Democrats try to stop offshore drilling agenda

I think it is time to clean out the people on the hill both of them if all they care about is what they want and not what is good for this country. They pay for there gas with ex-pence account on the tax payer backs. thing get to tough for them they vote them self's a raise. Time to take our government back and elect people that will work for the people of the USA not there Special interest groups that keep them rich. People if you don't vote them out what you have now will look good soon.

So how they forgot a government of the people and for the people time to change thing before there is nothing let to save.

I'm native the animal will make there way around drilling and I worked off shore as a medic there very carful with what they do and the states that don't want drill should do with out gas and oil. I'm sick of in the country the me me but you let them drill on your land just give me the oil Cal has a big population but don't want anyone to drill there fine do with out the oil or shut up and let us get this country where it needs to be indepent on energy it will take new drilling wind farms and more.

This congress should have a lower yet rating if people knew the real deals they make

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Democrats pointed out that any new offshore leasing — sought by the administration, most Republicans and some Democrats — would not produce oil for a decade or so and therefore would not effect today's $4-plus per gallon gasoline prices.

Are they really that stupid? Do they really not understand how speculation works? I know there are legitimate supply and demand concerns that need to be met. But I am 100% positive if they open up new exploration you will see a dramatic drop in oil prices. People won't even have to do any drilling. Just the notion of new exploration will see the speculators running off to the next bubble and we'll get back to a more true price of oil. I don't think we'll see gas for $2 again, but we are currently priced well above were we should be based on actual supply and demand.

Republicans scoffed that the Drill Act — imposing a tougher "use it or lose it" rule on leases already held by oil companies —

How much are the oil companies holding on too that they could already be drilling on.

Is this a question that the Congress should be looking at??

Of course this has to be a very stupid question to as of our Congress.

What as the oil companies to be accountable!

All republiscams are idiots. Especially the billionaire who bought a billboard showing the World Trade center disaster and sating don't vote democratic. I guess he's too stupid to remember that on 9/11 there was a republican presidnt and a republican controlled congress. Must be a faux head.

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If the Democrats are so sure that new drilling will have not impact on prices, what is the harm? Pass the expansion of drilling and say I told you so later, if nothing happens. Environmental issues? Ha, Katrina wiped out a number of drilling platforms and not one oil slick occurred. The oil companies have listened to the environmentalists, saw the public opinion polls and made sure that massive oil slicks are a thing of the past. Sadly, drilling does not work into the Democrats real agenda. They want the US to live a certain way from which they can control our actions. They are willing to use junk science to twist legislation to restrict what we can and can not do. The whole man impact on global warming is part of this agenda. Forcing us to use specific, expensive and dangerous light bulbs is an example of what they really want. The Democrats are close to tipping their hand in all this, hopefully the voters will see what kind of clothes the emperior is really wearing before the election. Sadly, not much leadership is emerging on the other side as of now.

What's OIL? Sorry I'm just practicing my speech for a seat in Congress.

The price of oil dropped from $146 to $130 per barrel 2 days after a meaningless gesture of lifting an executive order banning drilling was lifted. What may happen to the price if Congress actually did lift the ban on drilling along with the ban on building new nuclear power plants? I hope there are tens of millions of voters who, like me, want to find out, and who like me aren't voting for any candidate for Congress who continues to support the bans on drilling and building new nuclear power plants.

Maybe it's time we banish the baners.

Most refineries are at 90+% capacity, finding more oil isn't the solution. Future's speculators are driving the price up, oil companies are only making about 8% ROI. The people betting on the future price of oil are driving up the price. If Bush opened up the Strategic Oil Reserve, and flooded the market the price would dive and the speculators would go broke !! With them out of the way the price would come into line and we would be back to the 2.50 price range.

