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Congress Fails To Pass Sham Energy Bill
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Photo by Kevin Rosseel
Democratic congressional leaders failed yesterday to pass legislation that would force energy companies to drill on their leased government land or loose their leases. This bill was a sham and was defeated by 19 Democrats joining with 176 Repbulicans voting against it. The bill was designed only to create an impression that congress, which has blocked expanded off-shore drilling and drilling in ANWR, is trying to do something about the scarcity of gasoline and diesel fuel. This bill was designed to put the blame for shortages on the energy companies so these congressmen who have voted against drilling can avoid the wrath of their constituents.
Government leases are already sold to energy companies with the provision that they have 10 years to start commercial drilling or they loose their leases. The energy companies pay a lot of money for these leases at their own risk. The energy companies then have to apply for permits to drill. It can take up to 2 years in some cases to even get a permit. They then have to explore the leases and make a determination of whether there are commercial quantities of oil or natural gas. They then have to get production equipment to the site and start extracting the oil and natural gas. Our congressional leaders would have you think that our shortages are being caused by the energy companies who pay a lot of money for these leases, then refuse to drill on them to force the price higher. This is nonsense. The energy companies will automatically loose their leases, not to mention the investment in acquiring the leases and exploration, if they don’t drill within 10 years.
Most of the leases that are not being drilled either because the energy company has not yet procured the permits, gotten the equipment necessary to do the job, or because they have determined that the lease is not commercially viable. The energy companies want to use their very expensive off-shore equipment on the best possible exploration prospects.
Congresswoman Mary Fallin or
We should be drilling our most favorable prospects. It will take decades and trillions of dollars to create a clean energy infrastructure. During this time we are going to need to continue to need oil and natural gas. We should develop these resources at the lowest possible cost (the highest Energy Return On Investment). This will help our economy generate the money to invest in clean energy projects so that one day we will no longer need oil and natural gas. By restricting access to low cost resources, we will be forced to buy our energy from higher cost sources that will produce more carbon emissions. Many of these resources might be located overseas where production can’t be restricted by congressional action. This is the worst of all possible worlds because not only do we make global warming worse, but we severely damage our economy through a huge trade deficit. Our economy will need to be strong to finance a future of renewable energy. If we kept the money we spend on our trade deficit at home, we would have more money to spend on renewable energy.
Congressional Democrats seem to be following a policy of restricting all types of energy development except for those that are politically acceptable to the most extreme environmentalists. The problem is that there is no way we can possibly meet our energy needs in the short run with only Solar and Wind power, no matter how much we are willing to pay. It is likely that decreased supply will raise prices and force a severe demand destruction in this country. A lot of people will need to choose between eating and filling up their car. If business can’t procure the energy they need in this country, production of goods could move to countries with cheaper energy sources. That could increase the amount of carbon emissions and actually make global warming worse. We also end up with an economy in recession and a very high unemployment rate.
