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Ted S. Warren / AP
This Shell drilling rig, upgraded in Seattle, will soon head to Alaska, where Shell hopes to drill exploratory wells in Arctic waters.
Parts of America’s Arctic waters, long a battleground between environmentalists and the energy industry, will be open for oil and natural gas drilling in four years, the Obama administration said Tuesday -- the same day Shell announced it had successfully tested a new spill containment system for its planned Arctic exploration this summer.
Details will be released Thursday, but Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told reporters the idea is to adopt "targeted leasing" -- opening some areas in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas for drilling while protecting others critical for native subsistence and ecosystem health.
Shell is awaiting the final permits to explore in the region this summer, and on Tuesday said a device to cap any spill was successfully tested in waters off Seattle. "The capping stack was deployed to a depth consistent with the shallow water scenario we will encounter off the coast of Alaska," the oil giant said in a statement.
How the industry prepares for spills has come under greater scrutiny since the 2010 BP oil spill disaster, where the containment system failed.
Environmentalists oppose drilling in America's Arctic due to the sensitive ecosystem it provides for polar bears, walruses, whales and seals.
Shell
A newly designed "capping stack" is tested by Shell in waters off Seattle, Wash., on Monday.
"There is no viable way to clean up oil spilled into the Arctic Ocean," Kristen Miller of the Alaska Wilderness League said in a statement. "The Arctic is perhaps the most extreme region on the planet with subzero temperatures, hurricane force storms and long periods of darkness. Spill response capacity is practically nonexistent in these remote, icy waters -- the nearest Coast Guard station is more than 1,000 miles away."
Shell is required to have a flotilla of spill response boats should its capping system fail, and Salazar said no commercial drilling would proceed if Interior concludes that spills cannot be contained.
Shell's work "will be conducted under the closest oversight and most rigorous safety standards in the history of the United States," he said from Norway, where he and ministers of other Arctic nations were talking about the region's energy wealth.
Salazar was confident Shell would receive the final permits for exploratory drilling this summer.
"It is highly likely that the permits will be issued" because Shell has been in compliance so far, he said. In past years, and before strict standards, 30 exploratory wells were drilled in Alaska's Arctic waters with no harm, and before strict standards, Salazar noted.
Salazar added that other Arctic nations like Canada, Russia and Norway were busy developing Arctic energy fields and that the U.S. should also be a player as long as protections are in place.
"These resources, if developed safely, can be important components in the 'all of the above' energy strategy," he said in a speech at the Norway meeting. The strategy was crafted after Republicans accused President Barack Obama of blocking traditional energy in favor of renewables like solar and wind.
The Arctic areas will be part of Interior's five-year offshore lease plan being sent to Congress on Thursday.
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This is a mistake. Not because of the hazards (spills and other desasters) but because companies like BP can hide and cover up things (and will) for weeks, months, years. It will be just too hard to track and regulate. And I say this as a Republican. You know, one of those jobs/profits over ecology guys.
No it isnt, this is something I can finally back Obama on.. Fuel prices are at on all time high and the time is now to start drilling. If we dont open the arctic up for American companies the Russians will do it for us and collect the money in the process, anyone who thinks otherwise doesnt know how things work in the world..
Clearly Obama failed to get the memo that said, "We only have one planet to live on" and the memo Which says "Which do you want to have, A Planet to Live on or a Energy Policy?"
Shame on Obama, and I am joining the Boycott of Shell.
So, should we have a "planet to freeze in the dark on"? Oh, yeah the seals and walruses are much more important than us lowly, dirty, rotten, no-good people.
Do you think the price of gas will come down as a result? Not. We must destroy earth to make money!!
Yeah, like there's no alternative to not freezing in the dark without oil.
No, just as important. You must be under the delusion that humans are what the planet is about and that all other life forms are just window dressing.
This is so sad. It's like another American war; all for money and greed.
jerryb
In a lot of cases, YEA!
