So the Republican led House passes three bills to expedite and expand drilling for oil:
In a 243-179 vote Thursday, the House passed a measure that would open up areas off the West and East coasts, Alaska and the eastern Gulf of Mexico to drilling. The Obama administration pulled back on leasing in some of those spots after the Gulf oil spill last year to further evaluate the environmental consequences. It never considered drilling in the Pacific.
Obama doesn’t like it one bit:
The White House had announced its opposition to all three bills, which are unlikely to pass the Democratic-controlled Senate, saying the measures would undercut safety reviews and open environmentally sensitive areas to new drilling.
But wait a second…is Obama starting to see the light or is he just blowing smoke up everyone’s a**es?
Facing continued public unhappiness over gas prices, President Barack Obama is directing his administration to ramp up U.S. oil production by extending existing leases in the Gulf of Mexico and off Alaska’s coast and holding more frequent lease sales in a federal petroleum reserve in Alaska.
Obama said Saturday that the measures “make good sense” and will help reduce U.S. consumption of imported oil in the long term. But he acknowledged anew that they won’t help to immediately bring down gasoline prices topping $4 a gallon in many parts of the country.
Given the fact that all he is doing is extending already existing leases for oil drilling, he’s blowing smoke. None of his “new” idea’s on drilling will add much in the way of capacity, which means speculators will continue to force the rise of oil prices. The problem is not about existing oil production, but expanding our oil production.
His media can now spin this, after this announcement, to make it appear Obama is doing something rather than nothing. Especially after his Senate votes down bills that would actually increase capacity.
Now that’s leadership
Sigh….
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