So where is that focus on the environment, MSM?
Or is that just a conveniently available club to beat the public down with so they will willingly eat shit?
"New offshore drilling not a quick fix, analysts say; Start-up delays, global market pressures cited" by Lisa Wangsness, Globe Staff | June 20, 2008
I love it!
Three days later (after liar McCain quit talking about it) the press finally tells the truth.
I wonder why they neglected this information the last few days.
President Bush and Republican presidential candidate John McCain have called this week for lifting a federal moratorium on offshore oil exploration, arguing that taking action to increase domestic oil supplies will help drive down prices.
But analysts say that renewed offshore drilling would have little impact on gas prices anytime soon.
It would take at least a decade for oil companies to obtain permits, procure equipment, and do the exploration necessary to get the oil out of the ground, most industry analysts say. And even then, they add, the amount of new oil produced would probably be too small to significantly affect world oil prices.
Some analysts point out that the wells the United States now depends on are being depleted, and that new exploration could at least help offset that decline in supply from existing wells.
Expanded offshore exploration also carries with it some environmental risks, from oil spills to destruction of habitat to vibrations that damage sea life, which environmentalists say could have catastrophic consequences that far outweigh any potential benefit from further offshore drilling. But other analysts say that improved technology means the risks are much smaller than a generation ago. In this view, a sensible compromise approach would be to make decisions on potential drilling sites on a case-by-case basis.
Americans' anger over $4-a-gallon gasoline apparently has prompted greater public support for renewed offshore drilling. A Gallup poll last month found that 57 percent of respondents favored such drilling while 41 percent were opposed. Democratic candidate Barack Obama supports the moratorium.
The debate over expanded oil exploration has always been polarizing - recall the ferocity of the fight over whether to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge - but some analysts are calling for a more moderate tone.
Translation: QUIET DOWN, enviros, so we can GET a DEAL!!!
In the short term, oil prices could go down slightly if Congress lifts its moratorium on new offshore drilling, which has been in place since 1981, because the market would factor in the prospect of additional oil supplies later on. But the actual oil would not be produced for 10 to 12 years.
And in any case, increased American production from offshore drilling would not necessarily mean lower prices for American consumers because oil is a global commodity whose price is set by global supply and demand.
"Suppose the US produced all its oil domestically," said Robert Kaufmann, director of the Center for Energy and Environmental Studies at Boston University. "Do you think oil companies would sell oil to US consumers for one cent less than they could get from French consumers? No. Where oil comes from has no effect on price."
Then WHY get on OPEC? WTF?
And why minimize the role of the DROPPING DOLLAR?
You know, Saddam was going to switch off dollars before Iraq was invaded.
And there is not likely to be enough new American oil to make much of a difference, Kaufmann and others said. About 86 billion barrels of additional oil may lie offshore, according to the US government's Energy Information Administration. Of that amount, about 18 billion barrels are subject to the moratorium. Much of the rest lies in areas that are too expensive to exploit or that oil companies have not yet tapped for technical reasons, fueling the industry's desire for fresh territory....
In the best-case scenario, Kaufmann said, the United States could only produce an additional two to four million barrels of offshore oil a day - not enough to shift the global supply-demand balance in a world market that now consumes about 86 million barrels a day and is growing fast. About a quarter of that consumption now occurs in the United States.Kaufmann said that by the time any additional offshore oil got to market, much of it would merely offset losses from the depletion of current oil fields. Meanwhile, oil producing nations can easily keep supply constant by limiting capacity if they know the United States is adding more.
"There's nothing on the supply side that we can really do to disrupt OPEC's ability to influence prices," he said.
Good thing the U.S. just liberated Iraq's oil!!
Environmentalists argue that the pollution caused by drilling could compromise fragile ecosystems for very little economic benefit when the United States should be focusing on conservation - the cheapest barrel of oil, they like to say, is the one we don't have to buy - and developing better renewable energy sources.
And since that is going SOOOO SLOW it must be another FOOLEY!!!
Because every time the rubber hits the road, the environment loses!
Not buying that fooley anymore; all about getting US to do with LESS while the richers get MORE!!!!
They point to a number of environmental risks. Drilling fluids contain toxic chemicals. If oil is found, one of the waste products is briny water that also contains toxic chemicals. The noise from drilling could harm some sea animals, such as whales. And the oil would also have to be transported by pipeline or ship, creating its own environmental impacts. Then there is a risk of spills.
"Today we think offshore oil drilling could be the final straw in the unfolding collapse of New England fisheries," said Priscilla Brooks, director of the Ocean Conservation Project at the Conservation Law Foundation, which successfully fought a proposed drilling lease on Georges Bank in the late 1970s.
But Nancy Rabalais, executive director of the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium and a scientist who has studied the effects of offshore oil production in the Gulf of Mexico, said that she believes expanding offshore oil exploration would not pose terrible risks to the environment because the effects are relatively contained, and the industry is well-regulated.
So WHO WINS THAT ONE, huh?
Henry Lee, who teaches energy policy at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, said he believes there is a middle ground. There is no panacea, he said, for solving America's energy problems, so it may be best to lift the prohibitions on offshore drilling, and carefully consider the oil potential and possible environmental costs in different locations on a case-by-case basis.
