Congress to vote on drilling ban

saltwn · #1 (**permalink**) 08-17-2008, 05:51 PM

Quote:

In a shift on Saturday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that the House will take up comprehensive energy legislation next month that includes partially lifting the 1981 ban on offshore drilling.

Yeah! maybe Nancy got laid!
Nearly 40 years after some 80,000 barrels of oil washed up on the beaches of Santa Barbara * and launched a move to ban offshore drilling * Congress is heading toward a vote to end that moratorium.

For a generation of Democratic politicians, the notion of opening protected sites to drilling was toxic. But with soaring gas prices, public opinion is shifting toward anything that promises relief at the pump * and congressional politics is moving with it.

“It will consider opening portions of the Outer Continental Shelf for drilling, with appropriate safeguards, and without taxpayer subsidies to Big Oil,” she said in the weekly Democratic radio address on Saturday

Or maybe, she's just a better politician than we think. Feigning concern for her constituents while she was planning to make this announcement and have the limelight.

On Friday, Senate majority leader Harry Reid said that the Senate will also examine lifting the ban, which now covers all but central and western portions of the Gulf of Mexico and some parts of Alaska

“That’s something that you know we¹re going to take up. And there¹s nothing wrong with that,” he said in a conference call with Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens.

Reid talking to Pickens? Hell has frozen over or maybe the
Democrats have seen the light

Spencer Collins · #2 (**permalink**) 08-17-2008, 06:01 PM

I think the Democrats have seen the will of the majority of voters and have seen the "political" light..

Michael1 · #3 (**permalink**) 08-17-2008, 07:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spencer Collins

I think the Democrats have seen the will of the majority of voters and have seen the "political" light..

Now maybe we can talk about a comprehensive plan to drill more, explore more alternative energy sources, and build a whole lot of nuclear power plants.

I've said all along I'm in favor of really going after nuclear energy as the French did. This will allow more of our electric grid to run on cleaner sources of energy more immediately than will only wind and solar programs.

Of course, this could just be an election year flip flop based on reading the polls. Somehow, I wouldn't put it past the Dems...

cnredd · #4 (**permalink**) 08-17-2008, 11:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spencer Collins

I think the Democrats have seen the will of the majority of voters and have seen the "political" light..

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michael1

Of course, this could just be an election year flip flop based on reading the polls. Somehow, I wouldn't put it past the Dems...

that's exactly what it is...

The Dems know it's a losing issue, so they'll take the hit NOW and hope the resistance subsides by election day rather than continue their path as "global savoirs" and get rocked in November...

Spencer Collins · #5 (**permalink**) 08-18-2008, 04:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michael1

Now maybe we can talk about a comprehensive plan to drill more, explore more alternative energy sources, and build a whole lot of nuclear power plants.

I've said all along I'm in favor of really going after nuclear energy as the French did. This will allow more of our electric grid to run on cleaner sources of energy more immediately than will only wind and solar programs.

Of course, this could just be an election year flip flop based on reading the polls. Somehow, I wouldn't put it past the Dems...

It's an election ploy but nevertheless,we may manage to get something done! Over 80% of France's power comes from nuclear energy and without a major incident...

faithful_servant · #6 (**permalink**) 08-18-2008, 02:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michael1

Now maybe we can talk about a comprehensive plan to drill more, explore more alternative energy sources, and build a whole lot of nuclear power plants.

I've said all along I'm in favor of really going after nuclear energy as the French did. This will allow more of our electric grid to run on cleaner sources of energy more immediately than will only wind and solar programs.

Of course, this could just be an election year flip flop based on reading the polls. Somehow, I wouldn't put it past the Dems...

Nuclear power is one of the biggest fed. pork mega project ever conceived of. The ONLY way it's ever been profitable is by way of massive gov't subsidies. If you want a stable affordable energy source, burn coal. We're the world leader in high quality coal and if we'd switch to coal instead of oil, we'd be free from the need to buy oil for power generation. We've got more BTUs in coal than the entire proven reserves in all of the ME. Current coal technology is clean burning and low impact. While there's no doubt that coal mining needs some safety upgrading (the best way to do that is by infusing the industry with cash from increasing the volume of coal being mined), but it's far and away the best alternative we have. Unfortunately, the eco-nuts have been scammed by Al Gore into believing that CO2 is going to destroy the planet.

faithful_servant · #7 (**permalink**) 08-18-2008, 03:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spencer Collins

It's an election ploy but nevertheless,we may manage to get something done! Over 80% of France's power comes from nuclear energy and without a major incident...

Other than exorbitant taxes to support it, nuclear's great (outside of the long term disposal issue, mothballing costs, and substituting one foreign energy dependence for another).

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