of another WMD: wells of mass deception. The president’s own press spokeswoman said earlier today that today’s announcement by the president will change nothing, since all of the legislative moratoria on offshore drilling remain in place. The Bush oil policy is an attempt at mass deception by a White House that has, for the last seven and a half years, pursued Big Oil’s agenda of drill, drill, drill.
The Wonk Room notes that Bush’s action is intended to put pressure on Congress to follow him in “capitulation to the oil companies.” (HT: The Hill)
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During the ten years or so it would take to actually get any oil from new wells, we could be off oil for good. With enough R&D on renewable sources, we can use the remaining oil for lubrication until hell freezes over.
July 14th, 2008 at 11:49 pmOne drawback RUCerious, Bush’s buddies don’t have a choke hold yet on renewables. It will take a couple of years until they can manipulate that part of the market to line their pockets at the expense of the country, the people, and the environment. Until then, they have to keep pushing the pieces that feed their greed.
The one bright spot is when their greed trashs the earth so badly the human race dies out, the earth will never miss humans.
July 15th, 2008 at 12:07 amProbably longer than that, RUC, from everything I’ve heard and read from experts. And, as Wayne and I were discussing today, all of these “drill now, drill offshore and open up ANWR” proponents are completely hypocritical, since most of the oil that’s currently being drilled in Alaska is EXPORTED. Yeah, we have to wean ourselves off of foreign oil. Jebus!
Goodnight!
July 15th, 2008 at 12:12 amThe oil companies don’t want to drill. They want to lock up the leases so no one else can drill. The oil companies already control millions of acres of land across the United States that they are NOT developing, precisely because increasing supply lowers prices, and low prices are not what they want.
July 15th, 2008 at 12:20 amAs for the rising price of oil, blame the Bush administration’s economic and strategic policies for that. Massive deficits and tax give-aways to the rich and corporations, war spending, and failure to combat unprecedented and ever-larger trade deficits, have been causing the dollar to plunge in value.
Oil is a commodity and it is priced in dollars. If dollars decline in value, then the price of oil will rise in inverse proportion. That and deregulation of commoddity trading brought to you by Phil and Wendy Graham have put the world’s economies at risk. Poor George Bush has no idea.
Poor George Bush has no idea.
GP, I think he does. The Plan is coming to fruition. If we let them get away with it, we’re screwed.
July 15th, 2008 at 12:28 amI don’t know how many of you have heard of T. Boone Pickens (no, I’m serious, that’s his name), but he’s an oil man. He has the support of Carl Pope, the executive director of the Sierra Club. Normally I wouldn’t believe anything an oil man has to say, but this man deserves to be heard. At this point, I really don’t care where we get our ideas, or who makes a butt load of money off the deal, as long as someone comes along to save the day.
“To put it plainly, T. Boone Pickens is out to save America.”
– Carl Pope, Executive Director, Sierra Club
Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens wants to supplant oil with wind
USA TODAY
T. Boone Pickens Says Peak Oil Reached, Plans World’s Largest Wind Farm
CLEANTECHNICA.COM
Wind Sees Green
FORBES
Inside T. Boone Pickens’ Brain
FORBES
http://www.pickensplan.com/
July 15th, 2008 at 12:43 amIsn’t it amazing, if you think about it, just what we’re capable of technologically and humanly? And we allow ourselves to be manipulated by whores (politicians), pimps (lobbyists) and the johns (corporations and special interests) just so they can stuff their pockets. We could accomplish so much. But we allow the privileged few to bullshit and spin us into oblivion. Allowing this to continue is just stupid! Our government has become a sham while perpetrating some of the biggest scams in human history. And no one is being held accountable. For anything. Isn’t it amazing?
July 15th, 2008 at 12:57 amOT
I am pretty new here. I rarely post but I must say I like this site and the “Regulars” comments and discussions quite a bit.
I do find it very interesting , informative and at times intertaining.
Kudo’s to the Staff, the site, and the regular dyed in the wool “Progesive” bloggers.
That is all ;-)
July 15th, 2008 at 1:04 amI’ve seen the Pickens ads on TV. One thing he’s definitely right about is that we are in an emergency and we can’t drill our way out of it.
July 15th, 2008 at 1:05 am=Progressive
July 15th, 2008 at 1:05 amFixed
Isn’t it amazing?
July 15th, 2008 at 1:07 amYes, and at the same time it’s very discouraging.
It is the Enron Loophole, Stupid!
July 15th, 2008 at 1:13 amMr. Evil Says:
I’ve seen the Pickens ads on TV. One thing he’s definitely right about is that we are in an emergency and we can’t drill our way out of it.
I’m really wary of him, he’s a big time conservative. I’m hoping he’s not just using another avenue to screw the American people. If you check out his blog it looks like I’m not alone. I’d like to know what other environmentalists think about his plan.
July 15th, 2008 at 1:24 amAnyway, it’s late, I’ll check it out a little more tomorrow.
Yet we could have an immediate increase of 10% of our supply IF WE JUST STOPPED EXPORTING REFINED PETROLEUM PRODUCTS!!!
