Obstacles stunt Calif. offshore drilling

When the minimum wage equals the price of a gallon of gas, it will be too late. It took over 100 years to built and optimize the financial, the cultural and the technology of the carbon energy based infrastructure that allows the over 36 million people to live in California. Changing to alternative energies will take just as long. In the interim, they still need energy carbon energy for the transition. The current global demand is what will eventually cause an alternative energy shift but in the interim, it will destabilize the economy because of volatility of imported oil prices and our vulnerability of a lack of energy independence. Other countries such as India and China really don't care about global warming and Russia is energy independent, while all are more than willing to survive and grow on carbon based energy while California and the U.S. flounder without a transition plan and without energy to meet their current needs much less growing demand. Green technology 10 years from now while depending on foreign oil is not a transition plan, it is the same as timeline for withdrawing from a terrorist infested country without providing the capabilities of the country to fight terrorism. Either we realize that energy independence is one of primary national security threats or we allow those with energy to set global policy and primacy and we step in line with their demands.

This is a prime example of a bureaucratic nightmare caused by big government. The left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. Where are our wonderful congressmen and senators with this? Nancy Pelosi accuses "big oil" of not drilling on the 68 million acres it has leased. "big oil" paid one billion dollars for this lease and, naturally, wants it's money back. The government is playing a shell game with them. Incidentally, a top panel of 5 experts just testified before the Senate that drilling for oil in the US is one of the MAIN ingredients of an energy policy. It is absolutely crucial. They debunked the myth that you can't drill and pursue new technologies. In fact, they said you absolutely MUST do both. Don't listen to people who don't know the facts and have a political agenda.

IN ORDER FOR INCREASED DRILLING TO WORK, THERE HAS GOT TO BE THE MANDATE THAT GOES WITH THE LEASES THAT SAY "IF YOU TAKE THIS LEASE, YOU'VE GOT TO DRILL AND PRODUCE THE OIL FROM IT". OTHERWISE, THE OIL COMPANIES WILL TAKE THE LEASES, AND THEN JUST SIT ON THEM LIKE THEY ARE DOING TODAY - WHICH KEEPS PRODUCTION LOW, AND GAS PRICES HIGH !

ZEDWARD - You missed the point of the article. The oil companies paid big money to obtain the lease. They are not "sitting" on the lease. They are being prevented from actually drilling by the same government that sold them the lease. Even the courts have agreed that this was unfair and has said the companies are entitled to get their money back. Democrats know how this game is played and they play the citizens for suckers when they bring forth the notion that oil companies are "sitting on 68 million acres". What would you think if you went to Ford and leased a car. After signing the lease and forking over the money, Ford tells you the car is yours for 4 years but you cannot drive it. And when drilling is allowed to occur, a field is not in production during the exploration phase and development phase. So once again Democrats are simply lying about the 68 million acres because drilling has occurred on a large portion of that 68 million acres. Even if you buy the lie you have to scratch your head and ask as oil went from around $11 a barrel to 40 then to 100 and up to 147 at what point a "greedy oil company" would finally drill and recover all that money. As an investor I am not about to fork over billions for a lease and then sit on the lease forever. The investors would toss the execs out quite quickly, especially given the current price of oil.

That foreign countries can drill off our coasts, but "we" cannot, is ridiculous. If we want to protect America & her resources, maybe we should go to war with those nations drilling out there taking that oil, or we should drill for the stuff ourselves. The Chinese or any other nation will probably not adhere to the strict environmental regulations American drillers have to abide by. So, we risk the environment even more by NOT allowing American companies to drill offshore. It will be interesting to see what happens when the public realizes the oil is there but "factions" are preventing access for political gain. Al Gore's "GREEN INDUSTRY" carbon trading investment will pay him billions because he is pushing for laws forcing companies to deal with the likes of his company, but average citizens will suffer enormously. Once again, its rich politico's suckering average Americans.