Blogger’s Notes: The Auburn Journal – whose convicted felon editor has been on a rampage against anything Republican is now wearing an embarrassment.

Maybe Dick Cheney should have looked at this article before retracting his Cuba-China statements… unless, of course those Florida residents were smoking crack.

As Charlie Brown’s campaign is starting to make errors at the rate of twice a week, this article is vindication for Tom McClintock.

Cuba, China Drilling for Oil 50 Miles from Florida Shores
House bill aims to end U.S. moratorium in waters twice as far from shore

Article

Written By: James M. Taylor
Published In: Environment & Climate News
Publication Date: August 1, 2006
Publisher: The Heartland Institute

Legislation to relax restrictions on offshore oil and gas recovery passed the U.S. House of Representatives Resources Committee on June 21 by a vote of 29-9.

House Resolution 4761, with more than 160 co-sponsors, gained significant attention after Cuba announced it would expand its leasing of oil and natural gas for Chinese drilling within 50 miles of the Florida Keys.

The House legislation would end all federal moratoria on resource recovery more than 100 miles from U.S. shores. Individual states would have the option of allowing recovery between 50 and 100 miles from their shores.
Currently, there is no blanket federal prohibition on resource recovery more than 100 miles from shore, but there are patchwork prohibitions established on a case-by-case basis. There is currently a blanket moratorium on resource recovery less than 100 miles from shore. These restrictions amount to a self-imposed moratorium on 85 percent of the nation’s offshore oil reserves.

China Drilling Near Florida

The presence of Chinese oil rigs, there by agreement with Cuba, within view of the Florida coastline has irked state residents. Cuba has announced it will expand those operations.

“I saw all kinds of wells with Chinese writing on them just south of the Keys,” Leonard Gropper, a Marathon, Florida retiree, told the June 20 Orlando Sun-Sentinel.
With just 90 miles separating Cuba and the Florida Keys, Cuba has legal rights to oil and natural gas reserves in its half of the Florida Strait. Cuba can, therefore, produce or lease for production oil and natural gas reserves as close as 45 miles from U.S. shores.

“China is trying to lock up resources around the world, and they are locking up resources in our own backyard where we can’t even compete and play ball,” Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID) told the Sun-Sentinel. “This is simply wrong. I’ve had enough, and I believe the American people have had enough.”

Needs Are Changing

The U.S. moratorium was imposed during the 1990s when oil prices were low and the need for new production seemed distant. Those days are long gone, observes Heritage Foundation Senior Policy Analyst Ben Lieberman.

“While fears of environmental damage trumped price concerns in the 1990s, times have changed. Technological advances have greatly reduced environmental risks, and oil prices are much higher now and do not appear likely to appreciably decline any time soon,” said Lieberman.

“The changing nature of the situation is being driven home very starkly with the [construction] of Chinese oil rigs within sight of U.S. shores,” Lieberman added. “The Chinese can drill within sight of our coastline, but we cannot. In fact, we cannot drill even twice as far away from the U.S. coastline as the Chinese do. This does not sit well with many people in Florida.”

James M. Taylor (taylor@heartland.org) is managing editor of Environment & Climate News.

Heck – weather there was drilling in Cuba in 2008, there is no argument that foreign countries will be drilling our oil in 2009 while we sit on our hands.

The Wall Street Journal Weighs in – keep in mind, Charlie Brown is running for Congress and his first vote will be to elect Pelosi speaker.

Link for attribution

Republicans Are Skeptical
Of Pelosi’s Offshore-Drilling Proposal

By IAN TALLEY
August 18, 2008; Page A2

WASHINGTON—House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s proposal Saturday to make expanded offshore drilling part of a new Democratic energy bill got a skeptical reaction from Republicans, who said they suspect it will contain other provisions unacceptable to the minority. The result may be that Congress remains deadlocked on the potent election issue.

Ms. Pelosi’s proposal is the clearest sign yet that Democratic Congressional leaders are tacking away from earlier strong opposition to expanded offshore oil production, in the face of opinion polls that indicate many voters favor the “drill more” stand adopted by Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain and others in his party.

According to people familiar with Ms. Pelosi’s proposal, her plan borrows from a bipartisan plan proposed by a “Gang of 10” senators five from each party that allows several East Coast states to opt into drilling off their shores. It doesn’t allow drilling off California or the eastern coast of Florida, the people said. Just a few weeks ago, the House speaker said Republican calls for a vote just on drilling was “a hoax on the American people.”

Discussions over the package are continuing. The draft proposal includes several measures that Republicans have already blocked in Congress: releasing oil from the strategic petroleum reserve and a renewable-electricity standard that would require a rising percentage of power to come from sources such as wind and wave generation.

