Ban on Offshore Drilling and Exploration

Told you Obama and Crew would USE this accident to further their agenda.

Hey folks,

The first week of March, we learned this.

WASHINGTON, D.C., Mar 8 - After more than a year of delays, Secretary of the Interior quietly announced last week that the Obama Administration will discard the 2010-2015 lease plan for new development on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) and wait until 2012 to put a new plan in the place. This means that the Administration’s initial six-month delay has turned into a three-year moratorium on new offshore drilling. Even if a new lease plan is implemented by July of 2012, no new lease sales will occur during President Obama’s term in office. It will also mark 45 months since Congress first lifted the moratorium.

So WHY is this such a surprise NOW. He and the Kooks he is beholden to, are using this accident as an excuse to do what they have wanted to do the whole time. BAN Drilling. Kill the industry. Raise prices. All this in some kind of misguided, and completely ignorant attempt to "speed up" Alternative Energy creation.

We have already talked about this. There is nothing out there. I did the math for you just this past Wednesday. $4.00 to $5.00 gallon gas is NOT sustainable to most average working Americans. We saw how $4.00 was pretty much the tipping point. Yet NOW? You had better hope that $5.00 is as high as it goes.

This is completely ignorant and immature to ban all Offshore Oil Drilling, and Exploration. But then again, we DO have an ignorant and Child like person PLAYING President. Seriously, regardless of what you hear about his brilliance, minus ANY proof of the matter, Obama is a Dumcuf who wants to be Ruler. He is an Idiot.

Now to someone who can NOT say things like this, yet is more qualified than ANYONE in this Regime to talk about this issue, API President Jack Gerard, testified before Congress about the accident in the Gulf. Here is the text of his testimony.

Good morning Chairman Rahall, Ranking Member Hastings, and members of the committee.

I am Jack Gerard, President and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute. API has about 400 member companies, which represent all sectors of America’s oil and natural gas industry. Our industry supports 9.2 million American jobs– including 170,000 in the Gulf of Mexico related to the offshore development business– and provides most of the energy we need to power our economy and our way of life.

The tragic and heartbreaking accident in the Gulf was unprecedented, and our thoughts and prayers go out to the families who lost loved ones, to the workers who were injured, and to all of our neighbors in the Gulf who were affected.

The response to the accident has also been unprecedented. Industry and government were on the scene immediately and massively. Many thousands of people have been working long and hard to control and halt the release of oil and protect the shoreline.

Our work will not end until we stop the flow of oil, clean up the environment, understand the causes, and correct them. We owe that to our employees and their families, and we owe it to our country.

Safety is a core value for the U.S. offshore oil and natural gas industry. Companies and employees understand the significant risks of working in the challenging offshore environment and place a strong focus on safety training, procedures, and equipment.

Offshore workers are the first line of defense against oil spills and other accidents on rigs and platforms. These hard-working, conscientious professionals are schooled in how to protect themselves and the environment. They actively observe each other’s behavior and remind their co-workers about safe operating practices. They work under a comprehensive suite of regulatory standards and frequent inspections that further reinforce their safety ethic.

The industry’s commitment to safety is real and strong, but the April tragedy in the Gulf clearly demonstrates there is more work to be done. All of us realize we must do better.

The process of improvement has already begun with the formation of industry task forces, which provided input to the U.S. Department of the Interior on improving offshore equipment and offshore operating procedures. Their work will complement Interior’s Outer Continental Shelf Safety Oversight Board and lead to enhancements to existing API standards and possibly to new API standards. API has helped create numerous standards on safety, which we provide free of charge to all. The API standards program is accredited by the American National Standards Institute, the same independent organization that accredits programs at some of our federal laboratories.

A commitment to safety improvement is vital because more domestic production of oil and natural gas both onshore and offshore is critical to jobs for Americans, a stronger economy, and enhanced energy security.

The tragic accident in the Gulf doesn’t change the reality that demand for energy isgrowi ng and that we’ll need more oil and natural gas to help meet that demand in the coming decades. Offshore production from the Gulf of Mexico plays an important role meeting demand today, accounting for 30 percent of the nation’s total domestic oil production and 11 percent of domestic natural gas production. Approximately 70 percent of the oil and 36 percent of the natural gas produced in the Gulf come from deepwater exploration.

