Why do the Democrats refuse to drill for oil?

It appears that the democratic party does not at all have a problem with the high gas prices. They are constantly using the enviroment as a spring board to cloud the issue. Saving the Earth is noble, but saving the USA is little more pressing. I dont see how refusing to drill is not causing mass protest? Everyone wants to fix the gas problem and the Democrats refuse to help, how the heck is Obama not getting both barrels over this!Why do the Democrats refuse to drill for oil?
First of all its not an imediate fix. It could be 5 to 10 years before any oil is produced by drilling in those areas. Second, it would only be a temporary thing. Sooner or later, we need to use other forms of energy, why not push that now? Third, they already have millions of acres that are not even being used. Production of oil is not necessarily the reason for the high gas prices. The lack of refineries is also a cause, as are oil speculators. Finally, for our future and our children's future, we must make changes, and opening up new areas for drilling is not the answer. Check out http://tboonepickens.com/Why do the Democrats refuse to drill for oil?
Not true. They have requested the oil companies to drill the currently leased 68 Million acres both offshore and on land.
DEemocrats do not refuse to drill for oil. Some Democrats stand against drilling in ecosensitive areas when there is still plenty of oil to be drilled in areas that are easier to access and are less lilkely to be impacted. There is no way to determine if offshore drilling sites actually will produce oil and it will take at least ten years just to drill the exploratory wells. This will cost far more to do then to search for desert reserves and on land areas. Offshore drilling will actually end up raising the price of gas.
I would love to know why people continue to believe that drilling will even matter...
No one, from either party, absolutely ';refuses'; to drill for oil. The argument is that the methods and places of oil extraction (in particular, off-shore and Alaska wilderness refuge areas) is necessary given that we have allowed the oil companies nearly 500,000 acres (across the continent and IN the oceans) that still has yet to be developed.





The problem is not oil drilling for the American oil companies... the problem is that they would prefer to buy from foreign oil markets because it is actually more profitable then extracting their own oil. ';Allowing'; off-shore drilling only gives them real estate that they can hold on.... they won't intend to drill for years until the foreign markets get much more expensive.





In political circles the outcry for opening new areas of oil extraction is only playing to people that don't realize how American oil corporations have worked for the last 10 years (thinking that these companies won't drill because of restrictions but the reality is that they have been sitting on undeveloped lands for years -- it has been their choice to NOT drill). Those corporations are not going to drill for a long time even if we give them these areas.... they will continue to wait out the foreign markets until the breaking point. And $4.00 gasoline is not the breaking point for them... They can wait it out. The politicians know this but they want to be elected and knowing how Americans are panicking about gas prices allows them to manipulate our anxiety to their benefit.





I would be doing the exact thing if I worked for a oil company.... afterall, a corporation is about the bottom line. Let the politicians give us more land to hold onto for a much later date WHILE we continue foreign oil at the same amount.


Its just too bad that a lot of us want to make this situation out as a simple matter between political parties. We need to look at how the oil companies actually work and what agreements that the government has already made with them in the last 20 years.
It's a choice between helping polar bears and elderly widows of WWII vets.





I think the polar bears are winning with the Dems... along with Al Qaeda and OPEC
after the election, those dems that are still in office will change their minds and vote to drill. unfortunately, i think the dems are in for a rude suprise on election day. they have become so out of touch with the people of this country that it seems like they are in a world all their own.
Because they get a lot of pressure from the environmentalists?
Vince said it best %26amp; wasn't 2 months ago McCain was against it %26amp; the Cons say Obama is a flip flopper when at the same time, McCain does it too.
They want the price of gas to rise so Americans mad enough to not care when the government nationalizes the oil industry.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqjFBiPMm鈥?/a>


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vhft39_g鈥?/a>





Chi Guy - You should read this about your ';FACT'; - http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/ar鈥?/a>
Maybe they use only vinegar and yoghurt for their salad.
It's not the Democrats refusing to drill...





The oil companies already have thousands of leases that they CHOOSE not to drill...because it isn't cost effective, YET, to spend billions on platforms to drill small pockets of oil that are spread out off the continental shelf...





