CHUCK IN A BOX

So I read on CNN the insipid campaign chant ‘Drill, Baby, Drill’ has begun….and right here in good ole Virginnie.  Looks like they are going to start drilling about 50 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach, VA and we’re talking about 2.9 MILLION acres.  According to the story, Randall Luthi, Director of Interior’s Minerals Management Service states, ”Our best guess is that area could contain about 130 million barrels of oil and 1.14 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.” 

Now, color me crazy but, is it REALLY worth the potential environmental damage for what amounts to about 4.5 days worth of oil from OPEC (113 million “potential” barrels divided by 24.845 bpd quota)?  There are about 68 million acres of land offshore and onshore in the United States that have already been leased by oil companies to drill on but have not yet been used. If oil companies tapped the 68 million federal acres of leased land it would generate an estimated 4.8 million barrels of oil a day – six times what ANWR would produce at its peak.  Current inactive leases could produce an additional 4.8 million barrels of oil and 44.7 billion cubic feet of natural gas each day.  Which would in effect nearly double total U.S. oil production, and increase natural gas production by 75%. It would also cut U.S. oil imports by more than a third.

I guess my point is more-or-less, shouldn’t Big Oil look for resources in places they already have rights and not worry about acting like some kind of greedy fat German kid?

Hmmmmm Oil, *nom,nom,nom* Soooo Yummy!