Dem Oil Hijinks

The Democrats are trying to pull a fast one on consumers by appearing to support new offshore drilling:

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A top U.S. Democratic senator said in a newspaper interview published Wednesday that he would consider supporting opening up new areas for offshore oil and gas drilling.

"I'm open to drilling and responsible production," Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin told The Wall Street Journal, adding that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid could also support the move.

However, Durbin said his support for opening new areas to drilling was contingent on setting requirements that oil and gas companies begin production within a specified time frame on acreage they have leased from the government.

The spike in oil prices to record highs above $145 per barrel has prompted calls for the U.S. government to allow energy producers to explore for oil and gas off the East and West Coasts and in the eastern region of the Gulf of Mexico. Those areas are currently off limits to exploration.

Republicans say their efforts to open up new regions for exploration have been stymied by Democrats.

Democrats say energy companies are producing oil and gas from only about a quarter of the 91.5 million acres currently leased from the government.

Did you see the catch? (I highlighted it for you.) The Dems have been complaining that oil companies hold leases on land that they are not using and that's been a reason for refusing to allow new exploration. However, oil companies are not stupid. They've done surveys on those lands and have determined that the likelihood of economically-sound oil production on those lands just isn't there. Democrats know this but hope you don't and by placing silly restrictions on the oil companies they can pretend to support oil production while in fact making it impossible.

Unless the oil companies can get out of the leases they hold on land they don't feel will produce (and you know the Dems will never approve that), they'll be stuck with the choice of wasting millions drilling on bad land in order to gain new offshore tracts, or will have to forego the new offshore efforts.

Meanwhile, San Fran Nan Pelosi is calling on the president to release oil from the strategic oil reserves to try and reduce prices, thus supporting the idea that she's completely dense on the issue of national security and the role played by the strategic oil reserves. Those reserves are being held in case of a national emergency, and high gas prices at the pump do not constitute a national emergency. The impact on prices would be minimal at best, and releasing more oil doesn't fix the problem of refinery capacity which is already running in the high 90% range. There's no guarantee that refineries could do anything with the oil the president would release.

The end result would be less strategic reserves with almost no benefit to the gas-buying public. Foolishness.