Posted by
Steve on Wednesday, August 20, 2008 9:24:03 AM
The pressure is getting to Nancy Pelosi and her minions in the Democrat Party. Last weekend in a talk show, she said that she would be open to voting on a bill that would open to drilling on the outer continental shelf if it contained other provisions. That is a crack in the dam. Up until that point, she had resisted any talk of voting on any bill that talked of drilling on any portion of the outer continental shelf.
What Nancy Pelosi meant by allowing drilling on the outer continental shelf is that she would allow drilling off the coasts of Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia. The vast oil reserves that are known to exist are off the coasts of California, Florida and Alaska. If you notice, the lists are not even close to the same. There is probably oil off the coasts of Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia, but nothing like the amount of oil off the coasts of California and Florida.
Nancy Pelosi also wants other provisions written into the bill that authorizes drilling. These provisions would punish oil companies and make it economically stupid for the oil companies to drill for oil. Their taxes would go up by a huge amount and their tax write offs for searching for oil would be reduced, thereby increasing their taxes yet again. These provisions would be added to punish the oil companies for making a “profit” from selling oil. Oil companies make about an 8% profit for selling their oil. That is about average for all American companies. There are a lot of American companies that make a lot more money per unit than oil. Oil companies are just singled out because they are environmentally “bad”. Therefore, the Democrats can demonize the oil companies and not be bad.
Nancy Pelosi’s idea of a bill to drill for oil would do little to solve our oil problem. The amount of oil found would be minimal. The additional provisions would also derail the idea that we would get enough oil to make a difference. What we need is a “clean” drilling bill. By a “clean” bill, I mean a bill that only considers drilling and maybe other sources of energy like nuclear electrical generating plants. It should not include additional taxes or other disincentives to increasing our oil supply.
We need to address the energy problems in this country now. We have not built an oil refinery in this country in over 30 years. We have not built a nuclear electrical generating plant in this country in over 30 years. There are many countries like Japan and France (of all places) that generate almost all of their electricity from nuclear power. Nuclear power is the cleanest source of electrical power available. It does not pollute and it generates as much power as you need 24 hours a day. Hydroelectric power is close behind, but it is subject to droughts. If you get a long drought, you may have to reduce the amount of hydroelectric power you generate.
The nuclear power plants would reduce our need for oil power plants. This would make more oil available for use as gasoline and diesel fuel, also reducing our dependence on foreign oil. The only drawback to nuclear power is the long time it takes to build one and the resistance from the environmental community. The environmental resistance is really one that I do not understand. Nuclear plants do not pollute. But, the environmental movement is not about the environment, it is about destroying the economy of the United States.
Nancy Pelosi’s acknowledgement that she is receiving pressure to vote on drilling is a good sign. We need to keep up the pressure and maybe we can get a vote on a bill that will be targeting the right target. Pelosi’s bill shoots at a target off the range. We need to get her to let us vote on a target where the oil is.