Not to worry. This is only for re-election purposes.
There are a few issues here:
1. Which would be better- Allowing oil companies to drill in ANWAR (on land) where spills and containment are potentially easier to deal with or drill in the open arctic waters where extreme weather and ice could create additional containment/control issues.
2. If the waters are open for exploration, would US companies get the nod to actually drill in the area or will access suddenly be turned off by the EPA and/or permits be given to China and Brazil like in the Gulf of Mexico?
3. If you haven't read about it, countries such as Russia (especially) has been making a run at claiming arctic areas for their own mineral and oil exploration rights. If we didn't make claims they could/would and have exclusive rights to the area.
I think this may be the President's version of giving something to the oil companies while not appearing to give in to the need for oil or the interest in their campaign money. US companies right now are working with Alaska in creating a pipeline to CHINA and Asia because US restrictions won't allow them to develop domestic oil. Within about 4 years there will be a huge export of Alaskan oil overseas because we aren't interested in keeping/using it here. Pretty wierd if you ask me.
LOL!!! This is another attempt by the Obama Administration to hoodwink the voters. How convenient that it will be four years before they can even start drilling. Da ya think if Obama gets reelected that they won't come up with a reason to change his mind? I'm all for keeping the environment as clean as possible. However, when you're dealing with inflexible environmentalists who've been co-opted by the radical left that see energy policy as a way to strangle the US. Rational individuals need to take a step back and filter out the noise. What's worse, drilling in the Arctic Ocean or exploiting energy reserves on dry land? The answer is not neither. We can either work together to develop domestic energy or keep fighting. Either way the energy is going to get got. The choice you need to make is how to assist in obtaining it in as clean as way as possible.
If you've been paying attention to the news in the Middle East you're aware that the potential for a regional war is very real. Turkey, Syria, Iran, and all the other states may soon pick sides and have it out. Guess what that does to the cost and availability of oil? For all of you that enjoy going out in the wilderness and seeing nature you may want to do that real soon. It may not be that far off where you won't be able to afford to travel to these places anymore.
Bob, if we don't do it, The russians will, and they don't really care about the environment as much as we do.
BP's Gulf spill was the results of many miscalculation by a number of groups including the government. We need to get back on the bike after the spill, or we will not move forward.
Magnum,
Don't blame Shell. You should blame Obama for caving, AGAIN.
joe
Despite what the right wing nuts tell you. The US doesn't own the Gulf of Mexico. We only control a small part of it. So please, show me where we have given China or Brazil any permits to drill in US waters.
My above comments apply here too. We don't own the world.
Where have you been? Fuel is now the US's number one export. Because the oil companies prefer to make a larger profit overseas, then keeping/using it here.
flnobody- Ok, here goes, from the UPI- maybe an acceptable source:
http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Energy-Resources/2011/03/18/Petrobras-gets-permit-for-US-deep-waters/UPI-87891300453143/
To summarize, the US government allowed them the permits- thus we have control.
On Russia, etc. yeah we don't own the world. Funny thing- the same folks that decree that we don't own the world are the same ones demanding environmental sensitivity, are the same ones not worried about other countries and their environmental sensitivity. You think Russia will really care if their exploration in the arctic kills off the striped plankton, I venture not. You think China really cares if they dump their toxic waste from manufacturing into the oceans, nope.
So we don't "own" the world, but we are at odds with some other countries and if they take over the resources then they can control how they are used and where they go. Russia gets the rare earth minerals, so they decide that they don't want to share or have a monopoly over the market. Not a good thing. Russia teams up with China, etc. and takes on the western world- and has huge resources available for their war machine. They have a lot of room to keep building up. It's a balance of power thing too.
On the Alaska/China pipeline- You got me there, we export oil. Would you rather we further our exportation infrustructure or our national infrustructure? I'd rather have the taps ready if(when) the Middle East lights up. I know that OPEC controls oil prices, but with local resources available we will be able to make strategic adjustments as needed. The tankers won't be showing up for a while, what do we do now? Keep control locally.
