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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums'They can stand with the big oil companies, or they can stand with the American people'
Remarks by President Obama on Oil and Gas Subsidies - Rose Garden(AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
March 29, 2012
Today, members of Congress have a simple choice to make: They can stand with the big oil companies, or they can stand with the American people.
Right now, the biggest oil companies are raking in record profits - profits that go up every time folks pull up into a gas station. But on top of these record profits, oil companies are also getting billions a year -- billions a year in taxpayer subsidies - a subsidy that theyve enjoyed year after year for the last century.
Think about that. Its like hitting the American people twice. Youre already paying a premium at the pump right now. And on top of that, Congress, up until this point, has thought it was a good idea to send billions of dollars more in tax dollars to the oil industry.
Its not as if these companies cant stand on their own. Last year, the three biggest U.S. oil companies took home more than $80 billion in profits. Exxon pocketed nearly $4.7 million every hour. And when the price of oil goes up, prices at the pump go up, and so do these companies profits. In fact, one analysis shows that every time gas goes up by a penny, these companies usually pocket another $200 million in quarterly profits. Meanwhile, these companies pay a lower tax rate than most other companies on their investments, partly because were giving them billions in tax giveaways every year.
(AFP Photo/Chris Kleponis)
Now, I want to make clear, we all know that drilling for oil has to be a key part of our overall energy strategy. We want U.S. oil companies to be doing well. We want them to succeed. Thats why under my administration, weve opened up millions of acres of federal lands and waters to oil and gas production. Weve quadrupled the number of operating oil rigs to a record high. Weve added enough oil and gas pipeline to circle the Earth and then some. And just yesterday, we announced the next step for potential new oil and gas exploration in the Atlantic.
So the fact is, were producing more oil right now than we have in eight years, and were importing less of it as well. For two years in a row, America has bought less oil from other countries than we produce here at home - for the first time in over a decade.
So American oil is booming. The oil industry is doing just fine. With record profits and rising production, Im not worried about the big oil companies. With high oil prices around the world, theyve got more than enough incentive to produce even more oil. Thats why I think its time they got by without more help from taxpayers who are already having a tough enough time paying the bills and filling up their gas tank. And I think its curious that some folks in Congress, who are the first to belittle investments in new sources of energy, are the ones that are fighting the hardest to maintain these giveaways for the oil companies.
(AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Instead of taxpayer giveaways to an industry thats never been more profitable, we should be using that money to double-down on investments in clean energy technologies that have never been more promising -- investments in wind power and solar power and biofuels; investments in fuel-efficient cars and trucks, and energy-efficient homes and buildings. Thats the future. Thats the only way we're going to break this cycle of high gas prices that happen year after year after year. As the economy is growing, the only time you start seeing lower gas prices is when the economy is doing badly. Thats not the kind of pattern that we want to be in. We want the economy doing well, and people to be able to afford their energy costs.
And keep in mind, we cant just drill our way out of this problem. As I said, oil production here in the United States is doing very well, and it's been doing well even as gas prices are going up. Well, the reason is because we use more than 20 percent of the worlds oil but we only have 2 percent of the worlds known oil reserves. And that means we could drill every drop of American oil tomorrow but wed still have to buy oil from other countries to make up the difference. Wed still have to depend on other countries to meet our energy needs. And because its a world market, the fact that were doing more here in the United States doesnt necessarily help us because even U.S. oil companies theyre selling that oil on a worldwide market. Theyre not keeping it just for us. And that means that if theres rising demand around the world then the prices are going to up.
Thats not the future that I want for America. I dont want folks like these back here and the folks in front of me to have to pay more at the pump every time that theres some unrest in the Middle East and oil speculators get nervous about whether theres going to be enough supply. I dont want our kids to be held hostage to events on the other side of the world.
REUTERS/Larry Downing
I want us to control our own destiny. I want us to forge our own future. And thats why, as long as Im President, America is going to pursue an all-of-the-above energy strategy, which means we will continue developing our oil and gas resources in a robust and responsible way. But it also means that were going to keep developing more advanced homegrown biofuels, the kinds that are already powering truck fleets across America.
Were going to keep investing in clean energy like the wind power and solar power thats already lighting thousands of homes and creating thousands of jobs. Were going to keep manufacturing more cars and trucks to get more miles to the gallon so that you can fill up once every two weeks instead of every week. Were going to keep building more homes and businesses that waste less energy so that youre in charge of your own energy bills.
