Interior Department Opens Up 2.6 Million Acres In Alaska For Drilling

New York Times:

The Interior Department on Wednesday made 2.6 million acres of potentially oil-rich territory in northern Alaska available for energy exploration. At the same time, it deferred for a decade any decision to open 600,000 acres of land north of Teshekpuk Lake that is the summer home of thousands of migrating caribou and millions of waterfowl.

The decision will open up for drilling much of the northeast section of the Northeast National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, holding an estimated 3.7 billion barrels of oil, Tom Lonnie, Alaska state director for the Bureau of Land Management, said in a conference call with reporters.

The northeast and northwest portions of the reserve could yield eight billion barrels of oil, he said.

Mr. Lonnie said he expected the first oil production to begin in the easternmost part of the reserve, west of the Colville River, from 2010 to 2012. A fully developed oil complex exists on state lands on the eastern banks of the river.

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[Rianna]

This could be the Master Plan. Raise the price of gas, and when the people feel the pain, push for drilling offshore, and in Alaska. Perhaps this might have been the energy policiy that Cheney and his energy buddies schemed and planned for, perhaps this might be an election promise by the two oil barons, to their friends. Instead of focusing on alternate energy, Bush focused only on drilling, and getting his buddies that oil. Before Bush and Cheney leave, they have to do one last thing to complete the destruction of this country. To hell with the environment, to hell with the people in Iraq, and to hell with the people in the US. Bush and Cheney will do what they want, and will never be held accountable for anything.

[KillTheMessenger]

Everybody who is happy about this news basically just said:

"Thank you, Sir! Please, may I have another?"

:-)

[Redrover666]

Absolutely! Until you on the left are done making the final touches on your fairy dust energy source, the rest of us will need to survive.

[WASanford]

Don't you get it? If we keep going in this direction NONE of us will survive! Park your God damned Hummer and for once in your life do something moral!

[mollyjackson]

Great....I wonder If there is any oil under this 2.6 mil. acres?

[KillTheMessenger]

Sure there is. There is plenty to fill the koffers off some Bush "friends". It won't make any difference for the price of oil. It won't make any difference for the price of gas. It probably won't bring in any taxes that Bushco can't spend in fifteen seconds. But, yea, there is oil there for a selected few to get selectively richer.

[Grannysue]

Why do you think Bushy put Kempthorne of Idaho in charge?? Another give away to big oil, how stupid are people, there will not be a drop of oil refined for production until 2024 from any drilling in the U.S.
this will not solve the energy crisis, just like in the seventies when this same senaro played out, we need REAL ENERGY change, even the oil guy T. Boone Pickens realizes we cannot drill our way out.
What the government needs to be doing is making Car manufactures raise the standards so all vehicles get thirty + miles to the gallon, it can be done, but they have a very powerful lobby, just like Big Oil, Big Tabacco etc., this is like putting a bandaid on an arm being severed! So another pristene area can be trounced all in the name of OIL!

[RememberTheAlamo]

Excellent!

States Rights 1 - Silliness - 0

Finally, Alaska actually gets a say in their destiny . . . there is hope!

[KillTheMessenger]

You mean to be robbed of its natural resources by a lobby? Some destiny that is.

[RememberTheAlamo]

Hi KillTheMessenger,

Do believe the lobby was by the State of Alaska!

And didn't do a poll, but Sarah is rather popular there . . . and she is strongly in favor of opening up the land for exploration (even ANWR). Her policies are clear, concise and quite easy to grasp. She writes her policies "bullet-point" style.

Sarah took a stand, in favor of exploration. That was the platform she was elected on.

Myself? . . . If the people of CA don't want rigs off their coast, regardless of the oil quantity, then they shouldn't have somebody in Washington telling them otherwise. And . . . if Alaska wants exploration, then they shouldn't have folks in Washington, who know no more about Alaska than the pretty pictures, telling them they can't.

Myself? . . . I would jeopordize my personal integrity if I was to intrude on a neighbor and tell them how they should be living. Encouragement is one thing, but restrictions? . . . and Alaska has had this problem for way too long.

Just good to see Alaska get a break for a change!

[rwe]

Ok Greenaphobes.. How about getting ahold of Teddy Kennedy and John Kerry and find out why they won't let wind farms off the Mass coast (out of site by the way)?

[Mattjoe]

Yet the Bureau of Land Management refuses to open up the southwest to put up a few solar mirrors?

