Drilling offshore?

Question

I thought that in the 90's when Clinton veto'd the bill to allow offshore drilling, that it would take 10 years to see results? Why is everyone so impressed that the president is allowing it now when it wont make much difference for another 10 years or so??! p.s. ya think gas would be over $4.00 a gallon now had clinton allowed offshore drilling when it was preposed??

Answer 1

It won't make any difference it's a fraction of a % of what is required.  It's a market, the same people who made fortunes out of buying and selling huge property holdings then dumping them before the proverbial hit the fan are playing the market now w. energy.  It will come back down again in time.

Answer 2

10 years, my butt.  If it takes 10 years from the time oil is discovered and leases are sold, then why aren't there wells on 70% of the offshore leases where oil has already been discovered that have been leased to oil companies?  Could it be because once you lease it to them, there is no gaurantee they will drill it?

Answer 3

We probably would not be paying over $4 for gas because we would be less dependent on foreign oil.  But, as inept as the Clinton administration was, they are not entirely responsible.

Answer 4

I don't think the small quantity we'd be able to extract offshore would affect the spot market for oil. Saudi announced they plan to ramp up production by 700,000 barrels a day, and it had a marginal affect on pricing. Even their statement that they will add another 3 million barrels by the end of 2009 barely caused a ripple.

The fact is, there is no reason not to drill offshore - modern techniques used in places like Norway, Britain, South Africa - keep pollution to a minimum.

However, there is also no NEED to drill offshore at the moment - there are millions of acres of leased land that is not being explored in America. Apparently, the oil companies don't want to start developing those fields until they also have control over the off-shore sites - another way to extend their monopoly position. There are many wells already drilled in the US that are capped; these wells are being 'kept in reserve' by the oil companies. What exactly are they waiting for? They could start pumping those today, and it would immediately impact our home production. But they are not going to - not until they have those offshore leases as well.

Answer 5

Yes.  Clinton couldn't predict prices would be so high today.  But all Presidents since Carter, have not done anything to address this problem.  Now it is in our face and we have to do something now.  Even the perception of action, that is saying yes to drilling will squelch some of the speculation driving this bubble.  Wall street is very foward looking.  There is no real shortage, but I believe this is purely market driven.  We need to pop that bubble.

Answer 6

The enviro nuts are largely to blame.  Clinton wanted to kiss their asses to get the votes they possessed.  So we all pay for it now.  Off shore drilling is almost 100% full proof now. But the enviro nuts are not.  They need a reality check. Don't they?

There are only a handful of them compared to the rest of us.  But the government that is supposed to listen to the majority does not listen.  We need to do something about that.

Answer 7

President Bush actually proposed in his first ever state of the union adress that we should drill for oil in our own country. But of course, this idea was shot down by the communist/environmentalist liberals. So the question of why are ppl so impressed that its being proposed now is overdue. The fact is, that we should have done it when Bush first proposed it 8 years ago! We would be well on our way to being mainly fuel independant by now.