what, sardines like oil..what could be wrong?

[Guest guest]

oh, just drill for oil in Bush's head, and get it over with

 

U.S. Proposal Would Allow Oil Drilling Off Virginia

Five-Year Plan Would Also Open Alaskan, Gulf Waters

 

By Steven Mufson and David A. Fahrenthold

Washington Post Staff Writers

Saturday, April 28, 2007; Page A01

 

The Interior Department will announce a proposal Monday to allow oil

and gas drilling in federal waters near Virginia that are currently

off-limits and permit new exploration in Alaska's Bristol Bay and the

Gulf of Mexico, according to people who have seen or been told about

drafts of the plan.

 

The department issued a news release yesterday that was lacking

details but said that it had finished a five-year plan that will

include a " major proposal for expanded oil and natural gas development

on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf. " Department officials declined to

describe the plan.

 

Congress would still have to agree to open areas currently off-limits

before any drilling could take place off Virginia's coast. Every year

since 1982, after an oil spill off Santa Barbara, Calif., Congress has

reaffirmed a moratorium on drilling off the nation's Atlantic and

Pacific coasts. Last year, after a vigorous push by drilling

advocates, Congress opened new waters in the Gulf of Mexico.

 

The Interior Department might still go ahead with environmental and

geological seismic studies off Virginia, but the plan does not

envision drilling there before 2011, according to a congressional

source who saw an earlier version of the proposal. The sources who

described the plan spoke on the condition of anonymity because they

didn't want to compromise relationships with people who showed them

drafts.

 

Environmental groups said yesterday that they were troubled by the

idea of oil exploration and drilling so near the wildlife refuge on

Assateague Island and in an area closely linked to the Chesapeake Bay.

Some of the bay's best-known species, such as blue crabs and rockfish,

migrate to the ocean.

 

Activists said that simply looking for oil and gas could cause

environmental harm if waste products used to lubricate or cool drill

bits are cast overboard. Such materials are often toxic, and could

threaten marine life in the area, said Richard Charter of Defenders of

Wildlife.

 

Richard Ayers of the environmental group Virginia Eastern Shorekeeper

said he was concerned about development along the state's lightly

populated Atlantic shoreline. He said he was worried that oil drilling

would create boomtowns, a new influx of people and pollution.

 

The Virginia shore is dotted with barrier islands and lagoons, most of

them largely unspoiled. The Virginia coast has been designated a World

Biosphere Reserve by the United Nations, and a National Natural

Landmark by the Interior Department.

 

" This is one of the few places on the East Coast that just never got

developed, " Ayers said. " A disturbance of any magnitude would be

something the place hasn't seen since the '30s, " when a hurricane hit

the area.

 

Many drilling advocates say that the oil industry has had a good

environmental record in the Gulf of Mexico and that the nation needs

to develop domestic oil and gas reserves to bring down prices and

reduce reliance on foreign oil.

 

Advocates of increased drilling have campaigned in several states,

many of which are attracted to the prospect of negotiating shares of

federal royalties. Bills endorsing more drilling have twice passed the

Virginia legislature.

 

Kevin Hall, a spokesman for Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D), said

Kaine was " supportive of exploration to see what, if anything, is out

there. " But Hall said Kaine had received " assurances " from federal

officials that the proposed exploration would not violate state law.

Last year, the General Assembly and Kaine agreed on a bill to prohibit

drilling within 50 miles of Virginia's shoreline.

 

One place that doesn't need approval from Congress is the area north

of the Alaska Peninsula near the Aleutian Islands, known as Bristol

Bay. Home to one of the world's largest salmon runs, according to the

Sierra Club, Bristol Bay was not covered by the same ban on drilling.

 

President Bush used his executive power to lift the ban in January.

Congress has 60 days to reimpose it, or else drilling preparations

could start in Bristol Bay as soon as July 1.

 

Athan Manuel, offshore drilling expert at the Sierra Club, said, " We

need to do more to drill in Detroit by finding more oil efficiency in

our cars and trucks rather than drilling off of some of our most

sensitive coasts that are important environmentally, but also

economically in driving billion-dollar fishing and tourist industries. "

 

 

Don't know, don't care, don't talk, don't stare, don't know, don't care

We live in fear the end is near and we are easy to control

It's an orange alert