Poynter Online - Al's Morning Meeting

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 18, 2008

Bush Proposes Lifting Offshore Drilling Ban

Senator John McCain said on Tuesday that states, not the feds, should decide whether oil companies can be allowed to drill offshore.

President Bush will reportedly ask Congress Wednesday to do exactly what McCain suggests -- give states the power to allow or deny drilling.

As CNN reported:

The current law, which has been in effect since 1981, covers most of the country's coastal waters.

Many officials from coastal states oppose offshore drilling because of the risk of oil spills that can spoil beaches. Environmentalists want offshore drilling to stop, to protect the oceans from further pollution.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, a McCain backer, said he opposes offshore drilling near his state. Florida Governor Charlie Crist used to say he opposed offshore drilling but softened his stance this week when he said it might be OK if he could be assured that beaches would be protected from spills and the oil platforms were far enough out at sea.

New since the last newsletter:

Golf Car Accidents Rise

Criminal Record Hits New High

Car Rental Company Re-evaluates 'Top-off' Fees

What is the "moratorium" and what does it do?
Ever since 1981 when Congress passed the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Moratorium, oil and gas companies have been prevented from drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the United States. Congress has to pass annual extensions to the ban.

When President Bush proposes lifting the ban, he will reverse the protection that his father worked for in 1990.

In fact, George H.W. Bush backed an extension of the ban that lasted 12 years, rather than the year-at-a-time ban that came before.

Overall, based on data that is 25 years old, the government guesses there are about 600 million acres under moratorium and about 18 billion barrels of oil and 76 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in those protected waters. By way of comparison, the United States currently produces about 5 million barrels of oil a day.

So, let's do the math.

The coastal reserves (18 billion barrels) are equal to the amount of oil the U.S. would produce in almost 10 years (that's 3,600 days producing 5 million barrels per day). The coastal reserves are also nearly equal to what some experts believe can be recovered at Anwar Reserve in Alaska.

What do offshore rigs look like? How do they work?
Natural gas and oil rigs have been drilling offshore for more than 100 years. The rigs themselves may be permanent, may be ship based or may be movable. Read more.

HowStuffWorks.com explains how offshore oil drilling rigs work.

Who drills offshore?
There is a lot of offshore drilling going on, especially in the Gulf of Mexico. According to the Minerals Management Service of the Interior Department, "within the next 5 years, offshore production will likely account for more than 40 percent of domestic oil and 25 percent of U.S. natural gas production, owing primarily to deep water discoveries in the Gulf of Mexico."

The biggest offshore contractor in the world is Transocean.

When would offshore drilling produce oil?
Last week, Fox News reported:

Sierra Club lands program director Athan Manuel told a House committee Wednesday that drilling has been unsuccessful in driving costs down.

"The disappointing part about some of the energy policies being promoted (is) that it calls for more drilling when drilling really is the problem. And all we've got to show for pretty aggressive (domestic) drilling for the last 35 years is, again, $4 for a gallon of gas," Manuel said, adding "since the first Arab oil shock in the 1970s, the U.S. has produced almost 90 billion barrels of oil since then, so we've tried drilling our way out of the problem and it just hasn't worked."

Environment Florida spokeswoman Holly Binns told the Media General news group that offshore drilling has no immediate impact on prices.

"It would take anywhere from seven to 10 years to bring those resources to shore -- to have any measurable impact on supply,� Binns said, advocating renewable energy sources.

Posted at 9:17:03 AM

E-mail this item | Add/View Feedback (5) | QuickLink this item: A145481

Print this Page

Al's Morning Meeting Archive

View items published between:		and
	(MM/DD/YYYY)		(MM/DD/YYYY)

MAIN | Back to Top