3.9 MM Acres in Alaska Opened up For Drilling

Bureau of Land Management clears the way for explortion and drilling on almost 4 million acres in Alaska (not ANWR).

Here's the plum:

But the Bureau of Land Management, an agency within the US Department of the Interior, said the Alaskan land that will now be offered requires no other approvals and will be up for leasing in the autumn.

Note that the area was approved for exploration decades ago, but lawsuits from environmentalist groups held it up. Keep that in mind whenever you hear Democrats cry that the oil companies aren't exploring on the (pick your number, it changes) 58, 68 or 104 million acres they have now.

It's not just about the economics of where to invest money to explore, "setting aside the land" isn't the end of the process. Marxist Environmental groups have been given standing in Federal courts to sue to block everything, and they do.

The public is becoming more informed on this, obviously because of the pain they're feeling at the pump. Republicans have started turning the amps up to eleven, but they're not there yet, and if they don't keep up the pressure, the Dems could outflank em. Some of them are already starting to figure out their past positions are becoming politically untenable.

posted by Dave In Texas at 09:52 AM

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