Obama seeks more drilling in Alaska and Gulf of Mexico

[IDemo]

Source: Reuters

President Barack Obama, under pressure from Republicans and the public to bring down gasoline prices, announced new measures on Saturday to expand domestic oil production in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico.

High fuel prices have dented Obama's ratings in opinion polls and threaten to dampen the economic recovery that is critical to his re-election in 2012.

The president, a Democrat, has pushed for reducing U.S. oil consumption and expanding renewable energy sources while also focusing on domestic oil and gas production -- an area Republicans want to expand dramatically.

In his weekly radio and Internet address, the president met some of those Republican demands, outlining ways to boost domestic drilling and better coordinate the process of issuing permits in Alaska.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/14/us-obama-oil-idUSTRE74D0KO20110514

[DrDan]

1. gotta boost those profits - hence create more jobs

[StarsInHerHair]

43. how about raising the c.a.f.e. standards & agressively pursuing other forms

of energy? I don't want China to become the world's leader for electric car-making. There are other routes to take & quit the ethanol nonsense.

[DrDan]

49. didn't think I would need the sarcasm thingie - guess I was wrong

[roguevalley]

46. Obama can bite me. Drilling the whole state won't save us. Nothing

is going to save us. A couple months more oil for the despoiling of the wilderness. More shit you can believe in.

[DrDan]

48. forgot the "sarcasm" thing - didn't think I would need it I guess

[xchrom]

2. recommend

[somone]

3. Hey, drill, baby, drill

Oil company executives, from left, Chevron CEO John Watson; Shell Oil President Marvin Odum; BP America Chairman H. Lamar McKay; ConocoPhillips CEO James Mulva; and ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson on Capitol Hill May 12, 2011.

[digitaln3rd]

4. /sigh

Can we elect a DEMOCRATIC president sometime?

War? Pandering to the insurance industry? Oil drilling?

Same old, same old.

Who needs the environment anyway? So glad that eliminating the tax breaks has already been taken off the table, though. At least the rich will get richer at the expense of our environment.

[Frank Cannon]

5. Yeah, and the price of gas won't go down one fookin' penny.

The scarcer oil is, the more $$$$$$$$$$$$$$ the oil companies make. Haven't we played this football game before, Lucy?

[MrMickeysMom]

15. Yes... we have!

Lucy keeps taking that football away, doesn't she?

[IDemo]

6. The Drill Baby Drill crowd will now demand to see pictures of oil geysers

The effect of this on world oil prices and prices at the pump for gasoline will be negligible, as the Energy Information Administration has documented. I'm quite sure this administration is aware of that, but it makes people feel something is being done, so why not?

[deminks]

7. Most of what we drill will be sold overseas and expand the fat cats' wallets even more.

Not good, O, IMHO.

[madrchsod]

8. there`s not enough oil in alaska to make it worthwhile...

the cost is to high for the consumer. the gulf is going to be to costly in the near future. another couple of katrina`s in the next few years and there won`t be anything left of louisiana.

[OKNancy]

9. read the article before jumping to conclusions. n/t

[IDemo]

11. Which conclusions would those be?

As far as my own, above, the math has been done by the EIA and others on the impact of increased drilling by the US on global oil prices. Conclusion: any effects will be minimal at best and take years, if not decades, before having an impact. That's even when disregarding the fact that the major oil fields of the planet such as Ghawar in Saudi Arabia and Cantarell in Mexico have hit their peak production. Additional drilling in Alaska or the Gulf will not keep pace with the decline in exports from these countries.

[PuffedMica]

10. Expanding oil production is exactly the wrong thing to do

We have this opportunity to break our addiction to petroleum, and yet we keep finding ways to get more and more. What is required is to expand the production of clean, renewable energy to fill the needs of the future. Petroleum is a dead end with dwindling reserves and catastrophic consequences for global warming.

No new oil! We have the means to replace oil with wind, solar, and geothermal sources.

[christx30]

27. I can't fill up my car

with wind energy.

And I'm tired of the attitude that it has to be one or the other. We can't drill for new sources of petroleum to keep us going while investigating and investing in clean energy?

[totodeinhere]

33. But your eclectic car can be charged by a power source derived from wind power and

clean environmentally friendly technologies.

[PuffedMica]

36. Keep us going while ...

The "Keep us going" attitude will never solve the problem. We have to draw the line and stop our dependence on petroleum. Now is the time. We have viable clean energy technology right now. What we are lacking is the will to make the investment.

The alternative is to hit the Peak Oil wall. We will be putting more and more of our resources into extracting a dwindling supply of crude oil. If we continue to burn fossil fuels at our present rate, the carbon pollution of the atmosphere will end civilization as we know it within a century.

[Coyote_Bandit]

12. More

frickin change I can believe in.

Color me unimpressed.

[Hubert Flottz]

13. Big oil is helping the GOP defeat Obama.

[MrMickeysMom]

14. That's a false fucking argument... WTF

Go ahead, asshole, lie to us some more... TRY to get us to believe this is an argument for controlling the price of oil.... HOW FUCKING DUMBED DOWN SHOULD WE GET, NOW????

That's what's wrong with this president.... he doesn't stand up for the things he never delivered but were promised during his first campaign

Jesus Christ, stand up for something.

[Dawgs]

16. Political move; nothing more.

He's trying to eliminate the issues the Republicans can use against him before next year.