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois said this month he would support an expansion of offshore drilling as part of a bipartisan energy bill.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada has also indicated he would allow a drilling vote, possibly a version of the Gang of 10 proposal though his highest priority is implementing long-term tax credits for renewable-energy production and investment.

The most troubling provision for the GOP is the proposed repeal of tax breaks to oil companies, such as the manufacturing and foreign-earned income credits. Republican leadership, presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.) and President George W. Bush have made clear the tax issue is a deal-breaker.

“The Democratic leadership should … give the members a chance to vote up or down on whether or not we should proceed with offshore drilling,” Mr. Bush said last week after Mrs. Pelosi indicated she would allow a vote on drilling, adding that they shouldn’t insert any “provisions that they know will never be enacted and are added only for the purpose of killing the effort to open up the…outer continental shelf to drilling.”

Here’s the bait and switch – take away tax credits for research and development. Limiting drilling to certain days of the week in certain spots only if the state whose shore it is supposed to be off of approves… absurd. Most coastal states are blue and the Democrat leadership knows that

Blogger’s Note: The significance of this is Charlie Brown is running for Congress as a Democrat and he has already adopted Nancy Pelosi’s energy plan. This suggests that Brown will vote against all of the below and that Brown (like McNerney in CA-11) would vote against exploration and drilling.

Brown and his surrogates continue to dodge the hard questions – will you stand up and vote yes for America? WWCBD on the below bills? Would he honor the endorsement of the Sierra Club and vote no? Would he serve Nancy Pelosi and the anti-war left that almost got him elected in 2006 or will he serve us in the 4th Congressional District?

We have no doubt that Tom McClintock would support all of the below bills – vote for energy independence. Tom McClintcok.

Representative John T. Doolittle’s In the Know

Special Edition
What Republicans Would Do To Lower Gas Prices

August 15, 2008

Each week this summer, House Republicans signed a petition to bring specific proposals that would lower gas prices to the House floor. Each effort was rejected by the Democrat Leadership. Here are our proposals:

H.R. 3089, No More Excuses Energy Act

H.R. 3089 would reduce the price of gasoline by opening new American oil refineries, investing in clean
energy sources such as wind, nuclear, and captured carbon dioxide, and making available more homegrown energy through environmentally sensitive exploration of the Arctic Energy Slope and America’s Deep-Sea Energy Reserves.

H.R. 2279, Expand American Refining Capacity on Closed Military Installations

H.R. 2279 would reduce the price of gasoline by streamlining the refinery application process and by requiring the President to open at least three closed military installations for the purpose of siting new and reliable American refineries.

H.R. 5656, To Repeal the Ban on Acquiring Alternative Fuels

H.R. 5656 would reduce the price of gasoline by allowing the federal government to procure advanced alternative fuels derived from diverse sources like oil shale, tar sands and coal-to-liquid technology.

H.R. 2208, Coal-Liquid Fuel Act

H.R. 2208 would reduce the price of gasoline by encouraging the use of clean coal-to-liquid technology authorizing the Secretary of Energy to enter into loan agreements with coal-to-liquid projects that produce innovative transportation fuel.

H.R. 2493, Fuel Mandate Reduction Act

H.R. 2493 would reduce the price of gasoline by removing fuel blend requirements and onerous government mandates if they contribute to unaffordable gas prices.

H.R. 6107, American Energy Independence and Price Reduction Act

H.R. 6107 would reduce the price of gasoline by opening the Arctic Energy Slope to environmentally sensitive American energy exploration. The development footprint would be limited to 0.01 percent of the Refuge, and revenue received from the new leases would be invested in a long-term alternative energy trust fund.

H.R. 6108, Deep Ocean Energy Resources Act

H.R. 6108 would reduce the price of gasoline by enabling the United States to responsibly explore its own
deep ocean to produce American energy. The bill would grant coastal states the authority to keep exploration 100 miles from their coastlines, and it would also allow states to share in the revenues received.

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Sorry Charlie! You are still getting drilled!

$8 a gallon Gas or a big fat Oil Derrick?

The two huge issues in the fall election -

Gay Marriage and Gas Prices.

The Democrats are amazing me – it is starting to look like 2006. Except this time it isn’t Republicans and spending, it is Democrats and Oil Drilling / Refinery Construction.

Anyone who thinks that real America is not going to react to the Dems selling themselves out to the Enviros has another thing coming.

Gay Marriage – I have already been accused of spreading hate for quoting scripture and pointing out that Homosexuals are advancing their agenda at the expense of religious freedom.

Some choices are wrong – the Democrats are going to stand up for $8 a gallon Gas and Gay Marriage. America is going to stand against that.

If you have any questions – let’s put commercials up showing Gay Marriage ceremonies and see how those play in swing states.