The idea being promoted by Democrats that oil companies already own millions of acres that they could be drilling on rather than using currently protected properties is a false one, Seventh District Congressman Roy Blunt said on CNN Sunday.
During an interview on Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer, Blunt said, "Every industry observer pointed out that this use it or lot is just a canard. It's out there, it's not real. These companies have lots of money invested in the leases they have. As it turns out, every lease doesn't produce oil. If it did, Blitzer and Blunt could be oil men. All we'd have to do is get a lease and suddenly you've found oil. Just because you have a lease doesn't mean you'll be able to produce oil on that property or you're going to be able to produce oil on every acre or gas on every acre of that property. I don't think that's a problem.
"I think the problem is like in the deep water, we are the only country in world that can drill in deep ocean water that doesn't do it. The Scandinavian countries do it, the western European countries do it. There is no reason we shouldn't be out there."
Blunt also referred to opponents of offshore drilling as living in the past. "When we're talking about offshore, we're talking about 50, 100, 200 miles offshore. Nobody's going to see that. This is an environmentally safe thing to do. And it goes back to the politics of the 60s, when drilling offshore may have had some environmental danger, rather than the reality of this century."
A complete transcript of the Blunt interview can be found at this link.
"
No comments:
Post a Comment