Clipmarks | Strategic petroleum reserve Clips

Government Scandal Mixing Alleged Drug Use, Cronyism And Sex

Sat, 13 Sep 2008 09:08:57 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: employee from Shell, according to the report.

Inspector General Earl Devaney singled out Chevron for criticism, saying the company refused to cooperate fully with the investigation.

The company insists that it did cooperate, turning over more than 13,000 pages of e-mails and expense records that are cited repeatedly in the report. As for the employees, Chevron respected their legal right not to talk to investigators. "We began an investigation of the allegations right away, when we first got wind of it. We've been looking at this for a while," said Campbell.

The specific office handled the agency's "royalty in kind" program, in which companies give the government oil instead of cash royalties. That oil - worth about $4.3 billion in 2007 - can then go into the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve or be sold on the market.

The inspector general's report immediately became fodder for the offshore oil drilling debate playing a central role in the presidential race.

Clip Source: www.sfgate.com

A government scandal mixing alleged drug use, cronyism and sex at a federal office that handles billions of dollars in oil-drilling royalties has ensnared Chevron Corp.

The oil company, America's second largest, figures prominently in a report released this week that accuses government officials of growing far too close to their oil industry contacts.

The report accuses members of the Minerals Management Service of accepting thousands of dollars in industry gifts, including meals, drinks and ski trips. The report, from the U.S. Interior Department's inspector general, also accused some employees of using cocaine and having sex with oil industry representatives

San Ramon's Chevron is one of four oil companies found to have given gifts - with Chevron giving just under $2,500 over the course of five years, most of it spent on meals and drinks.

One of the government employees who had official business with Chevron also had a romantic relationship with a Chevron employee, as well as with an

Tags: minerals management service, government scandal, alleged drug use, cronyism and sex,

Democrats Plan To Reduce Gas Prices: Buy OPEC Oil?

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 08:00:58 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: "Releasing oil from the Reserve is a tool to manage our national and economic security, and when judiciously used will in no way jeopardize national security," the California Democrat wrote.

Thus, Democrats favor exploration of the SPR, which is supposed to be used only for catastrophic shortages, but believe that drilling for oil in the U.S. is "a hoax".

Can someone explain to me why Democrats only hate oil that's made in America?

Update: "Obama releases Exxon ad and hopes no one notices it's a lie"... You just can't make this stuff up...
Despite his new TV ad, Barack Obama has received more money from Exxon and Mobil employees than Senator John McCain.

Update II: "Tire-Gauge Industry Pumps Up Obama Campaign Coffers."

Clip Source: directorblue.blogspot.com

If Saudi Arabia were to increase its production by 1 million barrels per day that translates to a reduction of 20 percent to 25 percent in the world price of crude oil, and crude oil prices could fall by more than $25 dollar per barrel from its current level of $126 per barrel...

Of course, Schumer also claims that drilling for the same amount of oil in the United States would not impact oil prices.

[Schumer said that] drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge would “take ten years and reduce the price of oil by a penny.” ...Schumer also called for an end to the speculation in energy markets that drives up prices.

What does Schumer have against oil that's produced in America?

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) believes that releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) would help.

Pelosi sent a letter asking the president "to draw down a small portion" of the SPR's more than 700 million barrels of oil...

Tags: oil exploration, spr, chuck schumer, nancy pelosi, drilling is a "hoax"

Major-League "Beat-Down" On Obama's Energy-Less Policies

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 23:09:31 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: During yesterday's Special Report, Charles Krauthammer unleashed a major-league beat-down on Barack Obama's unhinged "energy" policy. Batten down the hatches..

The amount we would save in our tires generously calculated is about 1/200 of what you get from offshore oil alone, and the amount of oil shale is in the West would give us 10,000 years worth of the gasoline saved by inflating our tires.

The problem with the Democratic position is they always say 'let's do x' instead of drilling. What the American people understand is you do x, y, and z, and everything.

But the reason not to drill is untenable. You drill as well, and that will help us as well...

...BAIER: So inflate your tires.

KRAUTHAMMER: It is not even a tenth of a hundredth of the solution.

If that much.

Clip Source: astuteblogger.blogspot.com

KRAUTHAMMER: The gas tax holiday was hokey and cheap, and this is hokier and cheaper, because to take from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is to jeopardize our national security. It really is for supply interruption, which would be a catastrophe for our country.

