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POPSSham Drilling Bill Sends Crude Oil Up $12 A Barrel The ruse began late Monday night, when Speaker Nancy Pelosi released a 290-page bill and then waved it through less than 24 hours later, 236-189. "Closed" rules prohibited the GOP from offering alternatives. The real game was to give vulnerable Democrats political cover by letting them vote for more offshore drilling -- while also making more drilling all but impossible, thus appeasing the party's green wing. ... The bill would allow exploration on the Outer Continental Shelf, but only in waters 100 or more miles out in the Atlantic and Pacific. The farthest reaches of the OCS contain resources, but undersea geography and deep water make development very -- if not prohibitively -- expensive. Areas closer to land are far richer and easier to access. Conveniently, Mrs. Pelosi's bill imposes a 50-mile "buffer zone" around the country.
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POPSClubForGrowth Vote Alert - Energy Bill The moratorium on drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf expires at the end of the year, yet supporters of this bill want to continue that ban on nearly 90% of OCS through this proposal. Along with the tax hikes and the subsidies for alternative fuels, there is nothing pro-growth about this proposal. In addition, we recently learned that an undisclosed, non-germane $2 billion earmark was inserted into this bill in complete violation of House rules. It should be vigorously voted down.
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POPSThankfully, Voters Aren't As Stupid As Speaker Pelosi! The gang proposal also does nothing to open up more of Alaska, and nothing to remove the ban on exploring oil shale in states like Colorado and Utah. And some Democrats in Congress are insisting that they will go along only if it also includes a permanent ban on drilling elsewhere on the Outer Continental Shelf. When even officials in Santa Barbara, California, have endorsed offshore drilling, this compromise amounts to a premature surrender. The gang would also impose about $86 billion in new taxes, in large part on oil and gas companies through higher royalty fees and the loss of benefits available to other manufacturers. These new taxes are to be levied on the same companies that paid more than $100 billion in taxes last year, and they are of course the firms that would have to invest the billions of dollars needed to exploit the new offshore resources.
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POPSThe Existing Ban On Drilling Expires Sept 30, 2008 Now, here's (excerpt) of the letter from AFP On behalf of our millions of members and all American consumers suffering from high energy prices, we urge you to allow the current restrictions on much-needed American energy resources to expire as scheduled under current law. Unless Congress acts affirmatively to prevent it, October 1st, 2008 will be a day fittingly described as "American Energy Freedom Day" as those restrictions expire. Now that President Bush has lifted the executive branch moratorium, the only thing prohibiting development of these energy resources is a temporary ban that is set to expire at the end of this fiscal year. We urge you to oppose the creation of any new moratorium for fiscal 2009, even if it is attached to what some people in Washington consider "must-pass" legislation.
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POPSObama backs some drilling, tapping oil stockpile Putting his finger in the wind. The majority of Americans want drilling, so McCain's 'receptive audience' is the American people. Yes, the policies of the past decades have contributed to this *crisis*, but had he been a part of the Democrat government in Congress all those years, he would have stood with them. But then, he was just a baby and didn't know squat...and now he's an expert?
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POPSGOP And Bipartisan Effort To Force Democrats To Lift A Drilling Ban
Washington - As Congress heads into its last week before August recess and political conventions, there's one big item on the must-do list: Action to ease energy costs for American families. ongressional leaders are increasingly deadlocked over what to do. In response, frustrated rank-and-file members on both sides of the aisle are stepping up efforts to find common ground. Rep. Nick Lampson (D) of Texas is now pursuing his own version of an offshore drilling bill that would dedicate all $2.6 trillion in expected royalties to research on alternative energy. Last week, Republicans blocked three Democratic bills in as many days: On Thursday, the House rejected a measure that would have released about 70 million barrels of oil from the nation's SPR. On Friday, Senate Republicans blocked a move that would stop excessive speculation in energy markets. On Saturday, the GOP opposed taking up a $5.1 billion Senate measure to help low-income Americans pay utility bills this year.
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POPSBravo For Bush And Bravo For The Traders Well, if Congress moves to seal the deal, oil prices will probably keep on falling. That’s the way traders work. They discount the future. Psychology and expectations can turn on a dime. The congressional ban on offshore drilling expires September 30, so that becomes a key date. A new report from Wall Street research house Sanford C. Bernstein says that California actually could start producing new oil within one year if the moratorium were lifted. The California oil is under shallow water and already has been explored. Drilling platforms have been in place since before the moratorium. They’re talking about 10 billion barrels worth off the coast of California. There’s also a “gang of 10” in the Senate, five Republicans and five Democrats, that is trying to work a compromise deal on lifting the moratorium. So it’s possible a lot of action on this front could occur much sooner than people seem to think. Deregulate, decontrol, and unleash the American energy industry.