[StarsInHerHair]

44. he can't the Right is willing to use even imaginary things against Obama, he's

too smart & knows this.........so WHY is he going down this route?

[Thrill]

17. Good strategy move in my opinion

You basically call the bluff of Republicans and the Oil Companies

[crim son]

18. Not being a smartass, but

how are they bluffing?

[Thrill]

20. If you watched the hearings

Their biggest excuse for keeping their tax breaks and for high gas prices is they aren't allowed to drill more. so you let them drill more, now let's the effect on prices

[katnapped]

23. I already know what they'll say

"Well maybe if we coulda drilled now years ago the price would be lower"

[crim son]

39. I see.

I didn't watch the hearings but I should have guess that. The thing is, nobody would hold them to their claim in any event.

[midnight armadillo]

30. Yeah that really shows 'em

"here's everything you ever asked for, suckers!"

32 dimensional chess, right?

[classysassy]

45. Defusing the angry right

smooth move Mr President,give those evil bastards enough rope and they will hang themselves.After the president is re elected and bring the democratic house back into the majority he can recind all of the crap he is forced to approve in order to get reelected.The presidents advisors are the best money can buy.

[crim son]

19. I guess he figures that the killing of Bin Laden has granted him more

political capital with people like me. Nope.

[russspeakeasy]

21. Perception is the only reality.

[underpants]

22. won't make a difference a. we only produce 7% of the oil b. plastics not gas c. OPEC

will lower supply if there was to be any actual change

purely political. Didn't have to do it - he is almost assured a second term

[Hawkowl]

24. China needs more oil!

Drill in Alaska and the Gulf to sell it to China. Way to go Obama! Way to cave! Now is the time to send a few Seal teams to the oil companies' board rooms.

[bahrbearian]

25. Nope,to hope

[MasonJar]

26. NO!!!!!!!!! This will just lead to more environmental disaster and pollution.

America is spoiling the world and it is all for greed.

[Odin2005]

28. BOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

[BrklynLiberal]

29. I find this decision to be very sad......and disappointing.

He caved to the corporate interests...

[katnapped]

31. Right on cue

So you really shouldn't be surprised....

[totodeinhere]

32. The new measures announced by President Obama will be very limited and subject

to strict environmental scrutiny. And they will probably be opposed by the GOP as much too little. I am willing to withhold judgment on this for now but my instinct is to trust President Obama on this one.

[placton]

34. wow again

this guy is such a great GOP right wing president, eh?

[napoleon_in_rags]

35. Same old policy: Rob Baby Rob!

By which I mean the baby is getting robbed, literally all our babies. Its not enough to send them into debt, we also have to make sure the petroleum left for them to make plastics and build a better world is all gone too.

[Incitatus]

37. So much for the Justice Department investigation.

[high density]

38. So the fair market price for oil would be in the $60-70/bbl range without speculators

And our decision is to just try to pump more? It seems we're not interested in solving the actual problem.

http://blogs.forbes.com/benzingainsights/2011/05/13/even-oil-companies-know-that-oil-prices-are-rigged/

In a surprise statement, Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson told the Senate Finance Committee that oil prices did not currently reflect supply and demand. “When we look at it, it’s going to be somewhere in the $60 to $70 range if you said: ‘If I had access to the next marketable barrel, what would it cost?’”

Since the price of oil barrels is currently over $100, it is clear that something beyond the laws of supply and demand is driving the high price of oil, and with it, the high price of gasoline. Well, if it isn’t supply or demand that is driving the price of oil up so high, there’s really only one other culprit: oil speculators.

[Auntie Bush]

40. Damn, How can Obama let them drill in the Arctic? If we ever had

an oil spill...say goodbye to the polar bears...that spill will never be capped in those rough, freezing Arctic oceans. It will spew oil till the well is dry. It will destroy the whole Arctic area...land, ice and sea.

We need to donate to the National Wildlife Federation and the NRDC so they can fight this proposal tooth and nail and in court.

[mountainlion55]

41. Thank you for the post

The Prez sez drill baby drill. Big oil sez taxes we don't pay no stinkin taxes.
The fact is you pay the taxes. But its just a political trick. Supposed to fool the other dicks.
It just sounds like more bait and switch tricks.I don't know about you but I don't trust any of these pricks.
:evilgrin: :smoke:

[primavera]

42. Oh goodie, another opportunity for Obama to do what he does best...

... cave.

[Dragonfli]

47. This must be old and the title must be "Bush to seek more drilling in the gulf and Alaska"

I mean this is a Republican idea isn't it? A rather stupid Republican Idea at that, so you must have mistyped, Obama is a Democrat right?

He would never be stupid enough to endanger the gulf even more as well as the arctic for no other reason than oil profit for an already record breaking profit making industry would he?

He would not put the profits of the few above the well being of the whole would he?

[Vinca]

50. I'm sorry, but this is more bullshit to shut up the pukes.

We'll be nearly dead from advanced age before any of the "new" oil comes on line. It will do zero to bring down gas prices. We should be focusing on green energy.

[saras]

51. Can this fuckhead not do anything right?

They're SHUTTING DOWN wind power around here because THEY CAN'T USE IT - THERE'S TOO MUCH OF IT.

But no, we have to poison everywhere possible with the horrible messiness of oil extraction.