If it were a solution we wouldn't be talking about it, they would already be doing it.





---it's funny how just now, all of the sudden conservatives think this is some new solution nobody ever thought of before...how can you be that gullible ?...it's a election year stunt, nothing more.---
because McCain wants to and Obama doesnt...they dont want to go against their candidate. They'd rather let the American people suffer...Bush lifted the executive ban on off-shore drilling now its congress's turn.
They have all these environmental lobbiest fighting for them (save a seagull let the U.S. be held hostage by Saudi Arabia)


vote McCain08'
they refuse to drill because the environmentalists control the entire democratic party
What on earth are you guys complaining about ? We deferred finding solutions to the the first energy crisis for a generation or so and now and now we've arrived at Conservative Nirvana where market forces and not govermnent will determine who will survive and who will be left by the wayside in the brave new world of expensive energy.


All drilling will ultimately do is deferr the problem for another generation so we may as well bite the bullet and solve the problem now.
This is what the DoE has said about drilling in ANWR:





';the U.S. Energy Information Administration, an independent statistical agency within the Department of Energy, concluded that new oil from ANWR would lower the world price of oil by no more than $1.44 per barrel鈥攁nd possibly have as little effect as 41 cents per barrel鈥攁nd would have its largest impact nearly 20 years from now if Congress voted to open the refuge today.





If Congress approved development in 2008, it would take 10 years for oil production to commence, EIA said. With production starting, then, in 2018, EIA said the most likely scenario is that oil would peak at 780,000 barrels per day in 2027 and decline to 710,000 barrels per day in 2030. Currently, the United States consumes about 20 million barrels of oil per day.





EIA said its projection is that ANWR oil production would amount to 0.4 percent to 1.2 percent of total world oil consumption in 2030. The figure is low enough that OPEC could neutralize any price impact by decreasing supplies to match the additional production from Alaska, EIA noted.';





Besides that there are other factors. Our refining capacity is at its limit. It doesn't really matter if tomorrow crude oil was erupting holes all across the country. Or that the price of extracting oil has risen higher than the price of oil itself, meaning the oil companies have no interest in drilling in ANWR or the billions of acres of reserves they are squatting atop today. Or that in no scenario could we ever produce enough to rival OPEC, so that even if we did drill from every open square foot of land in the country they would respond simply by reducing their own production and the prices would stay high.








Face it, this is not an issue that anybody can be blamed for or one that anybody has control over. The only solution is getting off oil.
Because we're aware that this is not what is causing high oil prices. That much is clear by virtue of the fact that, in the past two days, gas prices have dropped 20 cents per gallon. Far as I know, we haven't started drilling or even announced our intention to do so, yet that's quite a large drop in gas prices in two days...





It won't solve the problem. No point in doing it.
I can understand why it would bother you, but if we drill for oil, regardless of the environment, which is a serious issue, we will forever be entangled in alliances with countries that do not share our values just because they have oil (saudi arabia for example). if we develop alternative energy sources (which both obama and mccain support) then we will not be captive to foreign energy.
Well, drilling for oil wouldn't provide an immediate price reduction, as it would take 5-10 years to begin producing.





Another issue is, so what if we save a few cents on gas -- the problem will always be there. Oil is limited and our dependence is always increasing; simply trying to mask that problem and help the public be totally dependent on gasoline is a big mistake in the long run.





It's a big generalization to say the 'democrats' want to drill or to say the 'republicans' want us to stay in Iraq forever. There's a lot more to these issues than 'saving the earth' or 'saving money on gas'.
seems like it is more of the liberals way of controling people from the cradle to the grave mr doodles
The mass protest is going to be heard at the ballot box. John McCain and the Republicans have been handed the best gift in an election year and the Democrats are so beholden to the environmentalist crowd who promote these crazy global warming myths rather wreak our economy that runs on oil for their pie in the sky alternative energy which is not ready and is years away. All for alternatives, but you got to deal with the here and now and things like the ethanol world hunger thing shows just how dumb these democrats are who are so quick to promote the unproven over the solid concrete of drilling our way out of the high prices.
It's a control thing. Higher price limits our movement..