I guess if you don't have the proper mechanisms in place to manipulate a market, they'll need more time for the ‘approved’ stakeholders to set up shop.

Deregulation my arse.

In the meantime, this ‘crisis’ is being fine-tuned with surgical precision.

[research]

rooftop solar is a far better solution. see my profile.

[TimmySlagle]

The price of oil has dropped $10 per barrel since the President OK'd offshore drilling. It happened almost IMEDIATELY!

And all the Greenies said, that opening drilling wouldn't affect the price of oil for at least a decade .

Looks like you are all wrong again, No wonder people are skeptical about Global Warming. You environmentalists are miserable prophets. (And you don't understand economics.)

[RRK70]

Congress has yet to lift their ban on drilling. The recent drop in oil was due to a report released by the government that stated that consumption dropped.

What Bush said, like usual, had nothing to do with reality.

Sorry, but conservation works.

[TimmySlagle]

"Congress has yet to lift their ban on drilling"

It doesn't matter. One of the two requirements necessary was passed. Oil prices are based on speculation. Right now the oil market speculates there is a chance that the second requirement will pass, so the price went down.

You can't cite the drop in consumption, since consupmption has been dropping steadily since the prices started going through the stratosphere (shortly after the Democrats took control of Congress).

[KillTheMessenger]

If you believe that, you are ready to buy my bridge in Brooklyn. You don't even need to see it. You can trust me. Sign here __________

:-)

[WASanford]

I believe the drop in the price of oil happened because folks like me just stopped buying it. Unlike you, I know when I'm being gouged and I refuse to participate in it. Just before the price drop the oil companies realized their supply was growing. Good old supply and demand was at work. The higher price caused a drop in demand and the drop in demand caused the price to drop. High school economics really.

But let's not start using gasoline again just because the price drops a little bit, let's get even and make the bastards drink their oil with their breakfast!

[fact finder]

Like it or not this whole thing, recession, depression or what ever you want to call it is simply a move to obtain more control over the average person. The basic need's for human survival are: Food, water, and shelter.

When these items be come so high that the average family has to rely on out side help such as food stamps, and/or other government hand outs then you have lost control of your life. When this happens you WILL do as you are told just to stay alive. get used to it.

[KillTheMessenger]

Well, as far as I can tell nobody forces the average person to drive an SUV. A small four cylinder car would do the same job.

[DRaymond]

So the Bush administration has opened up an area expected to have as much oil. if not more, than ANWR. We should see prices plummet now right? Right?

Gee...nothing's happening!

[CologneCitizen]

Many US citizens are out of touch with the real world and think they have somehow a right to cheap oil. Once a price at the pump has reached a certain level and you still pay for it, even if you can barely afford it, the price will stay in that price region. It is called: What the market will bear.

Doesn't matter if you drill on your own territory. If oil companies were so America-friendly, why don't they help you out now? They could cut some of their huge profits now and pass it on to the customer. But it's not happening. Don't fool yourself in visioning when you drill at home the price will go down.

[Redrover666]

Most Americans are aware that the price won't go down by much. However, they'd like to take measures to ensure that it doesn't become entirely unaffordable. Millions of Americans are going to pay well in excess of a thousand dollars a month to fill their heating oil tanks this winter. Those earning between $8-$12 an hour, which is a majority of this country, are going to suffer significantly. America's poor and those on fixed incomes, the worst. There will be people who freeze to death this winter. It's already being reported that many low wage earners have reached a price threshold where collecting welfare and food stamps is more cost effective than working. Although the country is dotted with large urban areas, the majority of this country is made up of fly-over, medium to small communities where commuting by bus isn't an option. Many Americans just don't have the option of running out and buying a new hybrid car that runs cheaper. Those who tend to be the least concerned with the hardship and think this is a good way to push America into alternative fuels ought to spend some time volunteering at a food pantry.

The presidents opened offshore and over 2 million acres of arctic for drilling and caused a $10 drop in crude prices. A step in the right direction. However, nuclear, coal and alternative fuels need to be aggressively exploited and conservation needs to take place at the same time.

[RRK70]

So the president can make the price of oil drop by waving a magic wand, just saying he is lifting the ban on drilling?

If this is so, why did he not do it 3 years ago, if it was simply a matter of lifting an executive order?

Why did the price not drop when Iraqi oil went back on the market?

Why did prices not drop when Brazil made that big discovery off their coast?

Congress has yet to lift their ban on the drilling Bush is speaking of. The drop in the oil was due to a report released by the government stating consumption was down.

