The Salt Lake Tribune reports here and here about Tim DeChristopher's actions to disrupt the Bush giveaway of BLM land to gas and oil companies as a Lame Duck's last Christmas present.
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Since the Election Day announcement of the lease sale, preservationists, conservationists, archaeologists, business owners, river runners, anglers and hunters have registered objections to the BLM's plans to allow drilling in some of Utah's most scenic redrock desert.
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They challenged proposed leases near Arches National Park, the White River, the greater Desolation Canyon region, Labyrinth Canyon, the benches east of Canyonlands National Park, Nine Mile Canyon, the Book Cliffs and the Deep Creek Mountains.
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In the face of the outrage, the BLM pulled back from its original proposal to lease 360,000 acres. Friday's sale included 149,000 acres in Carbon, Duchesne, Emery, Garfield, Grand and San Juan counties. The BLM said it sold 116 of 131 parcels (including DeChristopher's bids) for a total of $7.5 million. (That's about $50 PER ACRE! )
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In a small footnote:
The oil and gas industry currently has about 4.6 million acres in Utah under lease but not in production.
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Sounds like Off Shore Drilling: Are Americans Being Snookered?
Get Out Your Calculators or More Drilling Scam
Offshore Oil Drilling Scam
Get Out Your Calculators or More Drilling Scam
Offshore Oil Drilling Scam
Isn't it curious that the Bush Administration is stopping solar projects on public land at the same time pushing for lifting the off shore drilling ban? Administration Freezing New Solar Projects
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Rep. Barney Frank Works For Sensible Energy Solutions
I have also cosponsored H.R. 6256, the Responsible Ownership of Public Lands Act, introduced by Congressman Markey, which would address the issue mentioned above relating to unused leases. This bill will help increase domestic oil supply by compelling oil companies to begin producing oil and gas on the roughly 68 million acres of public land that they currently hold but are not using. Oil companies are not producing oil or gas on the vast majority of federal land onshore and offshore already under their control. In fact they are only drilling on 23% of the land they hold. This bill will charge oil companies an escalating fee for unused oil leases, providing a strong incentive for them to develop these federal lands instead of stockpiling them.
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Solutions Aren't Simple
Newsweek in McCain's Power Outage
Of offshore oil drilling:...something that takes 22 years to deliver significant results hardly qualifies as a "short-term" solution.
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Rep. Barney Frank Works For Sensible Energy Solutions
I have also cosponsored H.R. 6256, the Responsible Ownership of Public Lands Act, introduced by Congressman Markey, which would address the issue mentioned above relating to unused leases. This bill will help increase domestic oil supply by compelling oil companies to begin producing oil and gas on the roughly 68 million acres of public land that they currently hold but are not using. Oil companies are not producing oil or gas on the vast majority of federal land onshore and offshore already under their control. In fact they are only drilling on 23% of the land they hold. This bill will charge oil companies an escalating fee for unused oil leases, providing a strong incentive for them to develop these federal lands instead of stockpiling them.
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Solutions Aren't Simple
Newsweek in McCain's Power Outage
Of offshore oil drilling:...something that takes 22 years to deliver significant results hardly qualifies as a "short-term" solution.
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Tight supply + high gas prices = good times for Big Oil.
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Same reason why oil companies don't invest in more refineries.
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But because they're not interested in increasing supply, driving prices down and reducing their profits.
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The National Resources Defense Council explains: "...refiners reap higher profits when capacity is tight, so they actually have a disincentive to significantly expand production. In fact, oil executives have stated that the reason they did not expand refining capacity in the 1990s is that the low profitability of the business did not justify the investment." . Same reason why oil companies aren't drilling in all of the 68 million acres of federal space for which they already have leases.
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First, the oil companies in this country now hold 7,000 leases to drill offshore, yet only 20 percent of those leases are producing oil. That is 68 million acres for which they already have the rights to drill. Nearly 80 percent of our offshore oil is already available for leasing -- approximately 54 billion barrels total. They could be drilling in these areas, but they are not.
First, the oil companies in this country now hold 7,000 leases to drill offshore, yet only 20 percent of those leases are producing oil. That is 68 million acres for which they already have the rights to drill. Nearly 80 percent of our offshore oil is already available for leasing -- approximately 54 billion barrels total. They could be drilling in these areas, but they are not.
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The information is available. Will the American public ever figure it out?
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