While the Democrats blocked the Republicans attempts for expanding oil drilling? what does this mean?

Question

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said that legislation to lift the ban has significant support and might pass the House, but he told reporters, "If we allow drilling everywhere tomorrow, there would be no additional supply available."

Excuse my ignorance, but if you expand your options, why would the additional supply not be available? my mind doesn't grasp this.

Answer 1

He means "no additional supply available until long after this election" . They do not care about what shape we are in 4 years from now, only today.

  They did not care what shape we are in today, ...four years ago.

  Short sightedness.

Answer 2

There are several reasons.

1) It would take at least three years for  the oil to reach the market thus not affecting the current supply

2) The oil companies have legally leased thousands of acres off shore and are not drilling their now.

3)  There are not enough oil tankers to take advantage of anything that we do find.  They are booked for the next 3 years, and the cost the oil companies over a billion dollars to get a new one.

Answer 3

May be the underlying philosophy is that try and draw as much supply from the other sources like Gulf countries. When all the oil fields elsewhere in the world are depleted, start using you own potential oil-wells.

Answer 4

Our domestic reserves of oil are a strategic national asset, essential to the security of the nation, and should be recognized as such. Why should we deplete them, so that millions of people can commute to office jobs in well upholstered farm equipment? This is frivolous consumption.

Electric cars are already good enough to serve the purposes of many, if not most, of these commuters, and their capabilities will increase over time. The automakers should be encouraged, if not compelled to make them. Commuters whose needs do not exceed the limitations of such vehicles should be encouraged, if not compelled to buy them when replacing their old gas vehicles.

It's been widely observed that no gas will be obtained from the areas in contention for at least 10 years. The only way drilling there could have any effect on prices, therefore, would be via market speculation.

But if market speculation is to blame, regulation of those traders would bring down prices anyway, without wasting our national resources. And Obama favors such regulation.

In fact Congress has recently passed an example of such

legislation into law, over Bush's veto.

It may well be that all that stands between you and lower gas prices today, is Bush's refusal to enforce that law.

Answer 5

You are being decieved.

Answer 6

It doesn't make any sense, but then, much of what is done in politics makes no sense anyway.  Unless it has something to do with money, which runs everything, and everyone.

Answer 7

It's not a smart point but it makes some sense.  If you go out and drill in one place, and leave a large amount of other places alone, and then decide to drill in those places, all of a sudden you've run out of available places to drill, and when those sources run dry you're out.  It's not a good point, I'll agree with you there, but the major issue is that the places we're using right now aren't being tapped to their fullest, and still people want to expand to other locations that we're going to use only to the same extent.  What's the point of drilling in multiple locations when the amount you spend on starting drilling is more than what you take away due to bad management?

Answer 8

They want us to fill our tanks with HOPE and CHANGE!  They say it will take 10 years to get oil to the markets as gas. I ask how long it will take (let alone cost) to switch millions of cars to alternative energy.  Drill here, drill now, drill EVERYWHERE!! I have to drive 26 miles to work each day.

there isn't any public transport available to me.  If gas gets much higher I and a lot of Americans are gonna be really, really hacked off!

Answer 9

Republicans are more business-oriented. To make money, you have to spend money. Oil-drilling is long-term and expensive, but in the long-run, it will save America billions of dollars, dependency on oil from other countries, and will probably prevent a lot of 'oil wars'. Democrats want to find a quick-fix... there is NO quick-fix.

Answer 10

Unfortunately, if we started drilling tomorrow and utilized our coal for fuel it would still take 20 years before we became Solely self-sufficient.  The Democrats don't want us to drill, etc b/c if they p**s-off the "tree huggers" there goes votes for them and they say "it is not a quick fix".  Well nothing is quick, yet if we started now maybe in 20 years we will be in a much better state with regards to fuel.  President Reagan researched twenty years ago the actual cost of turning coal into gas- the study showed over-whelmingly how cheap it would be and "poof" his project was shut down immediately!    Peabody was the company hired to do the project.   Yet, if our fabulous Democrats approved this bill- it would not only put us on the road to self-sufficiency but it would also create jobs, and keep our money here in America.  The Saudi's/ South America are going to continue to financially rape us b/c they can.  Overall, the Democrats want to turn this country into a "socialist nation" anyways so it won't matter anyway how much fuel will cost b/c we will all be too poooorrr to pay for it.