[WASanford]

Don't be fooled for one minute that oil drilling is going to solve our problem (See my comment to TimmySlagle at little later in the Que) The price dropped because the higher priced gasoline weakened demand. It's that simple. Any oil found will be at least a decade away and bring us a decade closer to runaway global warming.

I earnestly wish I had an answer for those working poor who will suffer this winter, but I don't and you and I seem to be the only ones who care about them. I do know, however that our mortal enemy Hugo Chavez (Citgo) is offering free heating oil to them, if only our government cared enough to accept his kind offer.

[Viper]

So the rpice of computers has never dropped? The price of a house?

In 1970 dollars adjusted to current dollars the price per gallon went to $4.00 per gallon... and dropped back to under a dollor for the much of next 20-25 years.

Silver was once bid up by speculators.. the Hunt Brothers. The margin was raised, the bubble burst.

You seem to be one of those who is out of touch with the real world. Just this week the price dropped 10 bucks..... 4 weeks ago it dropped to 121. After reaching 100 it dropped to 81 . And in Nov of 2006 it dropped to 51 per barrel after hitting 80.

The law of supply and command always controls price, unless the market is being manipulated as it is now.

If the switch to alternatives goes quickly, the price will drop. You will always need oil for plastic, fertyilzers... and it will be a long time before you can do away with diesel trains/ ships and trucking (if ever and you have to move to bio diesel eventually).

Regards.

[vippy]

Don't blame the oil companies. It is our government that is behind those surging oil prices.
Now that surge did work! Their Commodities Future's Modernization Act where Phil Gramm and
Richard Lugar injected the ENRON LOOPHOLE (and congress just votes but don't read) that
caused this mess negatively impacting housing, banking collapse along with those high energy prices. But you don't see congress fixing anything! They were briefed by the ex-CEO of the
Commodities Market, Prof. Michael Greenberger, on 14 Dec 07 and they decided to do NOTHING!
Then remember THUNDERHORSE, the new oil platform in the Gulf, well I remember reading how much oil was found. It will produce at year's end here, we shall see if it makes a difference.
In the meantime the world is swimming in oil, that the Saudis and the Iranians have to put their
excesses on tankers in the ocean. I don't expect congress to address this until election time!

[bola47]

and what happens when exxon mobil spills more oil? drag out the case for years and still refuse to pay for the cost of the cleanup. they should be barred by state law from being in alaska.

[joebhed]

Dear readers,

A lot of you are confusing land leasing/oil exploration with oil production.
Many have pointed out the millions of acres already LEASED/EXPLORED on which there is no PRODUCTION.

Oil is over $100.barrel.
So, whazzup?

The more oil that stays in the ground, the greater the asset value of the holders of the leases and rights to the oil.
They don't need to spend any real money.
And when I say real money, I mean the cost of the energy that is needed to get these oil PRODUCTION rigs up and running.

This is a land/resource grab.
This is an exercise in getting the RIGHTS to the oil that may be there.
Once those RIGHTS are obtained, there will be the next oil resource giveaway.

And, by the way, this postage stamp giveaway to the oil companies, with no REQUIREMENT FOR PRODUCTION, EVER, is bigger than the states of Delaware and Rhode Island combined.

Nationalize Energy Resources.
Don't give them away.

[RRK70]

Thank you for your very clear, concise post. You're quite correct, the amount of land currently being leased is HUGE. If someone read a headline: US leases Connecticut to oil companies people would be shocked.

If oil is worth so much, and the oil companies are drilling on US (our) land, shouldn't the Federal government or the states be raking in huge profits from these leases?

It's really just corporate welfare, the federal government is giving the citizen's land to the oil companies so they can pump oil they then sell back to the American people at a huge mark up.

[KillTheMessenger]

Exactly, leased and explored land does not mean there is oil under there. We can bet that a lot of oil companies just leased a lot of land for nothing.

[geobushono]

Libertarian blogs claim there is an oil field at GULL ISLAND AK, with enough oil to eliminate ANY future oil crisis.

I'm not a libertarian, but as a progressive, I've seen the media black out stories, and this *might* be one of them.

http://www.rense.com/general82/gull.htm

http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/gull_island_oil.html

[vippy]

Thank you - excellent reading.

[KillTheMessenger]

Do you believe anything a libertarian says? Like that your kids could still go to school if nobody paid any taxes? ...Snicker...

So if I said I was a libertarian, would you buy my bridge?

[westreal]

Noooo!