offshore drilling

New developments in natural gas extraction makes implementation of Pickens Plan more feasible.

After a hefty long debate over offshore drilling and new energy policies, the House passed the ever unpopular Comprehensive American Energy Security & Consumer Protection Act. The bill which will open up new areas of the country to oil drilling, but it also comes with increased support for renewables.

Congress debates their new energy plan this week, which includes a focus on renewable energy with some concessions for offshore drilling. Is wind, solar and geothermal a viable alternative to oil? 

Democrats came to a new proposal on Wednesday which would allow offshore drilling 50 miles from the coast if the state approves: federal waters within 50 miles of shore would continue to be protected. Waters off Florida’s Gulf coast also would remain protected at least until 2022 under the plan.

Today, the Worldwatch Institute published an article detailing a decline in offshore drilling opposition in sharp contrast to the year 1982 when the drilling moratorium was enacted. Further expansions by George H. W. Bush in 1990 extended the moratorium to include the coasts of Florida, California and New England. With the presidency of Clinton in 1998, the ban was again extended until the year 2012.

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pictures from Tuesday's MoveOn.org clean energy rally in Lexington, KY

Barack Obama made statements this week that seemed to reverse his stance on offshore drilling. Did Obama "sell-out" for votes? It's not so clear if you look at what he actually said.

Barack Obama released his energy plan on Monday wherein he greatly emphasized the need to wean the United States off foreign oil. The plan was slammed by some who ridiculed Obama for changing his stance as he proposed selling 70 mn barrels from the strategic oil reserves and “limited amount of new offshore drilling”. However the Democratic presidential candidate clarified that he had relaxed his position on offshore drilling as a compromise and didn’t view drilling as the panacea to the country’s energy issues, unlike the Republicans.

The American public is not buying the arguments of President Bush and the oil industry that new drilling will lower gas prices, a new poll finds. Additionally, a majority of Americans (63%) said that the President’s proposal to open up public lands to oil and gas drilling is “more likely to enrich oil companies than to lower gas prices for American consumers.”

As Senator John McCain urges for more oil drilling, some in Washington still oppose lifting the ban that's been in place for 27 years.  

People all over the country stand on different sides of the argument.

But just how much oil exists offshore, anyway?