Surprise! 9th Circuit Blocks Drilling In One of Few Places Congress Permits It

You know the Democrats' spin that oil companies should be forced to drill in places where they have leases before being granted the right to explore for oil in other places?

They can't drill where they have leases, either.

Remember those 68 million acres House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the oil companies had to use or lose? According to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, they can't drill there either...

Last Thursday, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals blocked a major drilling effort in the Beaufort Sea, ruling that federal officials failed to properly address environmental concerns when they granted permission to Shell Oil to drill there. The decision followed a temporary order issued last year that halted Shell's drilling at Sivulliq, 16 miles off the coast of northern Alaska.

"There remains substantial questions as to whether Shell's plan may cause significant harm to the people and wildlife of the Beaufort Sea region," the current ruling said.

..

In a July interview with IBD in which we asked better questions than Katie Couric, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, before she was picked as John McCain's running mate, said: "There are even bigger sources of crude than ANWR . . . such as offshore areas like the Chukchi Sea and Beaufort Sea."

...

The Alaskan Outer Continental Shelf holds 26.6 billion barrels of recoverable crude oil and 132 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas, according to recent Minerals Management Service estimates. Most of that is in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas.

This issue should be front-and-center. The GOP should never stop pushing it.

Yes, gas prices have fallen dramatically, but only owing to a worldwide recession. The GOP has to keep reminding people about the Democrats' age-old whine -- "But it would take years before we start seeing oil flowing from new wells!" -- and suggest that maybe we should start that now before we're in this crisis again, only to be told "But it would take years before we start seeing oil flowing from new wells!"

Furthermore, the public must be made to know that when (if?) the economy begins to recover, oil prices will soar again, thus choking any nascent recovery in the cradle -- unless we find some way to increase the supply of oil and put a check on skyrocketing fuel costs.

Melissa Clouthier: Luddite Environmentalism Is a Luxury We Can't Afford: Especially now.

Carbon Dioxide is Not a "Pollutant:" Though the EPA desperately wishes to categorize it as such. Write to them during their period of public comment to reject this categorization.

posted by Ace at 02:45 PM

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