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Adam
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Wed Jun 11, 2008 8:34 pm |
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Ryan Eashoo
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those crazy libs! lol
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_________________
Flint Michigan Resident, Tax Payer, Flint Nutt - Local REALTOR - Activist. www.FlintTown.com |
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Thu Jun 12, 2008 11:11 pm |
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Adam
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080618/ap_on_go_pr_wh/offshore_oil;_ylt=At8DOGowM41WyCvnlJqMIsMDW7oF
Bush to Congress: Embrace energy exploration now
WASHINGTON - With gasoline topping $4 a gallon, President Bush urged Congress on Wednesday to lift its long-standing ban on offshore oil and gas drilling, saying the United States needs to increase its energy production. Democrats quickly rejected the idea.
"There is no excuse for delay," the president said in a statement in the Rose Garden. With the presidential election just months away, Bush made a pointed attack on Democrats, accusing them of obstructing his energy proposals and blaming them for high gasoline costs. His proposal echoed a call by Republican presidential candidate John McCain to open the Continental Shelf for exploration
"Families across the country are looking to Washington for a response," Bush said.
Congressional Democrats were quick to reject the push for lifting the drilling moratorium, saying oil companies already have 68 million acres offshore waters under lease that are not being developed.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called Bush's proposals "another page from (an)... energy policy that was literally written by the oil industry — give away more public resources."
Sen. Barack Obama, the Democrats' presumptive presidential nominee, rejected lifting the drilling moratorium that has been supported by a succession of presidents for nearly two decades.
"This is not something that's going to give consumers short-term relief and it is not a long-term solution to our problems with fossil fuels generally and oil in particular," said Obama. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, lumping Bush with McCain, accused them of staging a "cynical campaign ploy" that won't help lower energy prices.
"Despite what President Bush, John McCain and their friends in the oil industry claim, we cannot drill our way out of this problem," Reid said. "The math is simple: America has just three percent of the world's oil reserves, but Americans use a quarter of its oil."
Bush said offshore drilling could yield up to 18 billion barrels of oil over time, although it would take years for production to start. Bush also said offshore drilling would take pressure off prices over time.
There are two prohibitions on offshore drilling, one imposed by Congress and another by executive order signed by Bush's father in 1990. Bush's brother, Jeb, fiercely opposed offshore drilling when he was governor of Florida. What the president now proposes would rescind his father's decision — but the president took the position that Congress has to act first and then he would follow behind.
Asked why Bush doesn't act first and lift the ban, Keith Hennessey, the director of the president's economic council, said: "He thinks that probably the most productive way to work with this Congress is to try to do it in tandem."
Before Bush spoke, the House Appropriations Committee postponed a vote it had scheduled for Wednesday on legislation doing the opposite of what the president asked — extending Congress' ban on offshore drilling. Lawmakers said they wanted to focus on a disaster relief bill for the battered Midwest.
Bush also proposed opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for drilling, lifting restrictions on oil shale leasing in the Green River Basin of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming and easing the regulatory process to expand oil refining capacity.
With Americans deeply pessimistic about the economy, Bush tried to put on the onus on Congress. He acknowledged that his new proposals would take years to have a full effect, hardly the type of news that will help drivers at the gas stations now. The White House says no quick fix exists.
Still, Bush said Congress was obstructing progress — and directly contributing to consumers' pain at the pump.
"I know the Democratic leaders have opposed some of these policies in the past," Bush said. "Now that their opposition has helped drive gas prices to record levels, I ask them to reconsider their positions."
Bush said that if congressional leaders head home for their July 4 recess without taking action, they will need to explain why "$4 a gallon gasoline is not enough incentive for them to act. And Americans will rightly ask how high gas prices have to rise before the Democratic-controlled Congress will do something about it."
Bush said restrictions on offshore drilling have become "outdated and counterproductive."
In a nod to the environmental arguments against drilling, Bush said technology has come a long way. These days, he said, oil exploration off the coastline can be done in a way that "is out of sight, protects coral reefs and habitats, and protects against oil spills."
Congressional Democrats, joined by some GOP lawmakers from coastal states, have opposed lifting the prohibition that has barred energy companies from waters along both the East and West coasts and in the eastern Gulf of Mexico for 27 years.
On Monday, McCain made lifting the federal ban on offshore oil and gas development a key part of his energy plan. McCain said states should be allowed to pursue energy exploration in waters near their coasts and get some of the royalty revenue.
Obama retorted that the Arizona senator had flip-flopped on that issue. |
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Wed Jun 18, 2008 11:57 am |
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Adam Ford
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Thu Jun 19, 2008 2:43 pm |
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Adam Ford
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Thu Jun 19, 2008 2:54 pm |
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Adam Ford
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Wed Jul 02, 2008 12:19 pm |
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Flinn's Journal
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Wed Jul 02, 2008 8:44 pm |
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Adam
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http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/09/washington/09cong.html?_r=2&hp&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
WASHINGTON — Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, said anxiety over fuel oil costs is at crisis proportions in her state. Senator Amy Klobuchar, Democrat of Minnesota, said oil drilling advocates weighed in from the sidelines as she marched in a Fourth of July parade.
