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Energy policy update.

This has been a *great* Congress for us.

By: Moe Lane (Diary)  |  September 23rd, 2008 at 08:08 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

No, really. Let’s look at all the victories:

  • We kept the war fully funded.
    • We successfully got the surge working.
    • We shot down redeployment instead of victory.
    • We shot down abandonment instead of victory.
    • We won the war, in fact.
    • We passed FISA – finally! And without nonsensical regulation. We even got retroactive telecom immunity!
    • We still have Gitmo open.
    • We still have the PATRIOT Act up and running.
    • We stopped the S-CHIP bloat.
    • We ensured that impeaching Bush remained the joke that it is and always has been.

    • *


* Many of you would include the defeat of immigration reform.
*
* Many of you would include stopping the DREAM Act.
*
* We got Mukasey confirmed as Attorney General.
*
* We got Southwick confirmed as a federal judge.
*
* We had Congress condemn MoveOn.org’s vicious libel of General Petraeus.
*
* We stopped Card Check.
*
And now… let us refresh our glasses as we watch the moratorium on offshore drilling slowly die of suffocation (from our own Mark I). I understand that the thrashings at the end are usually really quite droll:

A House staffer said in an e-mail that House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-WI) is telling reporters that Democrats on the committee are quietly preparing to drop language extending the ban from a continuing resolution soon to be passed. That resolution will fund government operations until separate appropriations bills can be passed after the election. The Congressional ban on offshore drilling is in truth a moratorium on funding for the processing of new drilling leases. Congress has annually renewed the moratorium every year since it first passed the funding ban in 1981. But pressure from minority Republicans and polls showing overwhelming majorities of the American people supporting increased drilling in the face of high oil and gasoline prices appear to have won the argument.

Congratulations on this one mostly go to House Republicans – WHO YOU SHOULD BE SENDING MONEY TO, AS THANKS FOR THEIR EPIC EFFORTS ON OUR BEHALF – and generally to both them and GOP Senators; but let us not forget Democratic legislators themselves. It takes no small amount of humility to act as the canvas upon which one’s betters might draw, and we couldn’t have had our wins without you guys. So thanks.

No, really, take a bow. You’ve earned your moment in the spotlight.

Moe Lane

PS: This post-script goes out to everybody who came by to mock us on Election Night, 2006. You got one day in which you had the opportunity to gloat. I got two years. So, tell me: all that time and money and effort and discomfort that you people went through in ensuring a Democratic House and Senate.

Was it worth it?

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COMMENTS

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  • jcincy

    If Congress passes no new ‘energy’ legislation, the ban on offshore drilling will end. I’d rather get that victory, then have the pork happy crowd creative a massive energy package that does nothing.

    A note of praise… President Bush has remained steadfast in his support of the war. I applaud his courage in remaining true to his convictions and not reacting to media opinion or to his ‘favorable’ ratings.

    A special shout out to my Congressman, Steve Chabot (District 1, Ohio). He has been a champion of smaller government (sometimes a lonely champion) and he has steadfastly supported our troops.

    http://www.stevechabot.com/

  • BigGator5

    (n/t)

  • BigGator5

    In fact, this calls for some fireworks!

    Enjoy!

  • Jaded

    nt

  • redneck_hippie

    already been priced into the market? Blackhedd? Vlad? Achance?

    Victory. Sweet, sweet victory.

  • gopraines

    This Congress has been an utter failure, Nancy Pelosi (the Wicked Witch of the West) and Harry “dusty” Reid has been done extensive damage to the nation?s economy. Let’s look at what we didn’t get:

    1. Energy independence by expanding America’s energy supply, this Congress ushered in $4, $5 and in some parts of the country $6.00 dollar gasoline.

    2. A stronger foreign policy and more progress in the War on Terror, this Congress and its allies on the left have fought this President every step of the way. The democrat congress has put their self interest ahead of the country for day one; all this congress has done is investigating President Bush.

    3. An extension of the Bush Tax Cuts, this Congress is ensuring that the economic problems that we are currently experiencing will be extended by not taking the steps to ensure future growth.

