offshore resources
A pattern of delays
Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010
Is the Interior Department really giving a fair and balanced review of the properties up for consideration for oil and gas leasing? Or, as the data we posted earlier this week suggest, is it engaged in a pattern of blocking any progress with repeated delays and endless red tape?
In support of the second theory, you might want to submit the recent delays to allow drilling off the coast of Virginia as Exhibit A. Except that there have been so many other instances of stalling tactics all around the country, that it’s getting hard to count them all. Far from an isolated example of the country’s Interior Department blocking responsible development of natural resources, this latest delay — in what would have been the first Atlantic coast drilling project to get underway since the ban ended in 1998 – suggests more of the same. Ban or no ban, lots of projects are still being blocked.
You don’t necessarily think Big Oil when you think of the state of Virginia. But like so many states all around the country, Virginia’s estimated reserves are substantial. The three million acre swath located 50 miles offshore that was to have been leased next year, holds an estimated 130 million barrels of oil and 1.14 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
Now, the Interior Department says any lease sales will be delayed until at least 2012, and may not go forward at all.
Tags: American energy, domestic production, Interior Department, Obama, offshore resources, offshore Virginia, oil and gas, virginia
Posted in CEABlog | 1 Comment »
1983 all over again
Tuesday, November 10th, 2009
Twenty-six years ago, the video of Michael Jackson’s Thriller was broadcast for the first time. The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. And here in the United States, unemployment peaked above 10%. That was in 1983.
Sound familiar? Twenty-six years later, Michael Jackson and Afghanistan are still making news. And last week, we learned that the nationwide jobless rate rose to 10.2%, the first time since 1983 that the country has seen double-digit unemployment.
It’s a sobering benchmark that highlights just how serious the country’s jobs crisis remains, and begs a closer consideration of the policies that got us here. At CEA, we talk often about balanced energy policy and the broad economic benefits of a steady supply of homegrown oil. We’ve talked less about specific jobs, but it’s worth emphasizing that expanded oil operations bring with them new jobs, many of them the kind of well-paying jobs that the country has lost as its manufacturing base has eroded.
In Florida, one of the many states now debating opening more offshore waters to oil exploration and development, it is estimated an expanded oil presence could create more than 13,000 jobs.
Have we mentioned North Carolina? Earlier this fall, that state’s governor set up a Scientific Advisory Panel on Offshore Energy that is reviewing the impact of new drilling projects along with offshore wind farms. You don’t hear a lot about North Carolina as a drilling destination, but advocates of expanded oil activity there estimate that more offshore exploration alone could bring in 6,700 new jobs.
It’s worth noting here that we’re all too familiar with the unfortunate term “drill baby drill,” which suggests a preference for drilling anytime, anywhere. That’s not something we’ve ever advocated. We support responsible drilling in regions that are deemed suitable for oil projects. But we also recognize that politics and special interests have too often gotten in the way of fair reviews into what constitutes suitable drilling destinations.
Now that the country is suffering the worst jobs crisis since the last days of disco and Soviet aggression, it appears people are taking a more reasonable look at domestic oil production and all the economic benefits it brings.
Tags: 1983, Afghanistan, CEA, Consumer Energy Alliance, Drill, drill baby drill, Michael Jackson, offshore resources
Posted in CEABlog | No Comments »