Connacher Oil & Gas Ltd CLLZF

More offshore drilling........

[jerrid]

Stearns report - Download (MP3)
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U.S.President George Bush wants Congress to expand offshore oil drilling tohelp bring down record high gasoline prices. VOA White HouseCorrespondent Scott Stearns reports, opposition Democrats say oilcompanies should start by using the offshore leases they already hold.

President Bush says risingenergy costs are hurting the U.S. economy, so he wants Congress toexpand oil drilling on America's Outer Continental Shelf (OCS).

"Expertsbelieve that the OCS that is currently off-limits could produce enoughoil to match America's current production for almost ten years," henoted. "The problem is that Congress has restricted access to key partsof the OCS since the early 1980s. Since that time, technologicaladvances have allowed us to explore oil offshore in ways that protectthe environment."

In his weekly radio address, the presidentsaid once Congress lifts its legislative ban on more offshore drilling,he will remove presidential restrictions.

In the Democraticradio address, Maryland Congressman Chris Van Hollen said Democratssupport more drilling but want oil companies to explore the more than27 million hectares of land they have already leased from the federalgovernment.

"What the president hasn't told you is that the oilcompanies are already sitting on 68 million acres of federal lands withthe potential to nearly double U.S. oil production," he said. "That iswhy in the coming days congressional Democrats will vote onuse-it-or-lose it legislation requiring the big oil companies todevelop these resources or lose their leases to someone else who will."

PresidentBush also wants congressional Democrats to allow for drilling in anAlaskan wildlife refuge, action that environmentalists havesuccessfully blocked for decades.

"Scientistshave developed innovative techniques to reach this oil with virtuallyno impact on the land or local wildlife," he added. "With a drillingfootprint that covers just a tiny fraction of this vast terrain,America could produce an estimated 10 billion barrels of oil. That isroughly the equivalent of two decades of imported oil from SaudiArabia."

Van Hollen says the Energy Department estimates thatdrilling today in the Alaskan wildlife refuge would not deliver anypetroleum to U.S. pumps for ten years. He says more drilling in Alaskawould save consumers about two cents a gallon 20 years from now.

"WhenAmericans are getting sticker shock every time they pull into the gasstation, we don't have 20 years to wait. We need action, real action,"he said.

Van Hollen says Democrats want President Bush torelease some of the gasoline in the nation's Strategic PetroleumReserve and focus more on alternative sources of energy.

Oiltouched a record high of more than $147 per barrel Friday beforeclosing at just over $145 per barrel. U.S. stocks fell for their sixthstraight week, averaging loses of about 16 percent for the year so far.