Why are we leasing rights to anybody who has a track record like Shell or BP? Why are we making deals with any companies outside of our country allowing them to track dirt across our yard? If there is oil to be had within our borders there is absolutely no reason why we should not be using those resources for ourselves. Especially to create jobs. This idea is just as stupid as the Keystone XL. And Shell has just as bad of a track record for environmental damages as BP.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/apr/23/shell-nigeria-oil-spill-bigger
Shell is another Big Oil giant getting tax cuts that we can't afford and it's bullsh1t.
http://www.ohio.com/blogs/drilling/ohio-utica-shale-1.291290/shell-oil-could-get-tax-credits-of-1-7-billion-1.312236
If tax cuts are given ever they should be had by our companies who create jobs here not outsider companies. And not to any single company who has or had any manufacturing done overseas period you damn traitors!
This is a list of American companies taking jobs away from US. Make them all go belly-up and I'm not saying bankrupt because We shouldn't be paying out to them ever.
http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/lou.dobbs.tonight/popups/exporting.america/content.html
Mother nature produces lethal energy every time a thunderstorm brews up, just by rubbing clouds together...
To produce energy this way would not be profitable, and cut into the existing energy producers profits..
They won't stop until every piece of land on the planet is filthy.
PURELY POLITICAL.....
Which coming from this incompetent POTUS, doesn't surprise me one bit.
Hey, sure I'll open the arctic up so you can drill some EXPLORATORY HOLES....Oh, you wanted to actually produce from those discovered resources.....SUCKA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
joe
Good try. Petrobras that you talk about is called Petrobras USA. They have been in the USA for about 25 years. They are like BP USA. They may be own by a foreign country (company), like Shell, BP and others. But they a have offices here and that is who got and have been getting permits for 25 years.
ww.petrobras.com/en/countries/u-s-a/u-s-a.htm
So your logic is, if they do it. We have the right and should to do it too?
Our oil production has increased (for the 1st time in over 20+ years) every year for the last three years. What do we do with that increase? We send it overseas. What do you think is going to happen to that oil if we started drilling everywhere? We will just send more overseas. In the last 3 years we have shut down 11 refinery's (as of a year ago), more by now. We are now using those refineries that we have left. To produce gas, diesel and jet fuel for other countries. How do you think that impacts the price of gas here?
That is a very myopic and failed point of view. When you consider the macroeconomics of supply-and-demand, prices can be decreased by two ways: increase supply, or decrease demand.
Increased drilling now will add supply to the markets and will temporarily decrease prices, but the price will rebound to higher levels and increase the average fuel price because in actuality you are reducing supply.
Oil is a commodity and the less of it we have (via more drilling) results in higher prices, the problem is compounded by more drilling. By calling for more drilling you are effectively calling for higher fuel prices.
The only way to actually reduce fuel prices is to reduce demand for oil. Drilling only makes it worse.
Flnobody; the compressed natural gas (CNG) import terminals are converting to their terminals to export CNG.
guy
That's good, I think. But what does that have to do with me or my post?
All Shell did was buy some super absorbent paper towels.
With their next spill, executives need to be put to death.
I hate republicans and their greed, they are destroying our beautiful paradise that is planet earth, and for what ?? Eventually we will be going back to the middle ages, once all the resources are gone !
I would rather ride a horse and be alive than die from pollution !
bar
Obummer and the rest of the Dumocrats are doing this. You proved my point.
Republicans have made the Obama's administration a living hell since day one. This decision won't change the way I will vote !
Obama 2012 !! and all republicans OUT of congress !
You are really setting your self up for a big disappointment.
You are the fool, President Obama will be reelected !
Just for information, they still ride horses in Afghanistan.