The amount he wants to take out is about a week's worth of imports. It's absurd.

And if you wanted to remove from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, at least you should be in favor of drilling so that, domestically, in a few years, we will have essentially new strategic reserves in the Arctic or offshore, which would substitute for draining the reserves we currently have.

So his position is contradictory, cheap, and political.

And the stuff he said only a week ago in Missouri on Wednesday of last week, if we only inflated our tires it would substitute for all the oil that the Republicans want to drill for is a towering absurdity

Tags: obama's energy solution, tap spr, inflate tires, "tune-up"

Non Renewable Energy - Obama's Choice

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 04:20:00 GMT

clipped by: bmeuppls
clipper's remarks: After we sell the 70 million barrels, what do we use then? And will OPEC not take advantage of our lack of back up oil supplies? Or God forbid, Iran?

Clip Source: www.powerlineblog.com

We should sell 70 million barrels of oil from our Strategic Petroleum Reserve for less expensive crude, which in the past has lowered gas prices within two weeks.

Tags: energy, politics

Shameless

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 19:54:10 GMT

clipped by: sillysam

Clip Source: elections.foxnews.com

Barack Obama unveiled another shift in his energy policy Monday, reversing his opposition to tapping the nation’s strategic petroleum reserve as a means of lowering gasoline prices.

During a speech in Lansing, Mich., Obama said he’d like to release up to 10 percent of the 700 million barrels of oil kept in salt caverns in Texas and Louisiana. Obama also called for a revival of the windfall profits tax on oil companies.

“We meet at a moment when this country is facing a set of challenges greater than any that we have seen in generations. … And for too long, our leaders in Washington have been unable or unwilling to do anything about it,” Obama said.

Among the short-term parts of his plan, Obama said: “We should sell 70 million barrels of oil from our Strategic Petroleum Reserve for less expensive crude, which in the past has lowered gas prices within two weeks.”

Obama: Getting Closer to an Energy Policy

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 17:21:27 GMT

clipped by: Brian Wingfield
clipper's remarks: Obama suggests tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. So far, he hasn't outlined a comprehensive energy policy. Expect him to pay closer attention to this issue as a response to McCain's ad campaigns

Clip Source: hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com

Speaking right now in Lansing, MI, Barack Obama suggests for the first time that Strategic Petroleum Reserve should be tapped:

"We should sell 70 million barrels of oil from our Strategic Petroleum Reserve for less expensive crude, which in the past has lowered gas prices within two weeks. Over the next five years, we should also lease more of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska for oil and gas production. And we should also tap more of our substantial natural gas reserves and work with the Canadian government to finally build the Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline, delivering clean natural gas and creating good jobs in the process."

Tags: obama, energy, presidential election

Nancy Pelosi vs. Rush Limbaugh

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 01:44:33 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: Compare the inept inactivity of Nancy Pelosi on this gas crisis with the informed activity of conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh. Rush is politically savvy; Pelosi is politically cunning. Rush confronts government gridlock; Pelosi creates it. Rush gives solutions; Pelosi ground-n-pounds them. Rush says to drill here and drill now; Pelosi says not to drill now or later. Rush motivates Americans to action; Pelosi paralyzes the House to inaction. I would bet Rush has had more positive influence on Congress through the years by his broadcasts than Pelosi ever will from her House throne.

He is a leader among that league of extraordinary gentlemen and conservative cultural crusaders -- such as Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Dick Morris, Newt Gingrich, Ann Coulter, John Kasich and Frank Pastore, to name a few.

I pray that we ultimately inspire a new generation of patriots with a fire like Patrick Henry had rather than what Nancy Pelosi has.

Clip Source: www.humanevents.com

My first reaction to Pelosi's recent congressional energy rebellion was to say, "What an anti-American, anti-reality-based form of representation."

Now, instead of providing any solutions at all, she still is blaming the president. Instead of spending her valuable time leading Congress in resolving our energy crisis, she's kicking off a national tour to support her new book, "Know Your Power: A Message to America's Daughters." Is she in political la-la land?!

Rush Limbaugh helped to relieve my tension on his national broadcast. He spoke (again) for the majority of Americans (including me) against Pelosi's desire to tap into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve

Maybe somebody should call the speaker of the House, send a note to her office: 'Mrs. Pelosi, you want to release 700 million barrels from the strategic reserve. How did it get there? We had to drill for it, didn't we?'

