Bush lifts offshore oil ban

Tag : Waste Oil Changer

About time, said Stephen Hamilton of Petal, a safety representativefor Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc.
Absolute horror show, said Louie Miller, president of theMississippi chapter of the Sierra Club.
Better be reeeaaall careful, said Louis Skrmetta of Gulfport,operations manager for Ship Island Excursions.
Not surprisingly, reaction was as mixed Monday as it was lastmonth, when Bush first proposed lifting the ban on the OuterContinental Shelf, as well as opening the Arctic National WildlifeRefuge to drilling.
And as far as Miller is concerned, it's still as bad an idea now asit was four weeks ago.
"Speculation in the market place, on the spot market, is what isrunning up the prices," Miller said. "(Lifting the ban), it'sanother excuse for Bush to open up the outer shelf and other areas,so his buddies, Exxon and Mobil, can get in there and get leases."
Hamilton, who works offshore in the Gulf of Mexico, said opening upnew areas for lease and potentially, eventual drilling, won't havemuch of an impact on soaring oil prices any time soon.
But that doesn't mean the country should ignore possibilities thatcould help down the road, Hamilton said.
"While I personally believe that new drilling is going to donothing-to-not-much to lessen the price of gas any time soon, we doneed to continue to find and develop new and existing hydrocarbonfields," Hamilton e-mailed from offshore. "Without thisdevelopment, the day that we run out of gas will be sooner notlater."
Opening up the Outer Shelf would be a two-step process. TheCongress also enacted a ban on offshore drilling. Last month, Bushasked that legislative body to consider lifting its ban, andMonday, his administration criticized Congress for not acting.
"The Bush plan is a hoax," responded House Speaker Nancy Pelosi."It will neither reduce gas prices nor increase energyindependence."
But even though the U.S. Minerals Management Service estimatesthere could be as much as 3.65 billion barrels of oil and21.46-trillion cubic feet of natural gas in the central and easternareas of the Gulf alone, not even the administration is willing tosay that the Outer Shelf would provide an ultimate energy fix.
"We can't drill ourselves out of this situation," Miller said.
Hamilton agreed.
"We need to spend more money into developing other viable energysources," he wrote. "We will always be dependent on hydrocarbons,but we can lessen that dependency through using wind, solar andnuclear energy.
"There is no quick fix to the problem of the high cost of gasoline.The days of cheap gasoline are surely behind us. And if youconsider what we are paying per gallon versus what the rest of theworld pays per liter, the cost of gasoline in the USA is still someof the cheapest in the world."
Skrmetta, who runs a ferry out to Ship Island and the area known asthe Gulf Islands National Seashore, said he didn't have a problemwith drilling, per se.
"But they do need to force oil companies to (operate under) theleases they currently hold," Skrmetta said. "There's 68 millionacres they're sitting on, including deep Gulf tracts, that are notbeing (used)."
And Skrmetta said he is concerned with the potential impactoffshore drilling platforms would have from a tourism standpoint.
"My argument is not against all drilling," Skrmetta said, "but keepit away from tourism assets."
That's one aspect that also concerns Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Bay St.Louis.
"Look at Alabama," said Taylor, a proponent of opening up the Gulffor further drilling. "In Mobile County, every 10 feet it seemslike there's a (platform), but right next door, in Baldwin County,you won't find any. Why? Because that's where you have Gulf Shoresand Orange Beach, and nobody wants an oil well in the middle ofthat. It's that way as you go along and go down (the west) FloridaCoast.
"In those states, where you have a lot of tourism, along thecoasts, you're not going to change them much."
Oil drilling proponents argue, however, that with today'stechnology, exploration can be conducted along the OuterContinental Shelf in ways that keep the drilling out of sight andprotect the environment.
Unless Congress acts, Bush's action Monday becomes symbolic and theargument over Outer Shelf exploration becomes moot.
To a point.
"We need to prepare for the future," Hamilton wrote. "The day iscoming when other countries are going to be challenging us for moreoil. Right now, we use the most, so we get some preferentialtreatment.
"But what happens when India or China need as much oil as we do?Prepare yourself for higher gas prices. Prepare yourself for theday when some people just can not afford gas."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.