And democrats claim the republican party to be hate filled. Good grief what a bunch of hypocrites! I certainly disagree with your premise barock1957, but I don't hate you.
I would rather ride a horse and be alive than die from pollution !
Tell me bar - do you ride western or English? I'll bet you've never owned a horse.
So oil is just for gasoline - hmmmm - do your research. Gasoline is a byproduct of oil refinement. Where do you think the components of the computer you're using to show your stupidity come from - water??? Do your research.
Go into your little abode tonight and remove EVERYTHING derived from oil, made with energy from oil, transported to the store uning oil. OH - and turn off all the power running your computer, fridg, lights & A/C - unless you have a solar panel that doesn't have components from oil in it - the factory didn't use anything made from oil components - and I'm sure you took your horse the the factory and carried it home yourself.
as you sit and type on your computer
Except that if everyone rode horses we would all die from the added methane into the atmosphere that further deteriorate the ozone layer and making the greenhouse effect worse.
Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
Have you read the article about all the toxic dumping grounds, in the usa ???
600 000 of them are polluting the waters you drink ! Most of all aquifers in the usa are polluted ... now wonder why so many are getting sick.
And you bash the environmentalists ??? But people, without a clean planet, you won't survive.. why is that so hard to understand ?
Yep the waterways are polluted so badly they actually just explode into fireballs every few seconds, its view to behold.. Actually I think you should move to China, then you can fight against real pollution..
Fireballs? Is that what it would take for you to admit we have a real problem with water pollution in this country. And the fact that China has a bigger problem with water pollution is not a heck of a lot of consolation. But I guess clean water and other basic rights are too socialist for you baggers.
Anytime I read a "sky is falling report" I tend to take it with a grain of salt regardless who puts it out. The old saying "Figures lie and liars figure" does apply. Both sides skew things so much to their advantage that it is impossible to know who to believe. If they drill the wildlife will survive intact.
Enviromentalists made the same alarmist warnings in Wyoming. Drill, and the Pronghorn Antelope will become extinct. Today you can hardly travel 10 miles through Wyoming without seeing scads of pronghorn.
we could drill and pump safely, however the corporate mantra has always and will always be, "do it faster, do it cheaper".... corporations need to exercise true safety constraints and the government needs to stop all those unsafe from ever working again !!!!!!
These white collar criminal are polluting our planet beyond repair.. It is a true catastrophe but I am sure, mother nature will take care of us with a revenge! The arrogant republicans will eventually pay for their arrogance !
Maybe some of you "sacrifice humanity to save Bambi" geniuses could come up with a way to heat and air condition your homes and workplaces, travel, power your factories, etc without burning any fuel and without using nuclear fission or fusion. Or maybe we should revert to the Stone Age where the average humanoid lived to be about 22 years old, just long enough to make some babies and raise them to be 11 or so years old so they can start making babies. Maybe it would be OK for many of the diseases and insects that have been all but eradicated to stage a comeback. Look at the primative places in Africa and South America to see what life would be like.
jerry,
You own oil stock or something? There are a lot of alternatives to oil and coal. It's not a matter of necessity to use oil, it's simply economic momentum and inertia of the monied interests to change.Why should they? They are business people so they inherently think short term.
You have the answer right there in your rhetorical question, Jerry.
Nuclear fission.
Safe, proven, reliable, practically free.
If you could somehow calculate statistics like "deaths per watt-hour", "environmental degradation per watt-hour", or "political instability per watt-hour", nuclear fission would blow all other forms of power generation out of the water. That includes wind and solar. People are scared of nuclear power because of a handful of over-hyped stories that the oil cartel has been pumping out for decades.
All puns intended.
Wrong. All new nuclear plants are blocked by legislation advanced by . . . wait for it . . . environmentalists. The very same who oppose this new leasing. Blaming oil companies for the lack of new nuclear is disingenuous to be charitable. But, you know that, don't you?
