The Offshore Leases Obama Proposed Were NOT ABOUT DRILLING.

[KittyWampus]

DU'ers can willfully ignoring that fact but there it is.

The newest leases were about allowing oil companies to add assets to their ledgers. OPEC does the same thing which is how I learned about it while reading about Peak Oil.

You want to make a case that it was a bad move to essentially allow oil companies to inflate their worth, fine. At least you'd be arguing based on reality.

[elocs]

1. DUers generally willfully ignore whatever they choose or is inconvenient to them.

Reality is not always a popular concept here if it does not fit into the preferred talking points.

[AnArmyVeteran]

11. I just ignored the 1st half of your sentence, so I only read 'talking points'. What's that about? :)

[AnArmyVeteran]

12. I know for sure that "I" am the only true 'aware one' on this site!

[sabrina 1]

13. So, what is the reality here then? The OP has provided nothing

so far to back up this claim. So those DUers you speak of will still have to go with Obama's own words until they see something from Obama that contradicts them.

From his own words below, the entire speech he gave when he announced lifting the ban on Off-Shore Drilling in which he said nothing about NOT drilling. Has he changed his mind since that speech? Because if he has, I cannot find that information. I will therefore take Obama at his word that he has decided that we should not ban offshore drilling anymore in certain parts of the ocean, off the coast of the U.S.

Obama's Remarks on Offshore Drilling

There will be those who strongly disagree with this decision, including those who say we should not open any new areas to drilling.

Some people are very quick to denigrate DUers without any facts themselves, it seems.

[elocs]

16. By proving nothing the OP has proven everything. That should be appreciated by DU. n/t

Facts? We don't need no stinking facts!

[lamp_shade]

2. You and I know that, but apparently a whole bunch of folks here don't. Oh well.

[madfloridian]

8. We are all just a bunch of dummies around here?

:eyes:

[sabrina 1]

17. Well, since the rest of us who read the President's

speech on Offshore drilling apparently don't know what you and the OP know, could you perhaps educate the rest of us?

[Cant trust em]

3. Interesting that this didn't come up in many articles or discussion that I heard.

Do you have a link or anything to a story?

Thanks.

[laughingliberal]

21. Just read this one today which talked about the President's plan to open coastal areas

to offshore drilling.

Gulf Oil Spill Could Impact Obama's Offshore Drilling Plan, Says White House

White House advisers acknowledged on Thursday that a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico could force the president to reconsider plans to open coastal areas to offshore drilling. But they suggested that no revision in policy would be announced in the immediate future. <snip>

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/29/gulf-oil-spill-could-impa_n_557125.html

Perhaps the OP could notify them how misinformed they all are.

[sabrina 1]

4. Obama lifted the decades-old ban on Oil-Drilling

off the U.S. coast. Where are getting the information that now, someone who wants to do so, cannot? There is no link in your OP and I have done a quick search and see nothing that backs up what you are saying.

I CAN however, find hundreds of links to contradict your claim. This is just one of many as an example:

Obama to lift ban on off-shore drilling

President Barack Obama announced plans Wednesday to reverse a decades-old U.S. ban on new drilling for oil and natural gas off some parts of the country's shores. The president's decision also reverses a stance he took in the 2008 election campaign.

President Obama said allowing some new offshore drilling will help meet the nation's energy needs while alternative energy sources are being developed.

In fact, Obama himself pointed out that because the U.S. has so little oil compared to what we need, we will need to do more than 'just drill'.

"We have less than two percent of the world's oil reserves," said the president. "We consume more than 20 percent of the world's oil. What that means is that drilling alone cannot come close to meeting our long-term energy needs."

'Lift ban on off-shore drilling'. That is what he did.

[katandmoon]

5. Then why hasn't Obama said so?

[Luminous Animal]

6. Then why did he refer to drilling, develdopment & exploration in his speech?

Was he lying?

"So today we’re announcing the expansion of offshore oil and gas exploration, but in ways that balance the need to harness domestic energy resources and the need to protect America’s natural resources. Under the leadership of Secretary Salazar, we’ll employ new technologies that reduce the impact of oil exploration. We’ll protect areas that are vital to tourism, the environment, and our national security. And we’ll be guided not by political ideology, but by scientific evidence.

That's why my administration will consider potential areas for development in the mid and south Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico, while studying and protecting sensitive areas in the Arctic. That’s why we’ll continue to support development of leased areas off the North Slope of Alaska, while protecting Alaska’s Bristol Bay.

There will be those who strongly disagree with this decision, including those who say we should not open any new areas to drilling. But what I want to emphasize is that this announcement is part of a broader strategy that will move us from an economy that runs on fossil fuels and foreign oil to one that relies more on homegrown fuels and clean energy. And the only way this transition will succeed is if it strengthens our economy in the short term and the long run. To fail to recognize this reality would be a mistake.

