Interior Plans Broader Offshore Drilling

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Apr 27, 4:31 PM EDT

Interior Plans Broader Offshore Drilling
By JOHN HEILPRIN
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Interior Department has put the final touches on a five-year plan to expand oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and offshore from Alaska and Virginia.
(snip)

Details were sketchy, but in January, Bush ended drilling bans in an area of the central Gulf of Mexico and in Alaska's Bristol Bay. That action cleared the way for:

-Making an area in the Gulf of Mexico south of Florida's panhandle available for drilling. The "Lease Area 181" is a small part of a much larger 8.2 million acres that Congress approved for oil and gas development in December.

-Opening 5.6 million acres to drilling in waters northwest of the Alaska Peninsula, known for endangered whales and the world's largest run of sockeye salmon. Interior plans to sell leases there in 2010 and 2012, pending environmental reviews. An estimated 200 million barrels of oil and 5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas exist under those federal waters.




Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/OFFSHORE_DRILLING?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-04-27-16-28-13

[Heidi]

1. Kick.

:kick:

[kskiska]

2. U.S. Proposal Would Allow Oil Drilling Off Virginia

Source: WP

Five-Year Plan Would Also Open Alaskan, Gulf Waters

The Interior Department will announce a proposal Monday to allow oil and gas drilling in federal waters near Virginia that are currently off-limits and permit new exploration in Alaska's Bristol Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, according to people who have seen or been told about drafts of the plan.

The department issued a news release yesterday that was lacking details but said that it had finished a five-year plan that will include a "major proposal for expanded oil and natural gas development on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf." Department officials declined to describe the plan.

Congress would still have to agree to open areas currently off-limits before any drilling could take place off Virginia's coast. Every year since 1982, after an oil spill off Santa Barbara, Calif., Congress has reaffirmed a moratorium on drilling off the nation's Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Last year, after a vigorous push by drilling advocates, Congress opened new waters in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Interior Department might still go ahead with environmental and geological seismic studies off Virginia, but the plan does not envision drilling there before 2011, according to a congressional source who saw an earlier version of the proposal. The sources who described the plan spoke on the condition of anonymity because they didn't want to compromise relationships with people who showed them drafts.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/27/AR2007042701611.html?hpid=topnews

[Gloria]

3. If a gigantic oil spill happened to engulf the White House........

:hi:

[sarcasmo]

4. Pillage, Rape and Blunder, the Bush White House way.

[williesgirl]

5. They must be stopped from raping our environment in the name of big business. recommended

[FogerRox]

6. Cut to the chase, lets invade Virginia

[smiley_glad_hands]

10. Too late they are already here. eom

[smiley_glad_hands]

11. Alot of conservative fishermen in VA.

Wonder what there take on this will be? Probably just call it a reef and go rockfishing. Anyway, as a virginian, I oppose this idea.

edited for spelling

[truthisfreedom]

7. I think we need the Democratic Presidential candidates to make hay of this.

We may need natural gas, and that wouldn't cause anywhere near as much disruption to the environment (no spills, etc). Our present heating infrastructure may need it... I don't know for sure. But we should be cutting back on oil use and switching as much electrical over to wind farms as possible. Plus, nanosolar.com announced earlier this year that their revolutionary roll-out solar panels will be going into mass production later this year at their two huge facilities, one in Silicon Valley and one in Germany! Visit their site and look at the technology... it's very exciting!

[Canuckistanian]

8. "Bush" proposal, if you please.

The US doesn't have a say in this.

I know.

It's the LBN rules.

[aquart]

9. No.

[Buttercup McToots]

12. I don't think so...

jest try it, ye bloody bastards...