I have no problems open up more areas to drilling if there are three rules:

1. You spill it, you loose your lease and are liable for the clean up.

2. Oil drilled under the ownership of United States claimed territory can only be refined and sold in the United States.

3. There being no honest competition in the oil market place, the oil companies will be treated as a public utility. They will be required to provide adequate delivery and service as your utility company is at a price established by a Public Utilities Commission. Since different parts of the country have differing requirements this will be handled on a state by state basis. In return the oil company will be guarrenteed a 10% profit
RJH

The headline should read Democratic, not Democrat. As a former member of the MSM, it really irks me when my colleagues in the media fail to see beyond partisan spin and instead adopt politically tainted rhetoric of either party.

If the democrats are so sure that new drilling will not have an impact, whats the harm, approve the new drilling and say I told you so when prices stay high. Unforntunately new drilling does not match their hidden agenda which is to make sure the US population follows the behavior they want. They hide behind junk science to get their agenda in place, i.e. man impacted global warming, then pass bills that force us to purchase dangerous, expensive light bulbs. At the same time they continue to use as much energy as possible. Do as I say, not as I do.

The oil companies have already learned the oil spill lesson. They have worked with environmentalists on the Alaskan Pipeline as well as improving the technology on the ocean oil rigs. Case in point, when Katrinia hit, it damaged many oil drilling rigs without incuring one oil slick. New drilling will have minimal environmental impact.

This is all about Nancy P, Harry R and the Democrats forcing their idea of how we as citizens should behave. The real sad commentary here is that the Republican side is showing no leadership or vision at all

Opening up the SOR is not an answer, what happens when that runs out? There is so much oil under our country; offshore & onshore. We just need the resolve to let it be gotten for us to live. It can be had while still being env. friendly. Yes spills will happen, they will be cleaned up, life will and does return afterwards. The econuts who think their job or livelihood isn't affected by by the free flow of energy, should show us by biking the rest of their lives, not using gas to heat their homes, go to a hole in the ground and lift a bucket of water to get drink (so it doesn't have to be pumped using energy). Just show me, and not just on earth day either, try living that way all year, every year, and your children too. Don't manufacture those windmill generators using power coming from a oil fired, nat. gas fired, nuke, hydro generating facility, and don't let them put them near the Kennedy Compound, put them if front of someone else's house.

Three points:

1. The price of oil is currently being determined by speculation on oil futures. Even though they have gone down in the past few days, due to the symbolic gesture by President Bush, they are not guaranteed to go lower or stay where they are for long. Let's close the Enron loophole and see if that helps drive the price lower too.

2. Granting more leases to the oil companies will not guarantee that they will drill on them, if the price goes lower. WHY? Because the oil companies will simply claim that it is no longer profitable for them to drill in these areas because the Return On Investment (ROI) will not be high enough. Remember, these are corporations with stockholders who are looking to make money, just like everyone else.

3. Lastly, drilling or even the prospect of drilling does not do anything for the United States dependency on foreign oil if there is not mandate that once the domestic oil is discovered, and extracted that the products made from said domestic oil will be available only for American consumption. Right now the oil companies can sell their product to the highest bidder.

The Republicans are once again playing a game with the public. There are no short term answers to this problem and dressing a pig up like a pony does not make it so, its still a pig!

I love the title of the article "GOP Kills Oil Drilling Proposal". Talk about biased reporting. It's not until you dig into the article that you see that it wasn't an Oil Drilling proposal, but instead yet another Liberal attempt to block correction of the supply side of the equation. As has been shown repeatedly, MSNBC is a farce PR front for the dem party.

Here we go again. The oil industry is sitting on 68 million acres of already existing oil leases, undeveloped at this time. The Republicans are again siding with their oil buddies.

When are the voters going to realize that the Republicans have caused many of our current problems? When are the voters going to understand that the Republicans have brought this country's economy to its knees?

The Republicans have always been in bed with big business, especially the oil industry.

Learning the oil spill lesson and stopping one are two different things. How about we put our money into getting away from oil. The reason we don't have more fuel cell, or hydrogen cars is greed. Where is the nearest Hydrogen fueling station near you? If the Oil companies are making all this money and they say it's all going back into future investments and technology, let's gaurantee that. Make all the Chevron's, Exxon's, Texaco, Bp's, Citgo's and all their little gas stations equip hydrogen refueling stations within the next 5 years. Let's make this happen people. Why drill for oil when we know it causes these types of problem's in our economy, war, and polution.