July 15th, 2008 at 1:31 amI think it would be sort of nice if someone would just come out and ask people to do some really basic stuff to reduce their comsumption. Damn if they have to spin it as the modern day Victory Garden so be it. The collective effect of regular tire inflation, unplugging of vampire electronics, local purchasing, and other simple behaviors would be really wild.
July 15th, 2008 at 1:45 amdbadass
I agree with your consumer minimization ideas, and i hear some of them being espoused by the local mechanics/oil change businesses (as advertising of course). That would help to some degree, but I think the issue here is much larger than that. We are looking at a power grab by the oil companies. The public’s dissatisfaction with the current gas prices is a great opportunity to acquire additional resource reserves that the public has “withheld” for some years. In my opinion it is akin to the power grab by the Bush administration following 9/11. Offshore drilling has nothing to do with gas prices. It’s all about getting what you can while the getting is good.
July 15th, 2008 at 2:09 amdbadass
I agree with your consumer minimization ideas, and i hear some of them being espoused by the local mechanics/oil change businesses (as advertising of course). That would help to some degree, but I think the issue here is much larger than that. We are looking at a power grab by the oil companies. The public’s dissatisfaction with the current gas prices is a great opportunity to acquire additional resource reserves that the public has “withheld” for some years. In my opinion it is akin to the power grab by the Bush administration following 9/11. Offshore drilling has nothing to do with gas prices. It’s all about getting what you can while the getting is good.
July 15th, 2008 at 2:09 amNew leases ought to come by trading in undeveloped leases and all new leases need to have short enough non-renewable expirations to require IMMEDIATE action to make them viable. This gives the Dems cover by offering something that can’t be hoarded but instead must be used right away, if that is truly necessary to increase oil output. Get rid of the lease hoarding and you force their hand.
July 15th, 2008 at 4:35 am“The Wonk Room notes that Bush’s action is intended to put pressure on Congress to follow him in “capitulation to the oil companies.”
The Dems should like this – capitulation is what they do best…
July 15th, 2008 at 6:59 amJane E. Schneider is correct when she says that the oil currently being pumped outta ANWAR is being exported. That was common knowledge way back when it was first openned. Funny how time has a tendency to make people forget.
July 15th, 2008 at 7:25 amHow have the oil markets responded to this Bush declaration?
Oh, I see oil is up another $1.50 a barrel in early trading today. It seems that everybody just thumbs their nose at what this lame duck says.
July 15th, 2008 at 8:48 am“Bush’s action is intended to put pressure on Congress to follow him in “capitulation to the oil companies.”—-This would be Congress capitulating. Not Bush. Bush IS the oil companies.
July 15th, 2008 at 9:43 amHouse of Roberts, you have a great point about trading ‘undeveloped’ offshore leases to get new leases to explore for oil. Shy of that, a policy of just renting rights for X number of years might also work.
The hitch I see however in short term non-renewable expiration dates is the uncertainties involved that would require a softer deadline. A couple examples; changes in technology that allow for deeper drilling could allow for more oil than originally expected; price changes could render more oil economically feasible to pump; storms could delay or slow expected progress (location depending); environmental litigation could (and does) slow the rate at which oilfield development projects begin.
But you have to keep in mind not every lease contains recoverable oil (or oil at all), and once a lease is found to be ‘out of the range of current technological feasibility’ it should be passed back to the leasing party. The hard part is how to design this process so oil companies cannot hoard leases, but also how to make the costs not too restrictive so companies are still willing to give it a go. Maybe having a conditional leasing price dependent on if oil is recoverable or not by the current technological standards would work?
And to respond to tbone, “Offshore drilling has nothing to do with gas prices. It’s all about getting what you can while the getting is good.”
Offshore drilling has everything to do with gas prices. With barrels selling this high, offshore areas are more feasible to develop than they were previously. If they could not make a profit, oil companies would not be there. It is not just about getting while the getting is good. Aside from the oil, what is there to get anyway?
I anticipate if alternative sources of energy prove expensive enough, continental oil in hard to refine shale will be getting a look in the future like offshore oil is today.
July 15th, 2008 at 9:48 amNew drilling proposals are just another scam by Bush&Co.
* 64 million scres already owned are not being drilled.
* There are no new refineries to process additional crude.
* Drilling now won’t produce oil for 6-10 years.
* 33% of oil produced in the USA today is shipped elsewhere.
This is a shell game to grant oil companies more land; Bush&Co are using scare tactics – something they are very good at.
July 15th, 2008 at 10:17 amDumb Question: Do I correctly remember some significant ties between Bush, Cheney and the oil companies ?
July 15th, 2008 at 11:42 amNiffy:
July 15th, 2008 at 3:51 pmI see your point, and I agree. I guess I wasn’t being as clear as I could have been. I was trying to say that these efforts to drill offshore have nothing to do with relief from high gas prices for the consumer (as is so often implied when the subject is discussed). They are using the public angst about high prices per gallon to leverage access to new areas.