Energy rebuttal

The issue here is in fact supply and demand. When George W. Bush lifted the executive ban on oil on July 14, the price stood at about $145. Although this order ultimately had no effect on drilling, as liberal democrats in congress continue to block offshore drilling, it sent a message to the market, as on Friday oil closed at $101.1. Do the math and you will see that oild dropped almost $45 at the possibility we might drill. Second, the current energy department has stated it would be 7-12 years to get oil from ANWR. Here are some 0ther points:

We could begin drilling in ANWR and the local Alaskan people, the Alaskan natives want the drilling to occur,” she told me, “We could begin drilling in ANWR,, we could begin pumping, and we would have access to over ten billion barrels of oil.”Swell. We’ve heard that before. But the Minnesota Republican then made a point that is rarely made: that the pipelines now “are only about 50% full, and we could be able to increase that production,” but—and this is a big “but”—“there is a very narrow window of opportunity.”

“With the current permitting process that is in place,” Bachmann explained, “it could take between six to nine years to get ANWR actually pumping. Here’s other kicker--if we don’t get more oil fields open for exploration and actually pumping up in Prudhoe Bay, we only have about 10 years for the oil yet to put online, but this easily trans-Alaskan pipelines is in a very difficult place, because if they send less than 300,000 barrels a day down that pipeline, the pipeline won’t work. The pipeline initially sent 2.1 million barrels a day down through the pipeline when the field first opened. We’re now pumping maybe 700,000 barrels a day and that’s because the field is diminishing. Congress has not allowed for an expansion of oil exploration and drilling. We have to expand our oil drilling up there or we could lose the valuable gift of this pipeline, and there’s no reason not to use this. It’s in place, it’s ready to go.”So what to do? Barham pointed out that “all we have to do is build the 74 additional miles of pipeline to get to ANWR to begin the pumping of which we believe is over 10 million barrels, and we’re in business. The American people would see a 50 percent increase in American energy from what we have now. There’s absolutely no reason not to drill in ANWR and begin doing so immediately. The problem, really, is the permitting process has so many artificial delays in it and also there are about 11 different points in that permitting process where lawsuits can be filed to stop production. One thing that I did about a week or so ago was introduce a bill that would fast track the permitting process and now after visiting ANWR I want to introduce another bill that would streamline the litigation process so that we don’t have useless lawsuits that unnecessarily slow down the process of bringing oil online.”-Article from Human Events


Michael Morris, a petroleum markets expert at the Energy Information Administration, the statistical arm of the Energy Department, said drilling on the 68 million acres already leased would contribute little to the domestic oil supply. If there was much more oil to be found, the oil companies would be drilling for it, he said, since it is in their best interest to obtain more oil. “That’s pretty much tapped out,” he said of the 68 million acres. “And they’ve done seismic surveys of those areas, and they haven’t found much.”-CNS news



http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=33824

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/07/14/bush.offshore/index.html

http://stockcharts.com/h-sc/ui?s=%24wtic

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=27679

http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/servicerpt/ogp/methodology.html