Senator Bob Casey, Democrat of Pennsylvania, heard it even closer to home, from his own teenager. “My daughter said, ‘Dad, what are you going to do about gas prices?’ ” Mr. Casey said.
After spending a week in their states and districts with angry and frightened consumers, many lawmakers have returned to Capitol Hill convinced that Congress cannot afford a prolonged stalemate over energy policy.
“This is the No. 1 issue on people’s minds, very clearly,” said Senator Kent Conrad, Democrat of North Dakota and one of a bipartisan group of 10 senators who met Tuesday morning to pursue ideas on a compromise energy plan that could be enacted this year.
With Republicans pushing for more domestic oil and gas production and many Democrats focusing on alternative energy sources, finding consensus will not be easy, Congressional leaders acknowledge.
Democratic leaders in the Senate also are not ready to embrace the idea of a bipartisan compromise on energy legislation, in part out of concern about adopting a position at odds with their expected presidential nominee, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois.
Mr. Obama, who has called for higher mileage standards and investments in alternative energy, so far has espoused the traditional Democratic view that domestic drilling is not the answer to high prices — a view he affirmed in a new television advertisement that began running Tuesday in four battleground states.
“This notion that somehow there’s this acre of off-shore that George W. Bush is holding back, that if Congress would just let him sign the executive order that would produce the oil to bring down gas prices,” said Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat. “Doesn’t that sound like a little bit of fantasy land?”
But with the public in an uproar over the cost of gasoline and fuel oil, many lawmakers in the House and Senate said Congress, with approval ratings at new lows, cannot stand by and simply trade accusations over who is responsible.
Neither Republicans nor Democrats are being spared in the minds of voters, one said. “They blame ‘the government,’ ” said Ms. Collins, who noted that many Maine residents were panicked at the possibility of paying $5,000 to heat their homes this winter.
She and other lawmakers said they could see the contours of a deal that included new incentives for renewable fuels, more freedom for drilling in waters off states that sanction the drilling and a potential crackdown on speculation in the oil-futures market.
In both parties, there was a notable shift in tone.
Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, has made a refrain in recent weeks of saying, “We cannot drill our way out of this problem.” But he opened his news conference on Tuesday with a different approach: “Let’s begin the discussion here by saying, Democrats support domestic production.”
He also hinted at a potential element of compromise legislation: that any oil produced from wider access to federal lands off shore be reserved for domestic use and barred from export. At the same time, he noted that Senator John McCain of Arizona, the Republican presidential candidate, had opposed similar restrictions in the past.
There was no indication from Mr. Reid or other lawmakers that a deal was imminent. And lawmakers acknowledged that none of the proposals under consideration would lower gasoline prices any time soon.
Republicans continued their call for expanded oil drilling, while emphasizing their willingness to compromise.
“When I was in Texas this last week, this is the No. 1 issue on people’s minds,” Senator John Cornyn said. “When people fill up their trucks or S.U.V.’s in Texas and pay over $100 to fill up their vehicle, it gets their attention, and they are looking to Congress to frankly get out of the way and allow America to develop more of its own natural resources as we take other measures to conserve energy and become more efficient.”
At the same news conference, Senator Mel Martinez, Republican of Florida, said: “I don’t think that solar and renewables are any more of an answer tomorrow than opening up more areas for exploration would be,” Mr. Martinez said. “All of these are long-term solutions.”
He added, “In my way of thinking, the most immediate thing we could do to impact prices is consume less.”
In the House, Democratic leaders affirmed their view that oil companies were not exploring all the leases they held now and said they did not want to be seen as hitting a political panic button.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi sought Tuesday to put pressure on President Bush, calling on him to release “a small portion” of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to boost supply and cut price. Republicans said the call for more oil bolstered their argument for domestic drilling.
Should an energy measure begin to take shape, lawmakers have a variety of their own ideas to offer. Mr. Casey, the Pennsylvania senator, is proposing a bill that would subsidize the cost of fuel for volunteer firefighters responding to emergencies. Senator John W. Warner, Republican of Virginia, has resurrected the 55-mile-per-hour speed limit.
Virtually every lawmaker has stories to tell of constituents hurt by fuel costs. Senator Pat Roberts, Republican of Kansas, has been telling colleagues about John Grau, a cattle farmer he met last month, the day after his home in Soldier, Kan., was destroyed by a tornado.
Mr. Grau told the senator that he was less worried about rebuilding, which he could afford, than about the pain of high gasoline prices. “He was concerned about the people who worked for him,” an aide to the senator said. “He said the gas prices were really a hardship for them.” |
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Wed Jul 09, 2008 1:03 pm |
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Adam
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Wed Jul 09, 2008 4:54 pm |
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Adam Ford
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While we wait on Congress to come up with something help is already on the way.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/07/10/business/11toyota.php
Toyota to make Prius in the U.S.