    4. More of President Bush’s judges confirmed, this Congress has basically stone walled all of Bush’s judges at every level of the judiciary.

    5. Prosecution of America?s enemies at Gitmo, this Congress and its allies at the ACLU have sued the administration and successfully won legal rights for terrorist.

    6. Spending cuts, this Congress has spent money like drunken liberal sailors; Pelosi and Reid grown government over the last two years.

    7. Reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, this Congress has continually and with reckless abandon blocks every reasonable effort of Presidents Bush administration to advert the current meltdown in our financial markets that started with Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae.

    I understand why we turned Republicans out of Congress in 2006, but it?s been a complete disaster. The Republicans in the House at least have learned their lesson this is evident by their effort to stay in session and demand drilling now, we should reward them with the take over of the House in November. So I say it wasn’t worth it.

  • Vladimir

    First of all, there’s no real change. The states will have to approve of drilling off their shores, and absent a Congressional move to allow some form of royalty sharing, I would expect the states to sit tight.

    Second, even if the states were to roll, we’re several years away from awarding leases to operators (at least, if it’s business as usual at the MMS). There will be environmental impact studies, and studies of studies. That’s if the environmental interests don’t challenge it in court.

    Let’s say exploratory drilling were to begin in 4-5 years. A big enough field will have to be found to justify development (meaning multiple wells), and then the platforms, facilities and infrastructure (onshore and offshore) will have to be built. It probably is a 10 year process to get the first barrel of oil to sales.

    But that’s a stupid reason not to start. See sig line.

  • BigGator5

    Go here, vote Poor Leadership, and watch those KOS kids cry!

  • Neil_Stevens

    The market knows that if Obama wins, he could issue a new order on January 20, 2009.

  • nod90

    How things go depends on wether we get President Obama or President McCain.

    Unless….would it be possible to get some leases awarded before the election? You would want to focus on areas where the States are supportive of drilling. Keep it out of sight of the coast to reduce opposition.

  • redneck_hippie

    factor.

    Spin.
    Mix.
    Rinse.
    Repeat.

  • Vladimir

    ~

  • rogerallan

    Moe,

    With your permission I would like to repost the bullet points from this and add my own analysis? I will be happy to give you credit for the info if you like.

    Thank you.

  • PaRep
  • Vladimir

    Back in the summer when everyone was getting agitated about $140 oil, MMS initiated the first baby steps in the leasing process in anticipation of the lifting of the moratoria.

    MMS Five-Year Plan 2010-15.

    The FAQ answers most of the questions about what takes so long.

  • dbecraft
  • speciallist

    This is one of the first comments of many…

    “And they thought we wouldn’t notice. Nancy’s going to eat shxx for this one when her constituents find out.”

    My x button would wear out if I brought too many..

  • Dan_McLaughlin

    to be good for America. It just happened that with a scarce few exceptions, they failed at almost everything.

  • bs

    Stupidity is hereditary, and the Dems have a lot of family stupidity heritage to shake. They just can’t help it.

  • Brenden_Arnoldus

    The Koskids will keep crying as long as they can’t learn why they aren’t successful. Thinking it’s because there’s too many issues you’re good at is not why you can’t win. Being on the wrong side of almost every issue while electing people like Old Lady Botox and Barry O. is.

  • BigGator5

    No, you the man!

    Anyway, I just wanted to see what DailyKOS was saying about this and I was floored that then even started a poll. We were talking about how poor Democratic leadership is that lead to this victory and I thought they also needed our impute.

  • Moe_Lane

    NT

  • generalgrant

    you mean “retreat”

  • Moe_Lane

    …it helps if you use their own terminology. :)

  • Moriah

    Just had to comment on the cute name.

    I have lived out in the boonies of Arkansas in a county that was about 50% true redneck, about 25% true hippie, and the rest were a combination of both.

    The house I lived in while I was helping homeschool one of the true hippie’s sons (he had missed a lot of school the first year they moved out there due to his intense reaction to poison ivy — the goats milk finally helped that but it was an hour drive to get him to school anyway) was the last outpost on a dirt road that had electricity. We ran and maintained 1 and 3/10ths of a mile of our own phone cable to get dialup internet — gotta love being able to run two phones on one cable. We would have been running STP if we’d needed more. (Deer hate phone lines, BTW.)