We fully support President Obama’s plans for an independent presidential commission to investigate the spill. At the same time, we urge our policymakers to be careful in their approach so that any policies enacted don’t have unintended consequences for our nation and our recovering economy. Proposals to halt or restrict offshore energy projects could result in hundreds of thousands of lost jobs, including many in the Gulf States, billions of dollars of lost government revenue, and a sharp decrease in our country’s energy security.

President Obama and Interior Secretary Salazar struck the right balance when they recently reaffirmed the importance of domestic oil and natural gas production to the nation’s strategy for energy and economic security.

Permanently shutting down an entire program or system, whether it’s our interstate highway system, our space program or our airways is never an option when there’s an accident or tragedy. Doing so when it comes to offshore oil and gas activity shouldn’t be an option either.

We can safely and reliably produce the oil and natural gas we’ll need at home. For more than 60 years, our industry has developed the ample natural resources that lie off our coasts and, with rare exceptions, has done so in a safe, environmentally responsible way. We will address the safety issues related to this accident and continue to provide the energy our nation needs, keeping jobs and revenue at home while enhancing our energy security.

It is important to take the time to understand the causes of the accident as we work to improve the safety and reliability of offshore oil and natural gas development. This knowledge will help the industry raise the bar on our performance and better inform policy choices related to offshore development. We will continue to support the Department of the Interior, other agencies and the President’s independent commission in their efforts to learn what caused this accident.

This concludes my statement, Mr. Chairman. I welcome questions from you and your colleagues. Thank you.

You know, one thing does fall into the "obvious realm" for everyone BUT the State Run Media. Who will NEVER ask Obama this question. The API President just said this to Congress.

"Our work will not end until we stop the flow of oil, clean up the environment, understand the causes, and correct them. We owe that to our employees and their families, and we owe it to our country."

Obama just said in his Press Conference?

"This is what I wake up to in the morning, and this is what I go to bed at night thinking about."

He also says he will not rest until this is resolved, uh, after his Vacation. Right? He doesn't even have time to Honor our Nations Fallen Heroes at Arlington. He does have to rest. It's hard work playing Dictator you know.

So what does API President think of this completely absurd decision to Ban Off Shore Drilling?

"We understand the concerns many people have about offshore drilling in the wake of this incident, and the frustration many feel toward oil companies. But this issue is much larger than the oil industry, since access to affordable energy impacts every sector of our economy, every state in our nation and every American family. Further, thousands of products - from toothpaste to iPods, cell phones to computers, and vitamins to vegetables - use oil and natural gas as a feedstock in the manufacturing process.

An extended moratorium on safely producing our oil and natural gas resources from the Gulf of Mexico would create a moratorium on economic growth and job creation--especially in the Gulf States whose people and economies have already been most affected by the oil spill--by undercutting our nation's access to affordable, reliable, domestic sources of oil and natural gas.

Deepwater development is a key component of domestic energy security. In 2007, deepwater provided 70 percent of the oil and 36 percent of the natural gas from overall federal Gulf of Mexico production. The 20 most prolific producing blocks in the Gulf are located in deepwater.

Additional moves to curtail domestic production by postponing exploration and development off the coasts of Alaska and Virginia, as well as areas in the Gulf, have the potential to significantly erode our energy and economic security.

Decisions that impact the industry's ability to produce the oil and natural gas this country needs in every sector of our economy and in every household in this country will affect the lives of every citizen, every day. We will encourage the administration and Congress to reconsider any decisions that would place previously available lease areas off limits, and to ensure that there is a process and a timeline for revisiting decisions that impact our energy and economic future."

Folks, you do not need Jack Gerard, Me, or anyone else to tell you what is coming. We have been there. In a very SMALL scale compared to that of which is coming. Yes, it is coming, and it is ORCHESTRATED to come this way. It is ON PURPOSE!

November is coming. 2012 is coming. If we have any hope in survival, we need to throw this Regime out, and put Adults and those with a IQ higher then First grade in there. We need someone who actually CARES about this Country, and someone who understands what REALITY is. Some one who is WIDE awake, and not living in Dreams. We need Sanity.
Peter

API - Website

Energy Tomorrow - Website