Obama approves offshore drilling

[wreckhog]

NUKES are the ONLY long term option. There is not enough oil in the world to last the US 1000 years. Oil MIGHT last us 100 years. If you care about your grandchildren's grandchildren, jump on the NUKE train now. Yes, there will be a few accidents with any evolving technology. SO WHAT. Pull out that tampon and go for it. Without our own NUKES, we will just end up buying energy from another enemy.

[steve y]

I'm on board with nuclear energy. I work in that industry and am all for it. Problem is the powers that be are not really on board. Their bandwagon doesn't have any horsepower, coalpower, oilpower or nuclearpower. Remember the Flintstones? Start pedalling Fred!!! Steve

[Sourdough]

We have been getting mixed reports.  Some say Obama canceled all Alaskan permits.  Others say he only canceled the permits for Bristol Bay.

Alaskan Oil has to go to American refineries by law.  I don't know about what is produced in Texas, Oklahoma, and other locations in the US.  But Saudi oil and the rest of the worlds oil is sold on the open market.  Keep this in mind.

Wednesday the price for steel was set for the next year.  This is an annual occurrence, and sees the price fluctuate up and down, small to moderate amounts.  On Wednesday China more than doubled the price it will pay for steel for the next year.  That means steel went up for the entire world.

Here we sit in Alaska wanting to put a natural Gas Line in from the North Slope to Fairbanks, Valdez, and possibly on to the lower 48.  One of the major holdups has been the price of the pipe.  As of Wednesday that price has more than doubled.

Now if China can do that with steel, whats to say they can't do that with oil.  And believe me China could consume all the oil being produced in the world right now by itself.  It is an oil hungry country.  Where is that going to leave us.  We only have ourselves, Al Gore,  and the Environmentalist to blame.   

[Oldshooter]

Can we believe anything he says here is some campaign rhetoric

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[jlchucker]

While I think its a good idea, I also think his motives were nefarious. Just trying to form a few alliances, but won't succeed in that department.

Yeah, it's a good idea.  It was a good idea when the Bush administration proposed it, and every Bush-hater and liberal-socialist pig in the country whined and got hateful about it.  They aren't saying a peep now?  What happened?  Did the "earth move" during the last election?  Evidently the Messiah fixed it up so it's no longer an environmentalist panic-issue.

[mcwoodduck]

Personally, I think that it is a waste of time/money, but it should make the Rep oil barons happy.

It was not to drill but to explore.  Exploring is not drilling!  And this moron and his groups have no thoughts of letting people drill or sell oil.
This comes on the heels of him closing many drilling contracts.
An Obama supporter on the radio called in yesterday and said this is a ploy.  It is to get the republicans to say no.
and show he is trying to work with them.
My question to the enviromental global morons is:
If this is a global ecology why would you want some 3rd world country that will pollute the ground, the air and the water to be allowed to drill for oil using 1920's tecnoligy but not 21st century technoligy here to save the air, ground, and water? 
Sounds like smoke and mirrors.
(I do not think Obama is the Anti Christ- He is the Anti Ronald Reagan!  Who showed us freedom and choices are good things.  Low taxes create jobs and a rising tide lifts all boats)
All I can think of is either Obama missed the days in college when they were talking about Econ 101, Con Law 101, and History or he knows and is doing this to end this country and the American way of life.

[steve y]

He was getting stoned with his marxist buddies during econ 101 but he was there during con law 101 because he is a constitutional lawyer. 99.9999% of lawyers are scum. He didn't miss history either because his history class was marxist and progressive history in America. Most assuredly mcwooduck he is intentionally destroying this country. Steve

[Oldshooter]

99.9999% of lawyers are scum.

You mean to tell me that dukkillr is the only lawyer in this country worth his salt!

I think AtlLaw may wanna discuss that with you! maybe even litigate!

