ANALYSIS* Republicans Eye Offshore Drilling in US Budget Bill

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ANALYSIS - Republicans Eye Offshore Drilling in US Budget Bill

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WASHINGTON - Republicans next month may try to open new US offshore areas to oil and gas drilling in a move that would bring in billions of dollars in new revenue and let politicians claim progress in boosting domestic energy supplies at a time of record prices.

Such a plan would face stiff opposition from environmental groups as well as influential California, Florida and New York lawmakers who fear offshore drilling's impact on tourism.

The move could come when the US Senate and House of Representatives return from summer recess on Sept. 6 and try to craft a package of federal spending cuts and tax reductions that Congress outlined last spring.

Opening more of the Gulf of Mexico and all areas of the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) to energy exploration and production could raise billions of dollars in revenue for the US government from auctioning federal leases.

A similar effort to expand drilling failed earlier this year during congressional debate of the recently enacted broad energy law. That law instead offers billions in tax breaks for expanding drilling in existing onshore and offshore areas.

"They're looking at considerable dollars coming from OCS lease sales," said one oil industry source who asked not to be identified. The source added that while figures were not yet firm, $3 billion in potential revenue was possible.

Currently, federal offshore drilling is allowed only in four states: Alaska, Alabama, Louisiana and Texas.


Already attached to the budget legislation is a Republican plan to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to drilling, which should raise $2.4 billion over five years.
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complete story at link
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Story by Richard Cowan

Story Date: 24/8/2005

All Contents
© Reuters News Service 2005

[Purrfessor]

1. Wow! They'll raise $5.5 billion. Let's see..........................

that'll fund about 5.5 weeks of the Iraq war. What a crock of crap.

[applegrove]

2. Outer Continental shelf? That better not be the East coast of Nova Scotia

& Newfoundland. We & the French will fight for that one.

[kineneb]

3. not off our coast! (CA)

Remember Santa Barbara! No way, you greedy slime! We remember what happened in the 1960's and we won't let you touch our coasts.:thumbsdown:

[NVMojo]

4. Nevada congressman pushes for more offshore oil drilling

(this is the guy who wanted to use Birkenstock wearing liberals to be human shields in Iraq)

August 13, 2005

RENO, Nev. (AP) - Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., is pressing his colleagues to open up waters off California and other coastal states to offshore drilling to help ease the pinch of high gasoline prices.

Gibbons, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources, made his request Saturday at a field hearing in Port Fourchon, La. - a day after a federal judge blocked plans to extend leases for oil and gas drilling off the central California coast.

"Great energy resources can be found offshore, and improved technology enables us to tap these vast oil and gas resources in an environmentally safe manner," Gibbons said.

"As oil and natural gas prices continue to rise, we need to broaden our domestic energy production by tapping offshore resources," Gibbons added.

more...

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nevada/2005/aug/13/081310570.html

[Robeson]

5. Why don't they just shoot it up with a syringe....

...goddamn they're in love with it. They are worse than a heroin addict, over their love for oil and profits.

[SoCalDem]

6. Cartoon from Korea

[Robeson]

7. Its the truth.