Their new tested capping stack will only be used after a spill has occurred. Once oil is released into the arctic environment there's no way to clean it up in 1 season and it will contaminate all life in the area.
Thanks Ed. That is what I mean, this is a mistake. To allow ANY drilling up there.
Shell announced it had successfully tested a new spill containment system
Any bets on how long before we find out if this really works?
I'm sure the test will come.
Wow, is it any wonder that these are the end times? People are just too stupid and greedy. The stupid people allow the greedy people to destroy everything in their paths and call it progress, and "at least we will have a slave job, I mean a job!" No one NEEDS a job. Our society is currently structured to make everyone think their busy work means something to the world and most of the time it does not. ANYONE WHO CANNOT SEE THE DANGER IN CONSTANT DRILLING AND DRAINING OF THE ENTIRE WORLD IS DUMB AS MUD. ANYONE WITH COMMON SENSE WOULD REALIZE THAT YOU CANNOT CHANGE THE STRUCTURE OF ANYTHING AS DRASTICALLY AS WE HAVE CHANGED THE EARTH WITH DRILLING, SUCKING, MINING, BUILDING CONCRETE ALL OVER, ALL THE WHILE POISONING THE HECK OUT OF WATER, LAND AND AIR, WITHOUT THE EARTH SPITTING US OUT. WHY DO YOU THINK THERE ARE WAY MORE EARTHQUAKES AND OTHER NATURAL DISASTERS LATELY? PEOPLE WAKE UP. NO ONE NEEDS TO BE SLAVE DRIVEN AT A JOB THEY ARE ASSIGNED TO. THAT IS NOT WHAT WE WERE BORN FOR. THIS IS WHY THEY DON'T HAVE TO PUT CHAINS ON ANYONE ANYMORE. PROZAC AND BRAINWASHING. PEOPLE'S GREED AND STUPIDITY DOES THE REST.
I actually see why so many artists and sensitive people end up killing themselves in this cold cruel world. I feel sorry they would chose to do this rather than stand up and fight the imbeciles that would be king. I'm off to join Greenpeace.
I would not mess with greenpiece , you might catch something.
And what exactly do you think we will achieve when other countries drill this oil and sell it to us instead of us drilling it ourselves? There are a dozen countries with arctic claims who will drill whatever we do. Us not joining in will accomplish nothing but increase our trade deficit and poverty. Seems your logic is kind of like Greenpeace, screaming about the harm oil companies do to the environment while they run around in their ships that consume hundreds of gallons an hour of gas.
Let's be clear about something for all the "US should drill" people. The US is not drilling or making the money. If we are talking about Shell, then Shell is. Shell Oil Co. (US) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell, PLC (not American), and the Country of Oman is one of the biggest single shareholders. Profits for 2011 were $31.2B on $470.2B in revenue. That is who is drilling. That is who is refining. That is who is making the money. The lease money is drop in the bucket. Buy a Hummer if that sounds like gas price stability to you. Wave your flag if that sounds like patriotism to you.
Hey Carol - So without oil and other fossil fuel, what is going to heat and cool your house, power your car, run the factories that provide the food, clothing, and toys you use? Without those jobs, who is going to pay the taxes that are used to provide your welfare checks? You speak of a cold, cruel world. How cold and cruel would it be if we just stopped using what resources we have for energy?
larry
And selling it overseas.
You've GOT to be an oil company shill. Try natural gas, solar, wind, hydro electric, tidal electric. Are the those things presntly price competitive with oil. No, but getting closer and if they were properly funded and marketed, they would be. Oil is only cheap because of existing scale of operations and subsidies.
How cold and cruel will the word be if we can't even live in it because of pollution and climate change? Again, short term thinking, Jerry.
It's obvious we're all hating each other in this country, and the world, like never before. Perhaps the Internet brings this out, since we can each stand on our soap boxes and say whatever we feel without actually having a constructive conversation. Democrats vs Republicans, gays vs straights, atheists vs believers, men vs women, blacks vs Hispanics vs whites vs Asians...