[steve y]

I appologize for my gross generalization of the baristers of this great land. Ok I'll amend my contention to 99.998%. I'm sure those fellas only belong to the .002%. Steve

[wreckhog]

We have been getting mixed reports.  Some say Obama canceled all Alaskan permits.  Others say he only canceled the permits for Bristol Bay.

Alaskan Oil has to go to American refineries by law.  

Not since 1996.

Clinton Lifts Ban on Alaskan Oil Exports
AP
Published: April 29, 1996

 
 WASHINGTON, April 28— President Clinton gave formal clearance today for exporting Alaska's North Slope oil, ending a 23-year-old ban. The President also imposed additional safety requirements on tankers hauling the oil.

Alaska oil exports are permitted under a law the Congress passed last November, but oil companies could not begin carrying the crude abroad until a formal declaration from the President.

The export authority had been sought for years not only by Alaska officials but many in California -- a key re-election campaign state for Mr. Clinton -- where it is expected to help a sagging oil industry by increasing demand.

The President said permitting the exports would generate up to 25,000 more jobs, particularly in California and Alaska.

The Energy Department has projected that the exports would lead to the production of an additional 100,000 barrels of oil.


Only the EXPLORATION permits for Bristol Bay have been allowed to expire. Bristol Bay has never been drilled as far as I know. Other places were opened.

Bristol Bay drilling gets a reprieve
By BAYTIMES STAFF

                  


 
TAMMY JUDD, , Alaska Newspapers

An aerial view from Naknek looking toward Bristol Bay
Bristol Bay fishermen and members of local Native corporations reacted with gratitude and relief after today's announcement that the Obama administration decided to halt plans for offshore drilling in Alaska's Bristol Bay and southeast Bering Sea.

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced that, as part of a comprehensive strategy for strengthening the nation's energy security and reducing America's dependence on foreign oil, the Obama administration will expand oil and gas development and exploration on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf, while protecting fisheries, tourism, and places off U.S. coasts that are not appropriate for development, a press release said.

"In our quest to secure our energy future, we must not lose the places and values that set our nation apart," said Salazar. "Bristol Bay is a national treasure that we must protect for future generations."

The reprieve from drilling in Bristol Bay is part of a broader decision by Salazar on the current and proposed Five-Year Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) oil and gas leasing programs and includes drilling in other areas of the nation.

"When Secretary Salazar visited Bristol Bay this past April, community leaders and residents voiced overwhelming opposition to drilling in waters critical to our subsistence way of life and our fisheries-based economy. We are thankful and grateful he took to heart the message that this is truly a place that's not appropriate for oil drilling," said Verner Wilson, acting executive director of Nunamta Aulukestai, an association of eight Bristol Bay Native Village corporations.

The administration reinstated the presidential withdrawal for Bristol Bay from offshore drilling until 2017. It had been in place under former administrations and was removed under President George W. Bush in 2007. The decision will cancel a planned 2011 lease sale in the region (known as North Aleutian Basin Sale 214) that would have put 5.6 million acres of rich Alaskan waters - including vital habitat and fishing grounds for some of the world's most sustainable and lucrative fisheries - at risk, said a press release from Alaska Marine Conservation Council.

Bobby Andrew, a Bristol Bay village elder also with Nunamta Aulukestai, had a view farther than 2017.

"The people of Bristol Bay are thankful for the decision by Secretary Salazar but our message to Congress and the President is that we need permanent, permanent, permanent protection so this threat to our way of life is curtailed not only for the current generation, but also for future generations."

David Harsila, president of the Alaska Independent Fishermen's Marketing Association also called for permanent protection.

"Bristol Bay's salmon resource is like no other on Earth and provides thousands of jobs to fishermen across Alaska and the west coast. Our organization and hundreds of member fishermen are thrilled with this decision, but want to see something permanent so we don't have to fight this battle again," stated Harsila.

The administration's strategy does support exploratory drilling in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas in the Arctic Ocean, exploration in much of the Atlantic Ocean OCS, some of the Florida coast and expanded development and production in the Gulf of Mexico. For more information visit the Department of Interior Web site(http://www.doi.gov).