Toyota Motor of Japan said Thursday that it would build its popular gas-electric hybrid sedan, the Prius, in the United States for the first time as it tries to meet surging demand and struggles with falling sales of big trucks.
Starting in 2010, Toyota plans to make the Prius at a new factory in Blue Springs, Mississippi, that was originally intended to assemble sport utility vehicles. Toyota said shifting production to the Blue Springs plant, which is under construction, will help it alleviate shortages of the Prius, which gets an average of 46 miles a gallon and has months-long waiting lists at most dealers.
Toyota also said it would stop building its two largest vehicles, the Tundra pickup and Sequoia sport-utility vehicle, for three months before permanently halting production of the Tundra next spring at one of two plants that make it.
Plummeting demand for trucks has forced the Detroit automakers to announce more plant closings and layoffs. Toyota's announcements came after its United States sales fell 6.8 percent in the first half of the year.
Sales of the Prius declined 33.7 percent as a result of tight supplies. Tundra sales were down 52.9 percent in June, though stocks of the truck are plentiful.
"The truck market continues to worsen, so unfortunately we must temporarily suspend production," Jim Wiseman, vice president for external affairs for Toyota Motor Engineering and Manufacturing North America, said in a statement. "By using this downturn as an opportunity to develop team members and improve our operations, we hope to emerge even stronger."
The Detroit automakers have frequently shut down plants for several weeks or months to pare inventories of slow-selling vehicles, but it is a rare for Toyota to do so. The company introduced the Tundra in early 2007 as its first serious entry into the full-size truck market and built a factory in San Antonio, Texas, in the heart of pickup country, specifically to make it.
Both Tundra plants, in San Antonio and Princeton, Indiana, will shut down from Aug. 8 until early November, as will a plant in Huntsville, Alabama, that makes engines for the Tundra and Sequoia. Workers will continue to be paid during the closings, Toyota said.
In the spring, Toyota will consolidate Tundra production in San Antonio and start building its Highlander SUV in Princeton instead of Mississippi, where it originally had planned to do so.
Wiseman said the changes show that Toyota still has a "long-term commitment to our North American operations" despite the weakened market. |
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Fri Jul 11, 2008 8:26 am |
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Demeralda
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People & the Press report = unbelievable.
Did you notice that support for energy conservation WENT DOWN?
People are just stupid. The easiest thing for us to change now and they'd rather go drill drill drill! I only wish these people had to live next to it. |
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I'm no model lady. A model's just an imitation of the real thing. - Mae West |
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Fri Jul 11, 2008 9:36 am |
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twotap
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One thing you can bet yer ass on is none of this will ever take place next to a Gore Edwards Streisand or Kennedy mansion.  |
_________________
"If you like your current healthcare you can keep it, Period"!!
Barack Hussein Obama--- multiple times. |
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Fri Jul 11, 2008 9:39 am |
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Dave Starr
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quote:
Demeralda schreef:
People & the Press report = unbelievable.
Did you notice that support for energy conservation WENT DOWN?
People are just stupid. The easiest thing for us to change now and they'd rather go drill drill drill! I only wish these people had to live next to it.
What do we do between now and when alternative sources come online?
Neither drilling nor alternatives will come online overnight. Plus, what about all the non-fuel products that come from oil? |
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I used to care, but I take a pill for that now.
Pushing buttons sure can be fun.
When a lion wants to go somewhere, he doesn’t worry about how many hyenas are in the way.
Paddle faster, I hear banjos. |
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Fri Jul 11, 2008 10:37 am |
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twotap
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All this talk about how stupid, what f--kin idots and freaks Americans are kind of reminds me of the Messiah Obamas recently brought to light impression of the USA and how embarrassing its citizens are. No wonder he has so many supporters on this forum, Birds of a feather ya know.  |
_________________
"If you like your current healthcare you can keep it, Period"!!
Barack Hussein Obama--- multiple times. |
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Fri Jul 11, 2008 10:48 am |
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Adam Ford
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quote:
Demeralda schreef:
Did you notice that support for energy conservation WENT DOWN?
Heck yeah it went down. We need to use some of our maasive energey reserves and not keep them conserved in the ground. People are already fighting desperately to conserve with sky high gas prices. We don't even need any mileage standards in America any more! Everyone is rushing to buy Prius's. Prius sales even went down because Toyota ran out of them.
By 2010 there might not be any more Hummers sold in America and every automaker will probably have 2 or more Prius type models.
Right now we are in an absolute crises. We need to dill immediately!!! Gas will probably be $5 or more a gallon next summer. Who knows maybe even $6 or $7 a gallon. We could easily be at $4.50 by end of summer. |
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Fri Jul 11, 2008 10:55 am |
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