I'll bet every single one of you here have the same concerns - getting here and there in vehicles that need gas, having access to inexpensive products that are made with petroleum, having clean water from your faucets, affordable healthy food, good shelter from the elements, a strong democratic government (at all levels) to help provide or insure access to things you really can't do by yourself.
So I think we're on the same page (and planet) here. And the bottom line is, after decades of hand-wringing, they are GOING IN to drill now, so let's all cross our fingers, pray, and/or send positive thoughts...that they pay attention up there and that each person involved in this feels the gravity of what they are doing and has a strong moral and ethical core to lead their actions.
Myself, I'm one of the sensitive artistic types who Carol described. I'm heading outside to tend my vegetable garden and enjoy the acre of natural world that I actually do have (at least in human legal terms) dominion over.
Look up Chief Seattle. He had some good things to say about people and the earth.
Goody, Goody ! Drill baby Drill !
You forgot: "Thank you, Mr. President."
Thank you, Mr. President. Thanks to your greenlight the Petroleum Manifest Destiny Train will roll on and choke our throats!
:(
I would love to be back drilling for gas and oil again.I made the big bucks/ 5000 every 2 weeks/ those where the4 days!
Actually Sam: If you paid any attention to trends. Gasoline prices have been going down.
On the pollution?? Your policy is except it or go to a bigger profit whore based country???
On the other hand we have the Green community. That just can't find a energy they actually like.
They've sent lawsuits vs Solar, Wind , and Hydro (google it) . So what's left???
Oh, and Democrats , explain to me why Reids states wind turbines are made in China??
Then we can go to the solar cells......
We are voting for two sides of the same coin.
scar
Nice spin, the truth be told. He and several American companies are trying to get them to build a large (300,000') plant in Nevada to build wind turbines here in the US. But you just keep the spin going if it makes you feel better.
It's rather sad. These leases are going to be made to Oil Companies, that will only raise the cost of oil to "offset the costs of drilling" in the first place.
All I see is the cost of Oil going up before the start of drilling. Where the hell is our benefits for leasing the rights to others to drill? I mean if were drilling in arctic waters, does this mean there's a @!$%#ing refinery in Alaska to turn it into gas or what? Seroiusly? Where's the common good for the United States on this lease? I don't see any.
All I see is a bunch of promises of how the price of oil will go down, and then the cost of gas will follow, when in effect, the oil company will use the excuse that it will cost millions if not billions of dollars to start drilling. Then they'll say, that we'll see a lowering of costs sometime a decade down the road.
It's all bull@!$%#.
Both the Oil/Gas Companies, GOP elect have lied for the past three decades. The price of oil and gas have steadily gone up, and then skyrocketed in the past two years. In the space of days and weeks the price of gas went up nickels, dimes, quarters, and whole dollars. And it's taking even longer for it to go back down, and it's going back down by the @!$%#ing penny every two weeks.
Come winter time, the cost of heating oil/gas will go up again.
Seriously this is all bull@!$%#, towards companies who are earning record profits. Why arn't they @!$%#ers being taxed up the ass for making money. I make money, I get my ass taxed off. When an oil or gas company makes money it's a threat of "Tax us, and we'll make sure you'll never get re-elected again."
@!$%# the politicians for not taxing these @!$%#s.
Every penny an oil company is taxed is a penny they raise the price of gas in order to pay that tax. In other words, it is another penny out of your pocket and my pocket. Business taxes are always just indirect taxes on the consumer. The only winner is the crooked politician who gets to spend that money to buy votes.
Believe it or not the oil companies don't set oil prices. They sell their oil for the same as they could get if selling it to Japan or China as they should. Farmers wont sell you beef for $2 a lb. if they can get $3 a lb. in China and neither will the oil companies. When demand exceeds supply the price goes up when supply exceeds demand it goes down.
