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A Time To Drill
Guest Column | By Paul M. Weyrich | July 8, 2008
In a remarkably short time the public has changed from supporters of environmentalism to advocates of drilling for oil and natural gas in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and/or in the ocean. For the first time since the 1970s liberals in both parties have found themselves responding to significant demands for drilling. Their responses are meant to confuse the electorate in order to turn public opinion back to their position on the environment.
Toward that end liberals have come up with two mantras which we hear on every talk show, in every press conference and in every speech addressing the high cost of gasoline. The first mantra is that it will take at least 10, maybe 30 years before we see a drop of oil coming from the ground at the aforementioned sites. The second mantra is that greedy oil companies already have 86 million acres of leases provided by the Federal Government. They only want more leases to satisfy their greed.
On the first point, correspondent Ken Wood pointed out that Larry Kudlow recently featured on his television show James T. Hackett, President and CEO of Anadarko Petroleum Company. Whereas some liberals are saying it could take 30 years for the oil to be available, Hackett said it would take two or three years, depending upon where the oil was drilled. Indeed, I saw one oil exploration expert on Fox News Channel who said that if the right equipment were available it would take only one year to get the first oil since the oil companies know exactly where the oil is located in the outer Continental Shelf. One oil shale expert told proponents of drilling in the House of Representatives that the first 800 million barrels of oil from shale could be available in two or three years. The remaining estimated two trillion barrels of oil from shale would take longer to have ready because they would be more difficult to extricate. But the initial 800 million barrels would help the U.S. economy.
On the second point, I received two different answers. Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK), who used to be in the oil business, said the reason oil companies are not drilling on the 86 million acres is that there is no substantial oil available on those lands to make drilling economically viable. He said the government only permits exploration on those leased lands, so oil companies have explored them and found that they would produce little. The second answer came from Hackett. He said the Federal Government is, in effect, guilty of fraud. They accept the lease money and the annual rents but have refused to grant permission to drill there. He implied that some oil had been found that would be worthwhile to extract but since they cannot drill the consumer sees no benefits. Either way, to accuse oil companies of greed is an unfounded assertion.
Neither liberal argument can be sustained if pro-drilling forces launch a campaign to educate the public. Thus far they have done an inadequate job explaining the real answers to these leftist fallacies. I am told by people from around the country who respond to my commentaries that Americans do not want to talk about anything other than the high cost of gasoline. Not Iraq. Not healthcare. Not even change, whatever that means. The only topic these days is $4 to $5-per-gallon gasoline.
That being the case, pro-drilling Members of the House and Senate should issue special orders on the chamber floors. They would be seen on prime time television and possibly would be picked up by the mainstream networks. They should hold daily press conferences. They should appear on national talk shows and talk radio every day. Each Senator should appear on local talk radio in his state and each House Member should do the same with talk radio in his district. They should arrange for editorial board meetings with national and local newspapers. They should organize volunteers to go door-to-door to ensure that everyone knows each side of the issue and which position would be best for the American economy and American consumers.
Given the opinion of the electorate and her own contrary ideological position, it is no wonder Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has pulled measures lifting the ban on drilling from the House calendar. My understanding is that the Democratic Majority Whip’s count demonstrated that the pro-drilling forces had enough votes to lift the ban. That would be a terrible embarrassment to the anti-drilling forces and the environmentalists.
Since the House and Senate Leadership do not want to help Americans, pro-drilling Representatives and Senators should initiate discharge petitions. Maybe, just maybe, a majority of legislators would be willing to ignore the Majority Leadership. If they can force a vote and pass pro-drilling legislation, President George W. Bush will sign it into law. If the anti-drilling forces triumph in the 2008 elections, which seems likely, it may be too late; for another generation we will be forced to use less oil and gas because of the high cost. We will be voting to make ourselves miserable and poorer unless we act now.
Paul Weyrich is Chairman and CEO of the Free Congress Foundation.
© This column is the property of the Free Congress Foundation and may not be reproduced without their permission. For comments and inquiries, contact Phyllis E. Hughes at . Visit our website at http://www.FreeCongress.org.
Guest columns do not necessarily reflect the views of Accuracy in Media or its staff.
