Snowolf

The fact of the matter is that the United States uses about 25% of the world`s oil and if we were to tap 100% or all domestic oil available, it would account for about 3% of our total usage. We would still need to import the other 22% of world oil. Not only is that "strategy" false, but the fact remains that they are not prohibited from drilling en mass and there are 68 million acres of known oil fields approved for drilling but have remained undrilled. Even if we were to go into full scale mad rush drilling, the payoff would be 7 to years off and would effect the cost of gasoline by at most 25 cents per gallon. In fact, there are over 10,000 issued drilling permits that have gone unused. It is speculation and Capitalist greed that has created artificial "supply and demand" crisis to drive the price artificially high in the same way the housing bubble burst.

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/06/offshore_drilling.html

OIL/DRILLING

SPECULATORS IN OIL AND GAS – SAME AS THE SPECULATORS IN THE MORTGAGE MARKETS
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN1933803520080619

More proof; Wall Street is its' own separate nation, unconcerned with the good of the United States; Street lobby working furiously to head off any regulation or oversight of oil speculation:

".....In a pair of lengthy and sometimes testy closed-door sessions in the Senate last week, executives from Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, two of Wall Street's largest investment banks, made the case that their multibillion-dollar investments in energy contracts have not led to higher oil prices. Rather, they told Democratic staff members of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee that the trades allow international markets to operate efficiently and that the run-up in oil prices results not from speculation but from actual imbalances of supply and demand. ....."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25253877/

GAS PRICES – THE FACTS!!!

- Republicans and Democrats have a fundamentally different approach to tackling high gas prices

- Republicans offer the same old tired slogans that they have touted throughout the Bush years and that haven’t done anything to combat the increase in gas prices

- More Drilling: Domestic drilling has not led to lower prices. Since 2000, drilling has increased dramatically – climbing about 66 percent– while gas prices continue to increase. and gas companies have shown that they cannot keep pace with the rate of drilling permits that the federal government is handing out – over the past 4 years they have received and are sitting on nearly 10,000 permits that they aren’t using to increase domestic production. Since 1999, drilling permits for oil and gas development on public lands increased more than 361 percent.

- OCS: The vast majority of federal oil and gas resources located on the OCS are already open for development - of all the oil and gas believed to exist on the OCS, nearly 80% of oil and 82% of natural gas is located in areas already open for leasing. In 2006, the federal government opened 8.3 million new acres in the Gulf of Mexico to drilling, yet gasoline prices have increased by $1.69 per gallon. Only 10.5 million of the 44 million leased offshore acres are actually producing oil or gas.

- Open ANWR: EIA estimates that if we open ANWR today, twenty years down the road, at peak production, gas prices would be lowered at the maximum by $1.44 per barrel, which translates to only a few cents a gallon. Increased conservation and the use of alternative technologies in the last three years have cut the projected need for imported oil between now and 2050 by more than 100 billion barrels (EIA) – ten times more benefit than what we might be able to get a decade from now from ANWR.

- More Refineries: We have excess refining capacity. Last week, our refineries were running at 89% capacity – well below the 95-98% capacity use rates we’ve seen this time of year for the last decade. Republicans argue that environmental regulations are preventing new refineries from being built in the U.S. From 1975 to 2000, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) received only one permit request for a new refinery, which was approved. In addition, oil companies are regularly applying for – and receiving – permits to modify and expand their existing refineries.

- Democrats are being aggressive today to lower prices and reduce dependence on foreign oil while thinking ahead to tomorrow

- Working to Address Rising Gas Prices

- Enacted legislation to increase oil supply by temporarily suspending the fill of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the nation’s crude oil stockpile. (H.R. 6022)

- Gave the FTC new authority to crack down on those manipulating wholesale energy markets to keep prices high in the Energy Independence and Security Act (H.R. 6)

- Approved the Gas Price Relief for Consumers Act (H.R. 6074) to hold the OPEC monopoly accountable for price fixing that flouts the free market and artificially drives up the cost of crude oil.

- Passed the Federal Price Gouging Prevention Act (H.R. 1252) to investigate price gouging by retailers who may be using the cover of high prices to unfairly inflate their rates even further.

- Investing in a Sustainable, Energy Independent America

- Enacted the landmark Energy Independence and Security Act (H.R. 6) that raised vehicle fuel efficiency for the first time in 32 years and increased the renewable fuels standard.

- Passed the Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Act (H.R. 5351) to end unnecessary subsidies to oil companies making record profits and invest in clean, renewable energy and energy efficiency.

- Approved the Renewable Energy and Job Creation Act (H.R. 6049) to renew and expand tax incentives for renewable energy.

- Passed the Food and Energy Security Act (H.R. 2419) that promotes the development of biofuels, including those from non-corn sources.

- We are continuing to talk with Committees about further possible action.

FLASHBACK - THE ENRON SCAM
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html...agewanted=print

DARK MARKETS
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/06/17/...in4188620.shtml

Perhaps 60% of Oil prices are driven by speculation
http://www.financialsense.com/editorials/e.../2008/0502.html

Source

__________________