Johncarter. You're wrong, yes business can add any increased costs when reselling but companies selling commodities can't, It's supply and demand. If oil companies could control prices as you people think the great collapse in the 80's where low prices nearly destroyed texas couldn't have happened.
larry
You are right. The oil companies don't set the price of oil. But than can impact it. By either producing more or reducing production. They main bad guys in the cost of oil are the speculators. When they buy and sell more oil in a month. Then is produced in three months. It drives up the price. The same goes for gas prices. If the demand stays the same and they reduce the refinery production/capacity. The price of gas goes up.
It would be foolish of us not to allow drilling as there is a dozen countries with arctic claims that will drill whether or not we do. Our companies are better equipped to deal with a spill than Russia, Canada, Norway or any of the others that will be drilling there over the next few years.
Just as in warmer parts of the world, each country has a claim to potential Arctic oil fields that are adjacent to their shorelines. If the US doesn't permit drilling in our arctic areas, no other country can issue permits for those areas either. It is not a matter of staking a claim before another nation does, because each nation has exclusive rights to their own territorial waters.
The problem isn't that we do not have the technology or skill to develop and use systems that will protect the environment 100% of the time.
The problem is that all those systems and devices must be operated by man; a creature who sooner or later will decide not to use the safeguards because it benefits him not to use them.
Sooner or later almost everyone will take this approach. You don't know when someone is going to take the gamble.
Stay away or pay the price later, it will happen!
Hussein "The Incompetent One" and now "The Desparate One" will do anything to get re-elected. Too little-Too Late little man. You and your Failed policies are soon to be a Sad, Sick footnote on history. Good Riddance Less Than Zero!
You forgot: "Thank you, Mr. President."
The correct spelling is "desperate" I believe...
WILL SOMEONE STOP THIS PLANET FROM SPINNING! I WANT TO GET OFF!
I'm so tired of all of this.....
Why not! You've screwed up the economy, you've blown off the Geneva Convention (making us no worse than the terrorists we claim to be fighting against). You've completely screwed most everyone in the lower to middle class' chances of ever being able to retire. You've taken away most of our civil rights (with a Supreme Court that is so politicized they are worthless). We no longer have an immigration policy, so everyone is free to come and go as they please (I assume this is not just the migrant workers from Mexico). Politicians are so crooked, every time they open there mouth it's just another lie.
So go ahead, trash what's left of anything worth keeping in the world. To bad Roosevelt didn't include the Arctic in our Federal Parks program. Of course even that wouldn't stop the politicians. Oh no, as long as there is money lining their pockets all is good. Why don't we just speak the truth. The government is unregulated, so what's the point.
Maybe the next plane will choose a better target!
You folks who are against this, there is a simple way for us not to drill in the artic. You, all your friends, family, and another 3 billion people stop consuming what others produce. No electricity, start walking everywhere you go, grow your own food, no laptops, no i-phones, you and your ilk may go back to the 1700's. Because you will not be able to enjoy the amenities you have now (that includes reading this article). If u.s. companies don't do this, you will get to sit back and cry about the chinese or obama's favorite brazilian oil companies do the drilling for us, that oil and gas is comming out of the ground, only now it will be americans pulling it out. Go tell the russians and chineese how ya feel about it, I'm quite sure they will be sympathetic to your feeling as they haul your sorry butt to somplace where you can live with zero amenities. Maybe then your magic fairy will show up and put things the way you would like, but untill then, drill baby drill! Go USA
There are things you can do to avert the use of oil and natural gas. My solar produces more than I use- and I have a bicycle. Sure I use my car for longer trips- but it's a hybrid, and that's only because a fully electric vehicle wasn't (still isn't, really) practical for my needs. That's changing too.
Look. I don't care how ignorant you are- there are just too many obvious facts to buy into the right wing line of patter from the cynical bastards working for oil companies- who are far worse than the guys who once worked for cigarette companies- at least they largely killed only those who were addicted to their products. Oil companies are killing us all- even their own kids- and laughing all the way to the bank.
