The economic news and anxieties are certainly dominating the news today, but the off shore drilling circus starts in earnest today. On Friday,though, there was a bipartisan Energy Summit brought up by the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse asks a key question to put all of this in context:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnJAIeEgjSM[/youtube]
To which he gets no answer. Which isn’t surprising when you note that there is little oil at stake, but a lot of taxpayer funds to be had.
This week the fight over off-shore drilling ramps up. The highlights of the Democratic proposal includes:
1. OCS drilling in the 50 – 200 mile zone away from the coasts.
2. Florida’s eastern gulf is off limits to drilling
3. Oil subsidies are rolled back. ($17B over 10 years)
4. Royalties on production are retained by the Feds.
5. Royalties are spent on subsidies to alternative, green sources.
The other major proposal is one sponsored by the bi-partisan Group of 20, including these highlights:
1. OCS drilling 100 miles away from coasts and states may reset that limit to 50 at their discretion.
2. Florida’s eastern gulf would be included.
3. Oil subsidies are rolled back. ($17B over 10 years)
4. Royalties on production are shared with the states.
5. The Fed share of royalties are spent on subsidies to alternative, green sources.
The obstructionist crew of repubs are against both options — they want to open up drilling to within 3 miles of coastline, they want to keep the oil subsidy scheme intact, and they want to include nuclear and oil shale in the “alternative” energy column. And add more subsidies to these two.
Next up — a look at just how much oil we are talking about.