So drilling will lead to relief. We can drill our way out of this. We drilled our way into the strategic reserve."

Tags: pelosi, oil drilling ban, strategic petroleum reserve

Democrats Consider New Energy Strategy

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 23:41:34 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: “I think there’s far more support across the board for SPR than anything else,” a senior aide said.

Pelosi and other Democratic leaders have not said what the final SPR bill would look like, nor have they said what energy measures — which could also include a speculation bill — will be brought to the floor this week or under what rules.

Clip Source: www.townhall.com

Clip Source: thehill.com

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) plan to press President Bush into releasing up to 70 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) may take over this week as the backbone of the House Democrats’ energy agenda, according to Democratic members and aides.

The specifics of the SPR proposal are still being put together, but last week Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), a member of both the Energy and Commerce and the Natural Resources committees, said the preliminary plan is to request that nearly a tenth of the 700 million barrels be released into the market over a period of five to six months.

Tags: gas/energy, pelosi, spr vote, "use it or lose it"

Pelosi rants.

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:16:48 GMT

clipped by: sillysam
clipper's remarks: Announcing the Democrats' bold new "plan" on energy last week, Pelosi said breaking into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve "is one alternative." That's not an energy plan. It's using what we already have -- much like "conservation," which is also part of the Democrats' plan.

Conservation, efficiency and using oil we hold in reserve for emergencies does not get us more energy. It's as if we were running out of food and the Democrats were telling us: "Just eat a little less every day." Great! We'll die a little more slowly. That's not what we call a "plan." We need more energy, not a plan for a slower death.

Clip Source: anncoulter.com

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, or as she is called on the Big Dogs blog, "the worst speaker in the history of Congress," explained the cause of high oil prices back in 2006: "We have two oilmen in the White House. The logical follow-up from that is $3-a-gallon gasoline. It is no accident. It is a cause and effect. A cause and effect."

Yes, that would explain why the price of oral sex, cigars and Hustler magazine skyrocketed during the Clinton years. Also, I note that Speaker Pelosi is a hotelier ... and the price of a hotel room in New York is $1,000 a night! I think she might be onto something.

Is that why a barrel of oil costs mere pennies in all those other countries in the world that are not run by "oilmen"? Wait -- it doesn't cost pennies to them? That's weird.

Who wants high oil prices?

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 19:58:00 GMT

clipped by: willhelm

Clip Source: cafehayek.typepad.com

Jonah Goldberg's column in today's New York Post is excellent. Here's a snippet:

Never mind that there's no evidence "speculators" - i.e. commodity traders - are doing anything to increase the price of oil. They aren't hoarding it; no one's cornering the market. The speculators make money when the price goes down, and they make money when it goes up. In short, they don't care if oil prices are high or low as long as they guessed correctly.

That may be the most infuriating part of all this. The speculators don't want high oil prices - but Washington does.

The US government has barred billions of barrels of oil from coming to the market by declaring huge petroleum reserves off-limits to drilling. Uncle Sam stores vast amounts in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve for a rainy day now called "election season." Government drives up pump prices with gas taxes and regulations against increasing refinery capacity.

3 Myths About Offshore Drilling

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 22:10:42 GMT

clipped by: seaj11
clipper's remarks: "Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) claimed "not a drop of oil was spilled during Katrina or Rita." This myth has been told again and again by the likes ofGov. Bobby Jindal (R-LA), Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, Mike Huckabee, George Will, and Bill O'Reilly.

There were, in fact, major onshore and offshore spills due to the hurricanes."

Clip Source: www.alternet.org

As the Energy Information Administration (EIA) has explained, "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."

further exploitation of domestic resources will not have a long-term impact either. After 2030, the EIA found, "any impact on average wellhead prices is expected to be insignificant."

There are numerous ways to immediately affect prices, from use of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to improved oversight of the oil markets.

Conservatives from Rudy Giuliani to Dick Cheney have repeatedly claimed that the United States needs to start drilling for off-shore oil because China is taking "American oil" off the coast of Cuba, just "60 miles off the coast of Florida."

As Cheney was forced to acknowledge, "no Chinese firm is drilling" off Cuba's coast. Talking Points Memo has recorded the large number of conservatives hyping the false story.