We have more and bigger fires every year. We have the most named storms in a season this young in recorded history. Tornado fatalities continue to rise- despite more and better warning systems. Average temperatures rise every summer- and spring comes earlier. What, are you so mired in Beckdom that you can' even look around and see things changing?
Fuel prices are the lowest they've been in a long time and may go below $3 by fall, so that argument's useless. If we spent as much money on developing alternative fuels as the oil companies spend looking for, drilling for, extracting and processing oil, not only would we not have to be looking for oil, we'd have a whole new industry hiring thousands. We are so slow to change yet so quick to accuse.
Fuel prices are going lower, in part, because of european economic woes. While it's nice to get a break at the pump, we should pay attention to whats going on in europe, it will have repercussions in the US...
Destroying the environment so some fools can fill up their hummer with gas is stupid!
Everything about individual vehicles is stupid regardless of their energy consumption. If as much was spent on public transportation as this country spends on roads and their associated costs you would have the planets best transportation system.
Not another BP scheme! Is Lame Duck paid by BP? Here in Alabama they are allowing fracking of the Talladega National Forest. Only place untouched by man in Alabama and they are going to allow them to frack for oil. It's to the point that we as citizens should just march up to the white house and drag every single one of them out by their hair. Supreme Court would be right after that. What is happening to this country?!
My bet is that the FOREIGN companies will not only get preferential treatment, but we will give them aid to drill in our own waters.. so they can be self-sufficient...... while we grovel for our energy from OPEC and the other countries that want to see us dead......
Funny how Rush got chastised for stating he wanted to see Obama fail... but when we have foreign leaders (Chavez) comes to mind saying he wants to see us fail.. we laugh and write him a check......Crazy....... Where is our outrage? Where is our desire to succeed? Oh yes.... the Chinese own it... you know... the guys who own a bunch of our debt (that means we are borrowing money from them) while we send them foreign aid......
Don't forget Obama is not from this planet so he really doesn't care at all about it.
There goes the neighborhood.
You have to wonder why Obama feels a need to allow drilling in a remote area when there are over 2 TRILLION barrels of shale oil in the lower 48. Obama will do anything to buy votes.
Anxious to see which FOREIGN company will be allowed to drill in our territory. Obviously THIS administration doesn't want US companies to succeed... and the next administration will be no different.
We are subsidizing Brazil in their efforts to be self sufficient..... who next..... maybe the foreign companies will get preferential leases AND we will pay for them????
Of course the politician whores are going to allow drilling in the Arctic and anywhere else their daddies tell them to - if you expect anything else you are naive. The Democrat gang of criminals are little bitches to the mega corporations and the banking syndicate, just as the Republicans are. These psychopaths will continue to destroy the planet for as long as the people continue to allow it.
Why...yes.
That's true- and anyone who doesn't think so needs to reflect a bit on what the SCOTUS just did. There are four justices left who aren't sock puppets- but the five shills who just elected- in every sense of that word- to allow corporations foreign and domestic to continue to buy our government for their personal representation are enemies of the state.
Were there a court left in this country (outside of Montana) with any power to dispense actual justice, they'd be sitting on death row right now, regretting the greed that corrupted them- and waiting for their turn in front of a firing squad.
Drill baby, drill!
I'm just glad this happened in the 1st year of Obama's Presidency so it would not just be election year politics that really won't happen.
What do you mean Obama is up for re=election and floundering? Next you will tell me he is curbing his vacations and golf.
It could have happened in the last year of Bush's presidency too- that sure would have helped McCain and Palin out.
It didn't.
Just how is it that you try so hard to connect the dots- and yet always end up with the wrong picture?
The reality here is simple: it takes time to consolidate power. That phase is now over, and the multinationals that now own planetary government are beginning to execute their agendas.