Polls show that a large majority of Americans, somewhere between 60 to 70 percent depending on the poll, want more domestic energy exploration and drilling. They understand that years of preventing U.S. energy companies from drilling in federal lands have made us more reliant on foreign sources of oil and natural gas. Congress’s so-called energy policies have only helped to drive up prices of gasoline and heating oil.
Just this week, the president lifted the executive moratoria for drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) and he called on Congress to lift their moratoria.
With Congressional approval ratings reaching a new low – a record 9 percent - representatives and senators are feeling the pressure from their constituents to open more federal lands to energy exploration. Drill Here, Drill Now, Lower Prices has become the new mantra.
Americans also understand that times have changed since the 1969 oil spill off the coast of California. Drilling can be done in a far more environmentally-friendly and safe way. After all, after Hurricane Katrina, there were no significant oil spills in the Gulf, even with several battered and damaged oil rigs.
But liberals in Congress are beholding to environmentalist-extremists and are resisting opening up these federal lands. So, they have to pretend to do something to sooth their constituents.
Last week, the House leadership tried to pass a bill, H.R. 6251, the Responsible Federal Oil and Gas Lease Act that would force oil companies to give up their current leases in federal lands if they are not actively drilling. They failed to pass the bill under the Suspension Calendar which requires a 2/3 majority to prevail. Attempting to pass a bill under the suspension calendar also allows no amendments.
Well, they tried again today with H.R. 6515, the Drill Responsibly in Leased Lands Act of 2008. This bill had 8 sections, 6 of which are essentially current law and will do nothing to increase energy supplies. Two other sections would actually hinder energy exploration and production. But of course, House leadership knows this… they don’t want oil companies to drill where there is oil! Their environmental lobby wouldn’t stand for it.
So for weeks, the liberals in Congress have been arguing that oil companies are not using the land they are leasing now. But oil companies spend billions of dollars to lease and explore federal lands for oil and natural gas. It would be fundamentally stupid, make no business sense, and a disservice to their stock holders if they did nothing on federal lands they are leasing, especially with energy costs skyrocketing. In addition, current law requires a company that is leasing federal land to give their lease back to the government if they do not produce energy products within the term of the lease. So the premise of the liberals in Congress is false. Companies are already actively trying to develop their leased land. Some of it is under evaluation to see if there is any oil or natural gas that is economically available. In other cases, companies have already found out that after years of exploration, there is little oil or gas available. And the billions of dollars they have spent only to discover a dry hole is a loss to the company.
Another section of H.R. 6515 required the oil industry to negotiate Project Labor Agreements for the production, maintenance, and the construction of Alaskan pipelines. Now, you didn’t think current House leadership could pass a bill without a sop to labor unions, could you?
We wrote a letter on this issue that can be found here and called this bill what it is, nothing but smoke and mirrors.
Well – taxpayers and consumers won again today. The House failed to suspend the rules and pass H.R. 6515 by a vote of 244 to 173. Enough House members understood that H.R. 6515 was a fraud.
The chorus to open up more of our federal lands to drilling will only grow louder. Americans want real legislation and real action, not smoke and mirrors.
Filed under: Energy
