Will Offshore Drilling Help at the Pump? Government Studies Say No

Will Offshore Drilling Help at the Pump? Government Studies Say No

www.cbsnews.com

(HUNTINGTON, W.V.) – Despite the Department of Energy stating that offshore drilling would not have much impact on oil production for over 20 years, John McCain continued to make the argument tonight that the U.S. could see an impact on gas prices in a matter of months once domestic oil drilling begins.

“It can be done much more quickly than, frankly, the environmentalists are saying,” McCain said on a telephone town hall for Pennsylvania voters. “I met with independent petroleum producers in California just the other day and they said within months we can see an increase, and within a very short period of time – a year to two years – we could see a more significant increase in our oil supply.”

McCain first made that assertion last week at an oil field in Bakersfield, California, but neither he nor his campaign has been able to point to any literature or any oil executive that says domestic drilling would have any immediate impact. Offshore leasing wouldn’t be able to begin until 2012 due to existing moratoria, and “access to the Pacific, Atlantic, and eastern Gulf regions would not have a significant impact on domestic crude oil and natural gas production or prices before 2030,” according to the Department of Energy.

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.....According to the Department of Energy???
"According to President Bush’s own U.S. Department of Energy, the total additional oil that could be brought into production from drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and the Rocky Mountain states combined is likely to be only about 1.2 million barrels of oil a day at peak production. Even in the most optimistic case, drilling in those areas combined would only mean 4-5 cents a gallon less by 2025. ‘Because oil prices are determined on the international market, however, any impact on average? prices is expected to be insignificant,’ according to the Energy Department"

Sounds like it won't make any difference, in the immediate time frame at least.

Maybe we should all start inflating our tires.

www.cbsnews.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Flag and star... I think this is pretty important topic as McCain's primary statement against Obama is " off shore drilling rocks, Obama's plan *(insert word here)* ".

The truly sad thing is that, judging from this article, had the Democrat controlled Congress done as Reagan asked them to in 81, and lifted the ban, we'd be enjoying our 7th year of positive impact on pump prices.

Originally posted by burdman30ott6
The truly sad thing is that, judging from this article, had the Democrat controlled Congress done as Reagan asked them to in 81, and lifted the ban, we'd be enjoying our 7th year of positive impact on pump prices.

In all fairness, the republicans controlled congress for awhile too and did nothing.

reply to post by BlueTriangle


Everytime they tried, the Dems fillibustered and the GOP was short of the required votes to break the fillibuster. Drawn purely across party lines, since the Contract with America, very, very few GOP members have opposed lifting the offshore drilling ban.