Tags: energy, oil, oil drilling, offshore drilling, bush, politics, u.s.

Feckless To Reckless, Pelosi Should Resign

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 09:30:06 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: But she's not fooling anyone. In playing politics with the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the speaker has moved beyond the incompetence and irresponsibility that have characterized her leadership to date.

President Bush, however, isn't about to be suckered into releasing the reserves just long enough for pump prices to fall by Election Day, thereby saving Democrats' skins so they can carry on their drill-nothingism for an additional two years.

The president needs to do two things with Pelosi's proposal: First, tell her "no," unless she comes up with a plan to open up more drilling. Second, expose it for what it is — a bid to paint Bush as the problem to distract from her own sorry record.

[The speaker's behavior] borders on recklessness, something we cannot tolerate in such dangerous times.

Clip Source: www.ibdeditorials.com

Leadership: With oil hitting $147, Nancy Pelosi finally admits energy is a problem. But instead of drilling for it, she's cooked up a new drain-the-reserves scheme. It's pure politics at a time of crisis. She ought to resign.

She just wants to empty our Strategic Petroleum Reserve for a short-term fix to get through Election Day.

One, she's proposing a misappropriation of the reserves. The U.S. oil stockpile is a 58-day cushion for emergencies that today are all possible. If Israel attacks Iran, for example, and prices double again. Or if Hugo Chavez cuts off his supplies, as he threatened to do as recently as Sunday.

The reserve is there to cushion the blow of a market disruption; it's not an open-market mechanism to manipulate prices for political ends.

With Congress' public approval at a subterranean 9% and falling, the speaker must be starting to realize that November may not be the Democratic cakewalk that pundits predict.

Tags: pelosi, energy, strategic petroleum reserve, election day

Pelosi finally reveals her "common sense" energy plan

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 02:16:18 GMT

clipped by: willhelm
clipper's remarks: Increase supply.

Finally, after 2 years, Pelosi has revealed the plan she promised in the 2006 campaign season. Apparently she agrees that more supply would lower prices.

Clip Source: www.foxnews.com

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asked President Bush on Tuesday to draw down a portion of the country's Strategic Petroleum Reserve as a way to reduce crude prices and help motorists who are suffering from the rising cost of gasoline.

The House Republican leadership responded to Pelosi's proposal by noting that she was supporting a supply increase — something the Republicans have rallied behind in the form of increased offshore drilling, which the Democrats oppose.

Carter Tried To Stop Bush's Energy Disasters - 28 Years Ago

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 01:33:40 GMT

clipped by: rustajb
clipper's remarks: When you are ignorant, History is a mystery.

Clip Source: www.commondreams.org

In his recent news conference, George Bush Jr. suggested that our nation's "problem" with high gasoline prices was caused by the lack of a national energy policy, and tried to blame it all on Bill Clinton. First, Junior said, "This is a problem that's been a long time in coming. We haven't had an energy policy in this country."

Consider President Jimmy Carter's April 18, 1977 speech. Since it was given nearly three decades ago, when many of the reporters in Bush's White House were children, it's understandable that they don't remember it. But it's inexcusable that Bush and the mainstream media (which, after all, has the ability to do research) would completely ignore it. It was the speech that established the strategic petroleum reserve, birthed the modern solar power industry, led to the insulation of millions of American homes, and established America's first national energy policy.

Democrats vs. Republicans and gas prices

Mon, 26 May 2008 19:13:17 GMT

clipped by: mklosinski

Clip Source: www.townhall.com

(Here are some details about the origin of the stats to compile this piece. Retail gasoline prices are the result of literally hundreds of factors, including crude oil supply, global demand, refinery capacity, regulation, taxes, weather, the value of the dollar, etc. Therefore it is impossible to say with certainty what one individual action will do to the overall price. However, based on what we know about the impact of crude oil supply and prices it is possible to develop some potential ranges of impact on gasoline prices for certain policy changes. For example, using the methodology employed by Speaker Pelosi and House Democrats that suspending shipments into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (between 40-77,000 barrels of oil a day) would reduce gas prices by at least 5 cents, bringing ANWR online (at least one million barrels of oil a day) could impact gasoline prices by between 70 cents and $1.60.)

Tags: gas prices, democrats, republicans