Education Talk

leonard78sp@primus.ca · Guest

Pelosi exploits the "big lie" just like Goebbels did.
Boxer is not much better
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Will To Drill Is Strong, Poll Finds;
Climate Change Pales As Concern

By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
Posted Monday, July 14, 2008 4:20 PM PT

Contrary to claims by Al Gore and others that global
warming is the greatest challenge of our time,
Americans by better than 3-to-1 say the price of
gasoline is a bigger problem now, according to the
latest IBD/TIPP Poll.

Moreover, they stand willing to do something about it,
including and especially drilling for oil in the Outer
Continental Shelf and in federal shale reserves in
Colorado, Wyoming and Utah.

Even drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge is backed by a plurality of Americans.

The poll of 920 adults taken last week shows that 73%
think "fuel prices at the pump" are a bigger problem
for the country than climate change, the new term for
global warming.

Only 23% say climate change is more important.

The sentiment prevails across the board - among men
and women, old and young, rich and poor, and
Republicans, independents and Democrats, two-thirds
of whom say gas prices are more important.

Support for offshore drilling and oil shale development
is also broad-based, with the former favoured by 64% of
respondents and the latter by 65%.

The results suggest President Bush has strong public
support as he puts pressure on Congress to back more
exploration for oil.

They may also explain why Bush and especially Sen.
John McCain, the pending GOP presidential candidate,
have treaded more gingerly when it comes to drilling in
ANWR.

When asked in the IBD/TIPP Poll if they favour drilling
in ANWR, 47% say yes and 43% no. Unlike the answers
given for offshore drilling and shale-oil development,
however, responses on ANWR are more mixed and seem
to break along political lines.

Republicans favour ANWR development by 68% to 27%;
Democrats oppose it 56% to 40%.
Independents are split down the middle.

The divisions go beyond politics. Men approve of ANWR
drilling by 56% to 39%; women disapprove, 46% to 39%.
And the older and wealthier the respondents, the more they
are in favour.

Investors favour ANWR development by a solid 52% to
41%; noninvestors barely favour it, 44% to 43%.

Bush has proposed opening ANWR for drilling, lifting
restrictions on oil-shale leasing in the Green River Basin
of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming, and easing the
regulatory process to expand oil refining capacity.

McCain has remained opposed to such developments and
has voted against ANWR drilling when it has come up in
the Senate.

It is drilling in America's national territorial waters,
however, that both Bush and McCain are emphasizing
this week.

On Monday, Bush lifted an executive ban on offshore
drilling that had stood since his father was president.

By itself, the move will do nothing unless Congress
acts as well.

Two prohibitions on offshore drilling exist ‹ one
imposed by Congress and another by executive order
signed by the first President Bush in 1990.

The current president, trying to ease market tensions
and boost supply, called last month for Congress to
lift its prohibition before he did so himself. On
Monday, he moved ahead anyway.

"The only thing standing between the American
people and these vast oil resources is action from
the U.S. Congress," Bush said in a statement in the
Rose Garden. "Now the ball is squarely in Congress'
court."

Bush criticized Congress for failing to lift its ban
on offshore drilling.

"For years, my administration has been calling on
Congress to expand domestic oil production," Bush
said. "Unfortunately, Democrats on Capitol Hill
have rejected virtually every proposal. And now
Americans are paying at the pump."

McCain called Bush's move "a very important signal"
and said his Democratic rival, Sen. Barak Obama,
should drop his opposition to offshore drilling.

Congressional Democrats, joined by some GOP
lawmakers from coastal states, want to keep barring
energy companies from drilling in waters along the
East and West coasts and in the eastern Gulf of Mexico.

A succession of presidents, including Bush's father,
George H.W. Bush, and Bill Clinton, have sided
against drilling in these waters, as has Congress each
year for 27 years. Their goal has been to protect
beaches and coastal states' tourism economies.

Congressional Democrats have rejected the push to
lift the drilling moratorium, accusing the president of
hoping the U.S. can drill its way out a problem.

"Once again, the oilman in the White House is
echoing the demands of Big Oil," House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi said Monday. "The Bush plan is a hoax.
It will neither reduce gas prices nor increase energy
independence. It just gives millions more acres to the
same companies that are sitting on nearly 68 million
acres of public lands and coastal areas."

"This proposal is something you'd expect from an oil
company CEO, not the president of the United States,"
added Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., chairman of the
Senate Environment Committee. "The president is
taking special-interest government to a new level and
threatening our thriving coastal economy."

Bush says offshore drilling could yield up to 18 billion
barrels of oil over time, though it would take years for
production to start. Bush also says offshore drilling
would take pressure off prices over time.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.,
and other lawmakers have backed legislation to allow
offshore exploration. Their measure would also pursue
other ways to expand energy sources.

"Now the only thing standing between consumers at
the pump and the increased American energy they are
demanding is the Democrat leadership in Congress,"
McConnell said. "We should act and act now."

Cary Kittrell · Guest

In article <C4A22BEB.114B2%leonard78sp@primus.ca> "leonard78sp@primus.ca" <leonard78sp@primus.ca> writes: