Little-Acorn
01-25-2012, 01:05 PM
Last night on the State of the Union address, Obama said that he would direct his administration to "open more than 75 percent of our potential offshore oil and gas resources".
I was VERY surprised. This from the President that at first shut down all drilling in the gulf until Federal courts ruled the move unconstitutional, then kept them shut down until the courts declared him in contempt, then said he would issue permits for them but still hasn't done it?
I thought his pronouncement last night was excellent, and a welcome change.
Then it finally occurred to me to wonder, what percentage of our oil and gas resources are ALREADY open? 75 percent, maybe? We are, after all, pumping lots of oil and gas in the Gulf, off the California shore, etc., and have been doing it for decades.
Anybody know?
Was this an announcement of a change in policy as I first thought? Or simply a Clintonesque parsing of information that adds up to "I'm still not going to open up a damned thing"?
I was VERY surprised. This from the President that at first shut down all drilling in the gulf until Federal courts ruled the move unconstitutional, then kept them shut down until the courts declared him in contempt, then said he would issue permits for them but still hasn't done it?
I thought his pronouncement last night was excellent, and a welcome change.
Then it finally occurred to me to wonder, what percentage of our oil and gas resources are ALREADY open? 75 percent, maybe? We are, after all, pumping lots of oil and gas in the Gulf, off the California shore, etc., and have been doing it for decades.
Anybody know?
Was this an announcement of a change in policy as I first thought? Or simply a Clintonesque parsing of information that adds up to "I'm still not going to open up a damned thing"?