Why won't congress let us drill oil in the US?

For crap's sake, we have sooooooooo much! WTF is up with 'em?Why won't congress let us drill oil in the US?
because for some reason the people in this country mistakenly thought theyd teach the republicans something when they voted them out and put the dems back in. sure the reps were overspending, but at least they were progressive thinking when it comes to being energy independent. now the dems are in thanks in no small part to the money of envir-whackos who are more concerned with a pristine earth than the way of life of human beings! we have what we paid for in the last election and itll only be worse when that anti american obama gets in office!Why won't congress let us drill oil in the US?
You have some fallacies in your question.





We DO drill oil in the United States. All over east Texas for example. The Bush family is in the oil business.





In the late 1800's the rampant run on oil for profit depleted reserves in Arkansas and neighboring states, so there were strictures put in place to prevent that from happening in other states.





So, we produce some of our oil and we import some of it.





Drilling for more oil will not reduce the price as much as you think, because the price is also driven by speculation. In other words the stock market. People buying oil futures, drives up stock and consequently the cost of the product.
There are several reasons. Some are we are hoarding our oil until the world runs dry. Other reasons are we have a stronger environmental policy than major oil producing countries. It is extremely harmful to the environment to drill and produce oil and we are protecting areas where it will do incredible damage. This damage will be worse than the damage we are doing by using fossil fuel. Then these cost to produce. Oil nations do not pay there workers as we do. Some countries use disposable labor ( If they die oh well, next ).
The ban on offshore oil drilling is the result of an executive order by Bush Sr. in 1990.





Pressure by coastal states like Florida, Texas and California on the disruption of tourism along beaches was one reason.





Jeb Bush was a vocal opponent to offshore drilling while he was governor of Florida.





I don't know if the U.S. really has ';sooooooooo much'; oil - because experts don't have exact numbers - but it's estimated that about 18 billion barrels could be recovered if the ban on offshore drilling was lifted.





18 barrels of oil is enough to cover 2years at our current rate of consumption.





But even if the ban is lifted - it's no quick fix - it will take several years of exploration and drilling rig construction before we have the oil ready for use.





I'm not against drilling - but the idea that this will be bring oil and gas prices down immediately is wrong. The only long-term solution is conservation and research %26amp; development of alternative fuels.
Would you want an oil well or refinery in your town? No one does. The onyl places people want to drill are in national parks and offshore, and the risk of a major oil spill and other environmental damage is huge. BTW, if we opened ANWAR 10 years ago, it would not be producing even 5% of our oil needs today! On the other hand, we can EASILY reduce our oil consumption by that amount with highr mileage cars instead of wasteful moster SUV's that no one really needs.
They will let us--they just won't let us drill for oil in areas rich in natural beauty. The natural beauty of the U.S. wildlife preserves can never be recovered if it is destroyed. While drilling for oil there might temporarily alleviate our oil reserve issues, the problem will return once we've used those up, so it's only a band-aid to the real problem, which is our over-reliance on fossil fuels. That is the real issue we need to be dealing with.
A belief in preserving our country's natural beauty more than our addiction to oil. Also, the drilling won't really benefit the American people, just the private companies that actually do the drilling. Do you honestly think gas companies will gauge us any less just because we are using our own oil?
I know this will come to a shock to you stupid envronmentalists, but the oil companies DO NOT SET OIL PRICES. They are set by the marketplace based on supply and demand.





The energy policies of the current Democratic congress are insane! We are forced to use our food for fuel even though it uses more energy to grow, ship, process, and convert corn to ethanol than it saves. This causes our food prices to skyrocket. We buy oil from countries that support terrorists even though we have a 100 year supply of our own oil, and rob our economy of the billions of dollars that would come from that, not to mention the thousands of jobs we give to places like the middle east.





If things don't change my children will not be able to afford to drive a car or heat their homes. It is all pure insanity.
they want to keep us unsecure so they can keep up their agenda....one senator in congress got on the floor and said if you dont send trillons in subsidies to the rich farmers who already make record profits, you dont want what happened to the pet food! thats the dem s in congress, and ive heard gore said something about it too!,,,,they want to keep our tax dollars funneled to al gores global farce,,,,,30 thousand scienctists want to debate him, but he refuses, because he knows he made it up to get $$$$$ ....just like they selected obama , just like he set up to be the onlyone on the ballot for senator,...they know how to lie, and fix things to their advantage
Because it would hurt the economy of the coastal states near the drilling...which makes a whole lot of sense since the entire country's economy is crashing over gas prices. It's really really stupid. Congress placed the moratorium in 1982 and clearly haven't updated their thinking to the threats on today's economy.
WTF is up with your logic?You and others falsely assume that oil acquired on US soil has to be sold to US consumers.


It's a free market economy out there and if the Chinese or the Indians are willing to pay a higher price for the product than Americans are than they will get the product and not us
Obama pledges to 'rid the American political system of the undue influence wielded by special interest groups' and yet stands by the Democrat leadership as they do the bidding of the enviromentialists.





Odd, isn't it?
Because the oil companies still haven't proved that they are using the oil land that they already have. Don`t you think we should save it until we really need it like China is doing. If the Republicans did not give away our industrial might China would not need as much oil today driving up cost.
We drill for oil ALL OVER THE PLACE!





Just not in ANWAR.





Or off the Gulf Coast in places. Jeb Bush made it illegal off Florida and went to court to make it stick.
You mean the DEMOCRATIC congress wants to help America and quit blaming Bush for the gas prices?





They have no problem with Cuba or China drilling off our coast but its a big no no if america does it.
becaus when they spill the oil, it will ruin the economies of Fla texas Ca. and other beach states..





McCain lied, they spill oil all the time
darn environmentalist they are costing us a fortune but get use to it cuz nobody is doing a darn thing about it.
They are being paid off by the enviromentalists.
Because they fear they would get their yachts dirty
fear.....





and yet they espouse ';nothing to fear but fear itself';





what bull.
Reserves for a REAL crisis ya bunch of whiners. Man this country is soft and fluffy no wonder it's dying.
unfortunately wee do not have soooooo much.





it will not last even for short term...
Because the Congress is not free!