Darryl Isherwood: You had mentioned your energy policy, the things that you would do, and that you would vote with Obama over his ten year plan. Are you saying now that offshore drilling is - have you changed your mind at all on that, or is that, what's your stance on that at this point?
"The thing we have to do is we have to focus on those 68 million acres of leases we currently have. I think we have heard Obama say this; I think we have heard a number of folks say this. We can't drill our way out of this problem. It takes very, very important aggressive federal investments to reinvent how we approach energy.
"Quite frankly, I am disappointed that we keep talking about drilling when really the long-term answer is one that focuses on alternative energy. Drilling is only a stopgap measure and should be treated as such.
"That being said, I feel it's irresponsible of the industry and, quite frankly, of the federal government unless we make sure we're drilling on those leaders we already have. Now again, those leases are estimated to produce 107 billion barrels of oil and that's estimated to bridge the gap here for over fourteen years. So, from a business standpoint, we have what we need to get the job done over this bridge period of time while we should invest heavily and synergetically in making sure that we move as far away as we can [from oil dependence].
"We need to position ourselves at the international leading edge. We need to be world leaders here. Not Germany, Not the Netherlands, but the United States. And that's in developing alternative energy manufacturing and retrofit manufacturing.
"Does that answer your question, Darryl?"
Darryl Isherwood: It does, thank you.
Bernie O'Hare: So am I to take it, then, Sam, that you are opposed to drilling on the outer continental shelf and in ANWR?
"I feel that that would be a misguided, short-term benefit effort. To be honest with you, if we drilled in those places, if we started tomorrow, we would not see a drop of oil from those places for years.
"Is that Bernie, I assume?"
Bernie O'Hare: Yes.
"Hi Bernie, how are you?"
Bernie O'Hare: "Hey!"
"In those same areas, we should drill on the leases we've got. And it should be used to transition us away from oil and to the energy of the future, which is where our world and economic leadership needs to reside.
"So that's a long-winded way of saying I think it's a short-term mistake. All we need to do is look at the visionary business leadership in this area."Blogger's Note: For Congressman Charlie Dent's energy views, click here.
"The thing we have to do is we have to focus on those 68 million acres of leases we currently have. I think we have heard Obama say this; I think we have heard a number of folks say this. We can't drill our way out of this problem. It takes very, very important aggressive federal investments to reinvent how we approach energy.
"Quite frankly, I am disappointed that we keep talking about drilling when really the long-term answer is one that focuses on alternative energy. Drilling is only a stopgap measure and should be treated as such.
"That being said, I feel it's irresponsible of the industry and, quite frankly, of the federal government unless we make sure we're drilling on those leaders we already have. Now again, those leases are estimated to produce 107 billion barrels of oil and that's estimated to bridge the gap here for over fourteen years. So, from a business standpoint, we have what we need to get the job done over this bridge period of time while we should invest heavily and synergetically in making sure that we move as far away as we can [from oil dependence].
"We need to position ourselves at the international leading edge. We need to be world leaders here. Not Germany, Not the Netherlands, but the United States. And that's in developing alternative energy manufacturing and retrofit manufacturing.
"Does that answer your question, Darryl?"
Darryl Isherwood: It does, thank you.
Bernie O'Hare: So am I to take it, then, Sam, that you are opposed to drilling on the outer continental shelf and in ANWR?
"I feel that that would be a misguided, short-term benefit effort. To be honest with you, if we drilled in those places, if we started tomorrow, we would not see a drop of oil from those places for years.
"Is that Bernie, I assume?"
Bernie O'Hare: Yes.
"Hi Bernie, how are you?"
Bernie O'Hare: "Hey!"
"In those same areas, we should drill on the leases we've got. And it should be used to transition us away from oil and to the energy of the future, which is where our world and economic leadership needs to reside.
"So that's a long-winded way of saying I think it's a short-term mistake. All we need to do is look at the visionary business leadership in this area."
The oil companies have rights to drill in Texas, Oklahoma and Nevada, but choose not to, because they say they can't make money doing that, since the oil crisis in 1974!!!! DUH!
ReplyDeleteSo, let me get this straight -- there's billions and billions of gallons of oil just sitting out there for the taking -- on land that Bennett says the oil companies already hold leases on -- but they're not drilling there?
ReplyDeleteAre we to assume that they just don't want all that oil that Bennett thinks is there for the taking?
Maybe these oil companies aren't in it to make money and are just leaving all that oil sit there?
Or maybe, it would be cost prohibitive to get it out of the ground that it wouldn't help consumers anyway.
This is something that was drummed into my head repeatedly in my Economics courses -- Businesses are "rational actors."
In other words their decisions are based on an analysis of the costs versus the benefits of doing something.
If these businesses (Oil Companies) aren't doing something, they aren't doing it for rational reasons.
In this case, getting the oil that Bennett thinks is there out of the ground would cause their price point to be so high, that the demand for it would suffer.
Bennett's plan does not help the consumer. It would lead to us paying more for gas and oil, not less.
But what do I know? That's just supply and demand economic theory talking not the talking points that Bennett gets from whoever is pulling her strings.
Sam, a lot of those leased areas were duds for oil. The evil "Big Oil" companies paid for the right to explore for oil. They found little or none.
ReplyDeleteShouldn't we explore in more areas and, more importantly, drill where we KNOW that there is oil?
Bennett supports going for the reserves, which she admits is only a short-term answer. She opposes drilling in ANWR & OCS because she calls it a short-term answer. Her thinking is illogical.
ReplyDeleteI oppose ANWR unless someone can convince me that it is environmentally safe.
Bernie -
ReplyDeleteWould Sarah Palin be able to present an argument on drilling in ANWR that would be compelling to you.
Because she does support it and says it can be done in an environmentally safe manner.
Two years ago, I would say NO. To be honest, I don't trust multinational oil companies to do the right thing. Having said that, the reality is that our technology does improve every day. I am open to argument. But much as I admire Ms. Palin's down to earth style, I'd really want to know what the scientific community thinks. I'll agree that nothing should be off the table, including drilling.
ReplyDeleteoil companies need to drill for oil in anwr and ocs just as much as george bush needs another hole drilled into the hollow appendage attached to his neck.
ReplyDeletethere isnt that much oil there in the first place, only a few million barrels, but its okay though, because instead of killing iraqis they'd just be killing caribou.
you'd think that sitting on top of billions of barrels of oil that halliburton could at least use our war-disguised tax money to figure out how to drill into all that oil. but instead they drill into rocks and crap and busted up their equipment.
so really, how do americans who support this drilling really expect anything less than failure (when it comes to energy independence)to come of drilling in anwr and ocs? if halliburton cant even figure out how to drill into billions of barrels, how is some measly other oil company going to do it when there is far less oil to hit?
besides, i heard a rumor that those caribou have weapons of mass destruction up there, and they are just waiting to take aim at us.