What the hell is the point of allowing them to have more land when they aren't currently using what they have? I see no reason to give them more. Or make it a trade, for every acre they want, give up one that they arent exploring already. Is there some provision that says that opening up the land FORCES them to explore it? Otherwise whats the point. And on the leases they have, if they aren't developing it to produce now, what's to lose in giving up the lease? I would think that it is simply wasted money of the precious shareholders to lease land that isnt doing anything right? Or is there something else we aren't being told. Lets face it, right now they are perfectly happy importing the oil at a cheaper price than they can develop it and therefore just want to sit on all of it that they can. Just shady crooks like the rest of the administration.

Drill now & drill often. Nancy Pelosi is totally against drilling off the coast, so I'm to believe her and the dems when they put out a "Drill Bill"? With provisions that do not or will not work, or produce any oil. Congress is the hold up. Pelosi's comment that "the President even said that it won't produce any oil" is correct up until she conveniently left out the rest of his Quote; "unless Congress lifts the drill ban also". She is just trying to direct attention from her own failings as the House Speaker, and her unwillingness to do something that will put oil in the system now, later, and continuously. I would rather have the oil 20 years from now instead of not at all. And she doesn't give us americans any credit for inginuity, given the task, I bet the oil would be online in 5 yrs, 10 at the most. Also let's build 1,000 nuke plants in 15 years. The engineering is done we know how to do it, the ecowackos just have their hands out to get paid off so it will pass an environmental impact report and study, their lawyers need to get paid. Go protest the French, Japanese, and Chinese nukes. They're laughing all the way.

Most oil companies do not own the stations, the vast majority are owned by individuals or small companies and corporations. They would have to invest in Hydrogen stations, and currently there is little or no demand. The US has the oil and the resources to obtain it, but the government has gotten in the way and won't allow them access to areas that have vast oil reserves. If you think the oil companies are making huge profits, then buy their stock, but if you look at the ROI, you'd be better off investing in Starbucks.( I wonder what a gallon of Starbucks would cost?, more than $4.00 I'll bet)

How @!$%#ing stupid are you truthandfreedom? Do you think that more oil is the solution? Lemme guess, you probably think its your "god-given" right as a human being to drive a gas guzzling suv, or live in a 4000 sf house that you have no need for right? Wake up, you're exactly what's driven this country into the ground. @!$%#ing about expensive and dangerous light bulbs. Ever heard of the investment up front and benefit later? So if you spend 2x the cost of incandecent bulbs, but don't need to replace them for say 2 years, and your electric bill drops by say $5 a month....hmmmm...don't strain yourself, I'll do the math for ya....that's $120 in your pocket....is that really tough to figure out? And that's just the start. Nobody's saying dont use any energy, live in a grass hut...but when is enough enough? What's the need for more than you can use? Have you ever actually looked at other places and what they have compared to you? And what do ya know, they still survive!!!! So can we if people like you didn't breed and realized there's more to life than what you see when you look in the mirror. Try having a child and think about what you're leaving for them.

this is funny the democrats filibuster another opportunity toward 'putting a foot down' against petroleum companies ... republicans disappointed :-)

And here's another little thought for your under-developed brain to chew on....let's see, oil is about 75-85% higher on average now than it was last year at this time, yet gas prices have risen only about 30% in that time....so do ya think that the refiners were still making plenty of $$$ at the past oil prices? Or do you think that they are all just taking it in the shorts on every gallon of gas sold? Wake up, you have no clue and lack the ability even to question how badly you're getting ripped off, much less the intelligence to stand up to it. Keep voting republican to ensure the dumbing down of America can continue.

And for your argument about china and their nuclear power, they have 9....yes NINE generating stations for 4x the population of the US...their goal is to have 100 online by 2020. We already have over 100 operating reactors in the US and have since about 2004. So don't try to argue that they're miles and miles ahead of us in that category. They are busy building coal fired plants because it's cheaper and more readily available. Learn to find facts before you incite arguments. Typical republican....