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POPSPolitical Oil Purely a political move by the administration feels you pain on high gas prices. Oil and natural gas on the OCS is still as off limits as it was before the president made the announcement.
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POPSBush to lift executive ban on offshore drilling At last! A tiny step and only one. I hope America's industries are making all-out efforts to finally deal with our energy-producing block. Follow all the avenues and options to end our begging for energy. Think of what it might mean for our foreign policy options.
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POPSThis Day In History, Happy Birthday America In 1986, more than 250 sailing ships and the United States' biggest fireworks display honored the Statue of Liberty in its 100th birthday year. In 1994, French forces in Rwanda established a security zone for refugees. In 1995, the British Parliament reconfirmed John Majors as prime minister. In 1997, NASA's Pathfinder landed on Mars to become the first U.S. spacecraft to land on the planet in more than two decades. Also in 1997, Mexico's top drug lord died in a Mexico City hospital following plastic surgery to change his appearance.
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POPSBen Franklin Took The Parisian Salons By Storm Franklin's miracle was that, armed only with his canny personal charm and assisted by his international reputation as a scientist and philosopher, he was able to cajole a wary French government into lending the fledgling American nation an enormous fortune. Not only did Franklin help seal the French alliance with a formal treaty in 1778 and keep it alive throughout the war; he was instrumental, as well, in negotiating the peace with Britain. By the time Franklin sailed back to Philadelphia in 1785, he had proved himself "the most indispensable leader of the American Revolution next to George Washington," says Dull. The enduring image of Franklin in Paris tends to be that of a flirtatious old man, too busy visiting the city's fashionable salons to pursue affairs of state as rigorously as John Adams. The French consistently asked the Continental Congress to retain Franklin as America's chief spokesman.
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POPSHow George Washington's Savvy Won The Day Fighting force. Washington's vision was vindicated in the winter of 1776-77, as his Army, often working with militias, scored quick-hitting successes at Trenton, Princeton, and other parts of New Jersey. Washington even made the best of a painful setback after the British conquest of the nation's capital, Philadelphia. Settling in for a hard winter at Valley Forge, Pa., Washington built a distinctively American fighting force even while exercising political skills that allowed him to overcome insubordinate rivals in the Army and to mollify critics in the Continental Congress. Just as important, he had won the lasting support of America's civilian authorities, to whom he returned all power at war's end. Hearing of that gesture, Britain's King George III said that Washington would be the greatest man in history if it was true.
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POPSFlorida Gov.Crist Calls For End To Feds Moratorium On Drilling Public opinion started to move in favor of oil drilling off Florida after Hurricane Jeanne in 2004 forced many Floridians to wait in long lines for gas, said David Mica, executive director of the Florida Petroleum Council, a lobbying group. Jeanne and other powerful hurricanes that battered Florida in 2004 and 2005 left millions of Floridians struggling to fill their gas tanks because of a lack of electricity to pump the fuel and difficulties getting fresh supplies into Florida. A business group that supports oil drilling release a survey on Thursday saying 61 percent of Florida respondents support increased exploration and production of oil and natural gas off the Florida coasts. "Public opinion is supportive .... t's time to give it a try (drilling) and watch it very closely,'" Mica said. Environment Florida, an anti-drilling advocacy group, said it got an unprecedented response from supporters to a write-in campaign after Crist changed his position.
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POPSStop The Pelosi Anti-Energy Package! The most common-sense energy solution in the short term is to increase domestic oil production in the United States by allowing more exploration and drilling. Currently, there is a Congressional moratorium on drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) that has been in place for 27 years. This moratorium translates into roughly 85% of the OCS that Congress has declared off-limits for oil exploration and drilling. It simply does not make sense for the United States to allow its domestic oil resources to sit unused and depend on other nations in unstable regions of the world for its energy needs.
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POPSBush Calls Out the Dems Next was ANWR, which can be exploited with "virtually no impact on the land or local wildlife." Finally, refining capacity: It has been 30 years since a new refinery was built in our Nation, and lawsuits and red tape have made it extremely costly to expand or modify existing refineries. The result is that America now imports millions of barrels of fully refined gasoline from abroad. This imposes needless costs on American families and drivers. It deprives American workers of good jobs. Finally, Bush laid the problem once again at the Dems' door: I know Democratic leaders have opposed some of these policies in the past. Now that their opposition has helped drive gas prices to record levels, I ask them to reconsider their positions. If congressional leaders leave for the Fourth of July recess without taking action, they will need to explain why $4-a-gallon gasoline is not enough incentive for them to act. Excellent stuff. We need to do this every single day.
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POPSBig Push for Big OIL- Drill-Drill-Drill The propaganda machinery is in full throttle push and these politicians that have missed their leadership role for 30 years. Energy independence is impossible without alternative energy and we missed the boat and now BIG OIL wants more fossil fuels and more profits. What crap shoot and the people are being led by their noses and gas tanks. The scramble has begun.