"Each side, I think, is not being reasonable about this," he said...."Translation: The coasts will be CARVED UP PIECEMEAL!
But it's a BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY!!!
"ExxonMobil Corp.'s recent decision to sell the 820 service stations it owns across the country will mean more opportunities for local distributors, who are increasingly playing a bigger role in retail gasoline.
Also see: Exxon Exhales Hot Fart Mist
Gulf, a fuel wholesaler and New England's only major locally owned gasoline brand, chief executive, Joseph Petrowski:
"For the average consumer, there will be fewer gas stations, bigger gas stations, and local people operating other businesses tied to them."
Petrowski said gasoline prices could retreat a bit this summer, but with the threat of hurricanes in the nation's oil-producing Gulf Coast region and Middle East tensions, it would be modest at best. At the same time, a destructive hurricane or trouble in the Middle East could send prices soaring....
Yeah, they always drop like a shit squirt but rise like explosive diarrhea!
I don't know about you, but I'm sick of being over one of their barrels with my pants down.
Oil fell $4.75 a barrel in New York yesterday to close at $131.93."
And it went down by 0.2 cents overnight (keep reading).
"NEW YORK - Oil prices dropped sharply yesterday after China said it will raise fuel prices, a move that could dampen the booming Asian nation's oil consumption.
Prices also were given a downward push by the Iraqi Oil Ministry saying it is close to signing oil service deals with several major Western oil companies in an effort to boost its crude output.
A-ha!!! How come that has been kept SO QUIET by theAmeriKan MSM, huh?
Light, sweet crude for July delivery fell $4.75 to settle at $131.93 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.... At the pump, meanwhile, gas prices slipped 0.2 cent overnight to a national average of $4.073 a gallon, according to a survey of stations by AAA and the Oil Price Information Service."
And LOOK who is coming to the RESCUE!!!
Oh, and here is a nice touch:
"The draft proposal is particularly surprising coming from Lieberman, since Connecticut is home to hundreds of hedge funds, which are pools of capital that traditionally have catered to institutional investors and wealthy individuals."
Sig Heil, Joe!!!!
"Congress targets large oil investors; Plans would curb commodity trades" by Associated Press | June 20, 2008
WASHINGTON - With pump prices holding above $4 a gallon, there is no shortage of proposals from Capitol Hill about how to address speculation in oil markets.
The latest plan circulating in Congress would ban large institutional investors from trading commodities altogether.
That doesn't sound like a FREE ECONOMY at all!
In fact, it sounds downright FASCIST!!!!
It's a radical idea that might sound appealing to motorists and small business owners, but specialists say it would actually do little to lower prices and could have the opposite effect.
Large investors have been pumping money into contracts for oil and other commodities as a hedge against inflation when the dollar falls.
And THAT is what is driving the price -- the DECLINING DOLLAR!!
So why doesn't the MSM come clean on it, readers?
Their OBFUSCATIONS on this issue alone call into question everything they report -- and HOW they report it!!!!
But a growing number in Congress are convinced this "excessive speculation" is responsible for record food and gas prices. After weeks of hearings on the issue, lawmakers are rolling out proposals to rein in commodity trading.
On Wednesday, senators Joe Lieberman, a Connecticut Independent, and Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, offered the harshest - and to some observers, most misguided - approach yet: banning pension funds, index funds, and other large investors from commodities markets.
This can't be going anywhere.
More ELECTION-YEAR FART MIST, huh?
The Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, which Lieberman chairs, will discuss that approach and several others at a hearing next week.
The California Public Employees Retirement System, the nation's largest public pension fund, has $1.3 billion, or 0.5 percent, of its total assets in commodities, according to spokesman Clark McKinley.
He added that the fund's managers are still considering the Lieberman-Collins' plan and would not comment.
The draft proposal is particularly surprising coming from Lieberman, since Connecticut is home to hundreds of hedge funds, which are pools of capital that traditionally have catered to institutional investors and wealthy individuals.
A Lieberman spokeswoman said no hedge funds have called to complain about the plan.
But specialists said there is no precedent for such a sweeping ban on an entire group of investors.
Sig Heil! Sig Heil! Sig Heil!!!
Politicians are "deluding themselves if they think these actions will lower oil prices," said Craig Pirrong, who directs the University of Houston's energy management institute.
If the market is allowed to run its course, Pirrong said, industry will respond to natural incentives and develop alternatives to oil....
Yeah, right, that's worked so far!
Analysts said intervention by Washington could actually push commodity prices higher.
Why do they make EVERYTHING WORSE?
Please DON'T DO ANYTHING, D.C.!
That's because investment funds add liquidity to the market, helping oil producers and consumers buy and sell freely rather than horde scarce supplies.
"If they take that away, they make the market more unstable," said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Alaron Trading Corp. in Chicago.
The regulators charged with overseeing commodity trading say a host of factors are driving up costs, including higher demand for fuel, geopolitical tensions, and low interest rates."Nothing about that DUMPING DOLLAR though, huh, MSM?
Pfffffffttt!
Oil must be important.
It is the only time Nigeria makes the paper.