Were going to do all of this by harnessing our most inexhaustible resource: American ingenuity and American imagination. Thats what we need to keep going. Thats whats at stake right now. Thats the choice that we face. And thats the choice thats facing Congress today. They can either vote to spend billions of dollars more in oil subsidies that keep us trapped in the past, or they can vote to end these taxpayer subsidies that arent needed to boost oil production so that we can invest in the future. Its that simple.
And as long as Im President, Im betting on the future. And as the people Ive talked to around the country, including the people who are behind me here today, they put their faith in the future as well. Thats what we do as Americans. Thats who we are. We innovate. We discover. We seek new solutions to some of our biggest challenges. And, ultimately, because we stick with it, we succeed. And I believe that were going to do that again. Today, the American people are going to be watching Congress to see if they have that same faith.
(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
text of remarks: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/03/29/remarks-president-oil-and-gas-subsidies
related:
President Obama's Bid To End Oil Subsidies Voted Down By Senate
?http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/29/oil-subsidies-senate-president-obama_n_1387789.html
Cirque du So-What
(25,939 posts)Call out these repugs - loudly and often.
longship
(40,416 posts)Thank you, BigTree. Nice layout.
And thank you President Obama for making a brilliant argument.
bigtree
(85,996 posts)Bigmack
(8,020 posts)per barrel of oil taken out of public/government land?
Bigmack
(8,020 posts)... but I found it. "1/8 of the value of the oil sold at the lease..." Could be $3 per barrel. But I don't know if the value of the oil is the market price or some weird accounting price.
From Petroleum Institute:
"How are royalties calculated?
On government lands, the royalty share of the value produced can be paid in value (dollars) or in kind (barrels of oil and cubic feet of gas) at the election of the Department of the Interiors Minerals Management Service (MMS).
If the MMS wants its royalties in dollars, the lessee applies the applicable rate to the actual or imputed proceeds it received from sale, less deductions for post-production costs such as transportation away from the lease. For example, if a barrel of crude oil produced from an onshore lease that has a one-eighth royalty rate were sold at the lease for $24, the royalty due would be one-eighth of the selling price or $3. If the MMS wants its royalties in kind (meaning delivery of its share of the actual oil and/or natural gas produced), the producer works out an arrangement for delivery of the one-eighth royalty share of the production volume at a time and place prescribed by the MMS.
n fiscal year 2007, the most recent year for which a complete annual report is available, MMS collected $9.4 billion in oil and gas royalties. The bulk of this came from offshore production, with natural gas production generating approximately 40 percent of the offshore royalty revenue. For federal onshore lands, gas production generated over 68 percent of the over $2.6 billion in onshore royalties. The MMS also collected over $815 million in bonus bids (for new leases), rental payments (to maintain the right to develop the lease in the future), and other revenues to bring the total federal revenues collected by MMS from oil and gas leasing and production on government lands to over $10.2 billion."
http://www.api.org/policy-and-issues/policy-items/exploration/oil_and_natural_gas_development_on_public_lands.aspx
Then there's this:
"But when Chevron drills oil on certain deepwater wells in the Gulf of Mexico, it doesn't have to pay royalties to anyone. That's because back in 1996, Congress decided it would be a good idea to encourage deepwater drilling by offering royalty-free leases in certain areas that wouldn't be otherwise commercially interesting.
Which is fine, if you believe in prolonging our addiction to fossil fuels; but that's another discussion. The main problem is that Congress obviously doesn't want to be handing out royalty-free drilling leases on sites that would be commercially attractive even at the going rate. That's just handing out taxpayer money to a few corporations for no good reason; among other things, it's not fair to other drillers who have to pay for their leases. And when the price of crude goes above a certain level, those tough-to-develop deepwater wells become commercially attractive even without the free leases...."
http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2011/02/oil_royalties
bigtree
(85,996 posts). . . obviously there's a money component to the leases. Is there a state take on the revenue which is separate from the feds' take?
spanone
(135,836 posts)of course they will side with big oil
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)That's what pretty much every financial issue should boil down to now...
politicasista
(14,128 posts)Keep a calling them out Mr. President. They scurred.