On the other side, there are going to be some who argue that we don’t go nearly far enough; who suggest we should open all our waters to energy exploration without any restriction or regard for the broader environmental and economic impact. And to those folks I’ve got to say this: We have less than 2 percent of the world’s oil reserves; we consume more than 20 percent of the world’s oil. And what that means is that drilling alone can’t come close to meeting our long-term energy needs. And for the sake of our planet and our energy independence, we need to begin the transition to cleaner fuels now.

So the answer is not drilling everywhere all the time. But the answer is not, also, for us to ignore the fact that we are going to need vital energy sources to maintain our economic growth and our security. Ultimately, we need to move beyond the tired debates of the left and the right, between business leaders and environmentalists, between those who would claim drilling is a cure all and those who would claim it has no place. Because this issue is just too important to allow our progress to languish while we fight the same old battles over and over again.

For decades we’ve talked about how our dependence on foreign oil threatens our economy -– yet our will to act rises and falls with the price of a barrel of oil. When gas gets expensive at the pump, suddenly everybody is an energy expert. And when it goes back down, everybody is back to their old habits.

For decades we’ve talked about the threat to future generations posed by our current system of energy –- even as we can see the mounting evidence of climate change from the Arctic Circle to the Gulf Coast. And this is particularly relevant to all of you who are serving in uniform: For decades, we’ve talked about the risks to our security created by dependence on foreign oil, but that dependence has actually grown year after year after year after year.

And while our politics has remained entrenched along these worn divides, the ground has shifted beneath our feet. Around the world, countries are seeking an edge in the global marketplace by investing in new ways of producing and saving energy. From China to Germany, these nations recognize that the nation that leads the clean energy economy will be the country that leads the global economy. And meanwhile, here at home, as politicians in Washington debate endlessly about whether to act, our own military has determined that we can no longer afford not to.

Some of the press may be wondering why we are announcing offshore drilling in a hangar at Andrews Air Force Base. Well, if there’s any doubt about the leadership that our military is showing, you just need to look at this F-18 fighter and the light-armored vehicle behind me. The Army and Marine Corps have been testing this vehicle on a mixture of biofuels. And this Navy fighter jet -- appropriately called the Green Hornet -- will be flown for the first time in just a few days, on Earth Day. If tests go as planned, it will be the first plane ever to fly faster than the speed of sound on a fuel mix that is half biomass. The Air Force is also testing jet engines using biofuels and had the first successful biofuel-powered test flight just last week. I don’t want to drum up any kind of rivalry here, but -- (laughter.)"

http://www.cfr.org/publication/21787/obamas_speech_on_energy_security_and_offshore_drilling_march_2010.html

[VMI Dem]

7. Meh. I pay about as much attention to it as his empty statements on repealing DADT.

[onenote]

9. can you back that up with a link that contradicts the Dept of Interior's description

http://www.doi.gov/news/doinews/2010_03_31_news.cfm

According to Interior, the administration's plan includes the following:


•DEVELOP: We are opening new areas for offshore oil and gas development as part of a comprehensive energy plan for the country.
•EXPLORE: We are expanding offshore oil and gas exploration and scientific analysis to gather the information we need to develop resources in the right places and the right ways.
•PROTECT: We are protecting special places that are simply not appropriate for oil

[sabrina 1]

15. Self delete ~

Misplaced post.

[greencharlie]

10. not about oil? About lobsters? nt

[boston bean]

14. The lengths some will go to defend a person is just plain sad!

Democrats were, sometime ago in the not so distant past, against opening up areas for off shore drilling.

Then Obama came along and we were told it was GENIUS move to open up drilling to take an issue off the table!

Now, that "the" issue, which was perverted by some here as GENIUS, has come back to slap them and the person they support above all, including core value or principles, or what Democrats USE to stand for want to make the issue theirs again.

Obama never said he would open up drilling! HOGWASH!

This kabuki dance is getting old.

[hayu_lol]

18. Unless I'm sadly mistaken...

this well was a test well, not a production field. There is a big difference between the two. This falls under exploration to verify a potential field.

[sabrina 1]

20. Well, he also 'never supported a PO' even though

he said so in the primaries!

He also 'never was against mandated insurance' either, even though he said so in the primaries.

You are 100% right. This Off Shore drilling move was a very bad move. I don't know who his advisors are, but a spill like this one was bound to happen again, as it has in the past.

Now, those who tried to twist that awful decision into some kind of brilliant political move, are scrambling to back-track and pretend it never happened.

I agree with you, this gets really old. I was satisfied that he is apparently 'rethinking' his decision on offshore drilling. But these lame attempts to pretend 'he didn't mean it' are just stupid. He did it and now he has to face the fact that the ban was there for a reason, and it's sad it took this tragedy to get that through to him.

[spanone]

19. and no leases in the gulf....