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POPS President Bush Discusses Energy The problem is that Congress has restricted access to key parts of the OCS since the early 1980s. Since then, advances in technology have made it possible to conduct oil exploration in the OCS that is out of sight, protects coral reefs and habitats, and protects against oil spills. With these advances -- and a dramatic increase in oil prices -- congressional restrictions on OCS exploration have become outdated and counterproductive. Republicans in Congress have proposed I call on the House and the Senate to pass good legislation as soon as possible. This legislation should give the states the option of opening up OCS resources off their shores, provide a way for the federal government and states to share new leasing revenues, and ensure that our environment is protected. There's also an executive prohibition on exploration in the OCS. When Congress lifts the legislative ban, I will lift the executive prohibition.
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POPSGas Prices Are Changing Americans’ Priorities would make developing the oil shale profitable at $20 a barrel. Are liberals in Congress anxious to see this oil help American consumers? No. Just last week they voted to extend their ban on oil shale development. The other liberal objection to increased domestic energy production is that the additional supplies will not affect prices for a decade. We will let Jay Leno respond: “Democrats said it would not do any good because it would not produce oil for 10 years. You know, same thing they said 10 years ago.” Just last week liberals in Congress rejected a proposal to allow drilling for oil 50 miles of the U.S. coast. The U.S. Minerals Management Service estimates that 86 billion barrels of oil and 420 trillion cubic feet of natural gas can be found along the U.S. outer continental shelf. The typical liberal response to calls for more domestic oil production is that drilling will not help lower prices significantly.
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POPSBush To Press Congress On Offshore Oil Drilling Bush also will reiterate his call for development of oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, Perino said. McCain has opposed drilling in the refuge, maintaining that the pristine areas in northeastern Alaska should be protected from energy development. On Monday, McCain made lifting the federal ban on offshore oil and gas development a key part of his energy plan. The Arizona senator said states should be allowed to pursue energy exploration in waters near their coasts and receive some of the royalty revenue. Bush has made clear in recent weeks that the drilling moratorium in coastal waters should end to allow for more domestic oil production and help "take the pressure off the price of gasoline." Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic candidate for president, opposes lifting the ban on offshore drilling and says that allowing exploration now wouldn't affect gasoline prices for at least five years.
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POPSHappy 233rd Army! The picture shows Fort Riley Soldiers representing the Army from the Revolutionary War to Operation Iraqi Freedom. On June 14, 1775, the Second Continental Congress authorized the enlistment of 10 companies of riflemen in Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia. The next day, George Washington was appointed commander in chief of this “grand American army.” And thus the U.S. Army was born.
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POPSHoyer is a hoot The Dems hold a conference on Global warming and they have the gall to say that drilling is the "Johnny One Note of the Republican Party"
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POPSFREE EMAIL S2284 THE SENATE VOTE FOR DOMESTIC ENERGY PRODUCTION What the McConnell amendment would do: •Produce up to 24 billion barrels of oil when fully enacted—enough oil to keep America running for 5 years with no foreign imports. •Allow petitions for leasing activities on the Outer Continental Shelf—an area with 14 billion barrels of known recoverable oil. •As no new refineries have been built in the U.S. in 30 years, give the EPA authority to expedite permits for refineries •Establish a competitive oil and gas leasing program for ANWR •Repeal the $4000 fee for new permit applications to drill. •Repeal the 2007 provision that reduces mineral leasing revenue payments to the states. •Repeal the moratorium on funds to encourage the commercial leasing of oil shale. Isn’t it time Congress came to its senses and voted for U.S. domestic energy production?
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POPSSenate Democrats Offer Energy Plan Amid Price Surge Now, why would they want to "...consolidate previous failed attempts"? :~( No real solutions here; just bandaids, blaming, and blustering. How long will it be before Congress gets the message that WE are serious about these energy problems? Just like everything else, our legislative branch of government talks forever and all the while accomplishing nothing until it's a Crisis? Then they look to their typical scapegoats instead of looking towards themselves.
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POPSUndoing America's Ethanol Mistake Expanding biofuels while refusing to take other measures, such as lifting the ban on oil and natural gas production in Alaska and the Outer Continental Shelf, is counterproductive. We should be tapping into a broad portfolio of energy options, including clean coal, nuclear power and wave energy. By taking these measures, we can enable biofuels to be part of the energy solution, instead of contributing to the energy problem. Restraining the dangerous effects of artificially inflated demand for ethanol should be an issue that unites both conservatives and progressives. As a recent Time cover story pointed out, biofuel mandates increase greenhouse gasses and create incentives for global deforestation. In the Amazon basin, huge swaths of forest are being cleared to meet the growing hunger for biofuels. In addition, relief organizations are facing gaping shortfalls as the cost of food outpaces their ability to provide aid for the 800 million people who lack food security.
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