Monday, October 13, 2008
Although gas prices are decreasing because of the economic crisis, the price of still hurts the pockets' of American citizens. Massive oil and natural companies hold nearly 68 million acres of offshore and onshore land leases currently not in use.More than 80% of the leases held by the companies are non-producing. Oil companies want these lands to be inactive to increase demand, thereby, increasing the price of oil and their profits. The very companies that have a surplus of land want to hoard more leases from the government so they can control the price of oil and gas. This speculation is wrong; I believe that the government should do more to protect Americans from this speculation and punish the oil companies. Not all believe that the oil companies are speculating. Many republicans want to expand off-shore drilling because they believe that the inactive land held by the companies is "tapped out," geologically unavailable, or that there is no oil on these lands. I find it hard to believe that 68 million acres are entirely "tapped out" or unavailable, why would oil companies spend billions of dollars on these leases with the possibility that oil will not be found? The US Committee on Natural Resources report in "The Truth About America's Energy: Big Oil Stockpile Supplies and Pockets Profits" that using the acres will double America's oil production, increase natural gas production nearly 75%, and reduce or dependency on foreign oil by cutting imports by 1/3. These numbers seem too good to be true, but they come from a government report. I can only hope this issue will receive more media attention in the future.
9 comments:
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Kevin,
If oil companies are not using sixty-eight million acres of non-producing land, then those companies should face the consequences of their ignorance through the loss of this land, as Obama suggests. However, does McCain oppose this plan? Also, in one of my blog posts, I mentioned that the ban on offshore drilling has already been lifted. Are oil companies going to try to hold this land without actually using the land?
Tommy -
Britney,
I would imagine that big oil companies have lobbyists to aid in their "speculation."
Tommy,
McCain has not said he will implement the "use it or lose it" plan. I haven't read anything that says wether he agrees with it or not. It will be interesting to find out if he does or not. Oil companies want to hold their land so they can keep the price of oil high as possible.
thanks for comments,
kevin -
This is a really interesting post on a topic that is of great importance at the moment. I believe that oil companies have a monopoly over energy, just as AT&T had in telecommunications. There only three or four major oil companies and it seems to me that they are all working together in some way. Big oil knows that we as citizens have no other alternatives at the moment other than using gas for transportation and energy. Without substitutes citizens must accept and pay any price that oil companies set. On a side note do you know when the oil shortage in North Carolina caused by the hurricane will end?
Thanks -
Kevin,
I agree that the oil companies should use the land that they have, but out of curiosity what are their specific reasons for not using the land? Do you think they are holding off using the land to make more profit in the future? I also would like to point out that Obama'a plan of "use it or lose it" is not the only plan to have the potential to weaken American dependence on foreign oil, McCain's plan does also. The only difficult part of Obama's plan in getting the oil companies to agree.
GK -
Kia,
About the gas shortage in NC: the shortage was the worst in charlotte. My sister lives there, the shortage is about over. It is much easier to get gas, most people were not able to get any for a long time or had to wait hours in line for gas.
grace kelly,
I believe oil companies are holding the land so they can raise the price of oil and so they can gain more leases. -
I definitely agree that there should be consequences for those oil companies, some of the controversies that have been formed with foreign countries over oil could have easily been avoided if our oil companies would have done the more reasonable thing and used our own resources. As if gas prices weren’t high enough, they want to find other ways of putting money into their own pockets. They lack concern for the future of those Americans who live paycheck to paycheck, many of which don’t even know the cost of filling up their tank because they are always on empty.
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The gas shortage was felt the worst by Charlotte, believe me I am from their, but why did it just all of a sudden happen? I was under the impression that it was because of the damage done by the hurricanes this year. Yes, we do need to do something about our fuel for the future, but I believe everyone freaked out a little to much whenever the gas prices rose this time in NC.
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WANT THE FACTS ABOUT "NON-PRODUCING LEASES"?
Check out "Drilling for Truth and Coming Up Empty" here
http://republicans.resourcescommittee.house.gov/
I think that is really interesting that we have all that land thats not being used when we are in a time of need. It seems that using our own supply would help right now while we have tensions between the Middle East anyway. Do you think many of the "speculators" have ties into the government and that is why no regulations have really been enforced up to this point?