Even Big Oil Doesn’t Want to Drill Offshore
In fact, the Energy Information Agency acknowledges that offshore drilling presents no solution to the high price of oil.
“Because oil prices are determined on the international market, however, any impact on average wellhead prices is expected to be insignificant.” But, “the average field size in the Pacific and Atlantic regions tends to be smaller than the average in the Gulf of Mexico, implying that a significant portion of the additional resource would not be economically attractive to develop at the reference case prices.” In other words, oil companies might not even drill there if they could. The EIA estimates that it takes about five years, after the regions became open for drilling, before any oil production would commence.
David Fiderer has clearly laid out the dupe the media and Republicans are selling with their #dontgo campaign and their clarion call for offshore drilling. Be sure to read the whole article and click through to the links. It’s well-documented, and I particularly liked his conclusion:
It’s all straight from Dr. Goebbels’ playbook. If you think the historic analogy is overstated, check out this hysterical call to arms from Jeff Mazzella, head of a right wing advocacy group oxymoronically called The Center for Individual Freedom. The idea: subvert any attempt at constructive compromise among lawmakers.