    They also had satellite TV, so all of the kids who grew up down that road hung out up there as teens — most were friends with Day’s older son. Worldviews varied between “Nuke all those MFers in the Middle East” to “War is evil, man, give peace a chance”.

    It was a fun house to live in, especially for debates over games of poker or Risk that could last hours.

  • redneck_hippie

    I still remember my grandmother’s house which had a wood-burning cook stove, a hand pump on the side porch for water, no indoor plumbing of any kind until about the 1960′s and no central heating.

    We kids thought it was bizarre, using an outhouse, etc.

    My father went to a tiny one-room country school, and when he was old enough to start to go to school, he was so little, they tied him onto the saddle so he wouldn’t fall off on the way there. He was the oldest child, so he went by himself.

    During high school, the summer of love was omnipresent, so I imbibed the tree-hugging, war-hating hippie mindset. Didn’t do drugs and did work for a living, though.

    The biggest redneck / hippie psychic clash I recall was we saw the movie, Easy Rider, went for beer afterwards, and the redneck bar owner threw our friends out because their shirts were not tucked in. Rebellious indignation!

  • redneck_hippie

    I still remember my grandmother’s house which had a wood-burning cook stove, a hand pump on the side porch for water, no indoor plumbing of any kind until about the 1960′s and no central heating.

    We kids thought it was bizarre, using an outhouse, etc.

    My father went to a tiny one-room country school, and when he was old enough to start to go to school, he was so little, they tied him onto the saddle so he wouldn’t fall off on the way there. He was the oldest child, so he went by himself.

    During high school, the summer of love was omnipresent, so I imbibed the tree-hugging, war-hating hippie mindset. Didn’t do drugs and did work for a living, though.

    The biggest redneck / hippie psychic clash I recall was we saw the movie, Easy Rider, went for beer afterwards, and the redneck bar owner threw our friends out because their shirts were not tucked in. Rebellious indignation!

  • Moriah

    We had an outhouse — and were thankful for the huge wolf spiders that loved flies and outcompeted the other spiders around for web space. The library in the outhouse ranged from Scientific American and investment and technological journals, to Playboy. (Day’s new wife and I were the first women to live in that house since his first wife died, and there’s only so much you can ask of a guy, giving up his magazines when he saw nothing wrong with them just wasn’t going to happen.)

    We had indoor plumbing — PVC piping salvaged from businesses who upgraded their lawn sprinkler systems, etc. We had a sink and a shower — and a hot water heater. The sink and shower drained into a greywater system so we were absolutely careful to always use cleaning products that were environmentally friendly. Dr. Bronner’s soap may have some weird ideas on the label, but Eucalyptus really wakes you up in the mornings.

    The water was pressurized because the pump was to two barrels in the loft of the cabin. The pump was a hand-pump, with a tripod set above it. A windshield-wiper motor actually ran the hand-pump. The windshield-wiper attached to a chain and pulled it up and down. It was ran by a car battery, which was charged by a solar panel. Even when the power went off, we still had water. When the pump broke, Day used the leather from one of my Birkenstocks — the dogs had chewed up the other — to repair the diaphragm of the pump.

    When Day’s wife got tired of the “primitive” cabin — mainly it was just too small, and she wanted something that kept the heat in a bit better because it helped her husband’s arthritis, he was 20 years older than she — she moved a trailer up there. We still couldn’t hook up the toilets, but it kept the cold out better and propane was easier to get than wood.

    Unless it iced, then snowed and thawed a bit, then iced again and froze hard.

    We lost power, but we never lost water. The people who moved into the cabin (myself and my new husband) were nice and toasty — it was the people living in the “big house” who were frozen. Good thing I was in the cabin, because I came down with a really awful case of pneumonia while we were iced in. Usnea lichen tinctured in half vodka, half water, along with lobelia seeds tinctured in vinegar, kept me alive until my little front-wheel drive Civic could get down the mountain, and the doctor was amazed.