President Bush has lifted the Executive Order banning energy exploration off America’s coasts. This is great news for America’s working families! We must expand America’s energy supply to bring down gas prices and reduce our reliance on countries that are hostile to America and American interests. Skyrocketing gas prices have impacted everyone. I spoke to an 81 year old woman in Virginia who told me she was having a hard time living by herself, driving to the grocery store and paying for prescriptions. Congress is now in the driver’s seat. We must lift the moratorium on deep ocean energy exploration so that states can act to access the energy resources off their coasts.
In Virginia, experts estimate that Virginia taxpayer’s stand to reap $250 million/year for 40 years if we are allowed to develop our offshore energy reserves. These revenues could be used to clean up the Chesapeake Bay to ensure our environmental security. The time to ACT is NOW. I need your help in urging Speaker Pelosi to bring a bill to the floor to help America’s families cope! Sign the petition at GasPriceProtest.com
July 18th, 2008 at 10:01 am The GOP is getting beaten senseless in the blogs for voting en masse against the DRILL ACT, a bill that would require oil lease holders to produce or surrender the lease to someone who would produce domestic oil.
It seems like a good bill and I would support the same treatment for other commodity producers who hold government land leases; if they are not going to produce right now, then surrender the lease. We should not issue leases to multinational corporations at all, nor should citizens who get these leases be allowed to sit on them rather than produce, so as to artificially inflate prices that Americans must pay.
Was there something hidden in the DRILL Act that warranted the Republicans lack of support for the bill? If so, what modifications need to be made to get Republicans to vote for a similar bill?
For Republicans say that the DRILL Act must be tied to offshore drilling legislation is a red herring. The two are clearly separate issues. We surely need to make holders of domestic leases either produce or surrender the lease. Off shore drilling and ANWR can, and should be dealt with separately.
Congressman Cantor, please explain your vote and that of fellow Republicans AGAINST the DRILL Act. It sounds like a common sense, YES, to most citizens.