5 Comments | Post a Comment
BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT: credibility check:
“Indeed, I saw one oil exploration expert on Fox News Channel who said that if the right equipment were available it would take only one year to get the first oil since the oil companies know exactly where the oil is located in the outer Continental Shelf.”
where didya see that again?
oh yes - the home of integrity and honesty.
oh yeah, and experts.
lots of experts.
do you people even read what you’re writing?
if it weren’t intended to be serious it would be hilarious. but instead it’s really quite tragic.
if the right equipment were available.
uh huh.
like that thing they had in star wars - that would be really cool - maybe those walker things - they could probably find the oil like really fast… if only we had some of those things…
a fox news ‘expert’.
that statement alone is enough to keep an entire audience rolling in the aisles for a couple hours.
you people really are in the wrong business.
or is this SUPPOSED to be a parody/satirical site?
like… the ‘nobel nominated’ doctor they trotted out during the schaivo debacle?
remember this guy?:
Let’s talk about these people like Hammesfahr, who we interviewed on the television show a couple of nights ago - presents himself as a Nobel nominee, turns out he’s nominated by his congressman, not by the Nobel committee, which doesn’t make its nominees public for 50 years.
or this guy?:
The Fox News Channel thought it had found an asset when it hired the gruff, barrel-chested former military man as a consultant to help in its coverage of the fighting in Afghanistan. He claimed to have won the Silver Star for bravery, served in Vietnam and was part of the secret, failed mission to rescue hostages in Iran in 1980.
For more than four months, Mr. Cafasso assisted and shared tips with reporters, producers and on-air consultants. Then on March 11, he abruptly left Fox amid complaints that he had overstepped his bounds and had become an annoyance. Soon afterward, Fox News, and many associates of Mr. Cafasso, learned that his office style may have been the least of his problems. The real story, many people say, was that he was not who he said he was.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F06EFD81E3EF93AA15757C0A9649C8B63
yeah - if fox says it’s true then…
it…
probably…
isn’t.
Start the drilling for goodness sakes!!!!!!!
One year or five years, start the “damn” drilling now!!! I can not understand the mentality of the people who are pulling the strings.
Agreed, but I’m thinking they want us to hurt a little more for some reason.
Actually, I don’t think there are any strictly US companies, but I’m thinking we may end up with some foreign controlled company doing the drilling and we may get the story that they are the only ones that can do it.
Maybe it will be some friends of the WH and we will hear they are the only ones that could do it.
Perhaps we’ll hear that we just can be bothered with any enviromental concerns, after all ‘it’s an emergency’. And yes it is - now - thanks to all the waiting.
It still remains to be seen if this country will get the biggest benefit from this. I haven’t seen anyone tell how that is going to happen. If a global corporation does the drilling - how does that work - for us, the US consumers?
Has there been a shortage of oil? Or just a shortage of cheap oil?
This waiting to drill was purposely done. This administration has done just about everything it wanted to do in the 8 years it’s been in office. If it had wanted to drill, it would have.
Drill, hoping it will help us some.
Get busy on alternatives and that doesn’t mean ethanol that is going to starve us if it isn’t stopped.
It doesn’t mean destroying food producing land by surface mining of coal.
Do some serious talking to the people of this country about our ‘conspicuous consumption’ of everything.
We could cut our oil needs by a large percentage if we would just stay out of Wal Mart and stay at home a little more.
this is key:
“I can not understand the mentality of the people who are pulling the strings.”
so because you do not understand something it is invalid? the world must be full of wonder for you.
maybe increasing your understanding would help.
note: watching fox news will not serve your cause.
July 11 at 12:15 pm | #1 | Link
Why is it always the Democrats to blame.
We have an administration that is headed with oil people, and one that managed to get us into a war in which we had no interest. Now they are trying to tell us that this same administration could not make the case to the American people to drill in Alaska and offshore??
If this administration had turned it’s spin machine loose on oil drilling as it did on convincing the country Saddam was going to attack us in 45 minutes - we would have plenty of oil now.
The fact is, the politicians are doing just fine, financially, with the price of oil right now. It’s only the people of this country that are hurting.
We have to get some common sense and start thinking for ourselves and not let the political parties do our thinking.
As long as we are blinded and bamboozled by parisan talk, we don’t see and don’t think through what is going on under our noses.