The next time Joe Kennedy delivers oil to the elderly and the poor on behalf of his Citizens Energy, he should invite Congressman Markey to accompany him. For several years, Congressman Markey has been in the forefront of opposition to offshore and onshore oil drilling and oil and gas exploration studies. He has also voted against the construction of new oil refineries (there are no oil refineries north of New Jersey). Several years ago, he tried to shutdown the Seabrook nuclear plant but Congress voted against his proposal.
For "protectors of the environment" (who must delight OPEC) like Representative Markey, drilling in Alaska is a no-no, even though it could provide the nation with several years of crude oil independence and an eight-year supply of natural gas. All this by providing access to only 2,000 of Alaska's 20 million acres, - a mere 1/10,000th of the total area.
It should have been no surprise that drilling out a sea at depths at up to 5,000 feet is more dangerous and prone to catastrophe than doing so in the hundreds of safe sites closer to shore that Markey, Pelosi and their allies made off limits.
Weaning ourselves off foreign oil is essential to our national security. Last year, the U.S. consumed 300 billion gallons of oil, nearly two-thirds imported. About 86 percent of the world's oil is produced by foreign state-owned oil companies (as in Egypt and Libya). Exxon Mobil, the world's largest privately-owned oil company, owns only 1.08 percent of the world's oil reserves. Yet Markey consistently attacks them and hampers their oil exploration.
As the top Democrat on the Natural Resources Committee, he circulated a memo to reporters in February stating: "Global unrest shows that oil is still a global commodity, with supplies still concentrated in the Middle East. Increased drilling in the United States would do nothing to immediately impact prices." Maybe so, Representative Markey, but with heating season only four months away how long would you like us to wait?
No comments:
Post a Comment