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The Truth About America’s Energy:Big Oil Stockpiles Supplies and Pockets Profits

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The fact is the U.S. simply can’t drill its way to lower prices at the pump. Other options, from greater energy efficiencies to the development of alternative fuels, are essential to reducing dependency on petroleum fuels and lowering fuel costs. Since the 1990s, drilling on federal lands has steadily increased as a result of federal government policies that encourage development. The number of drilling permits has exploded in recent years, rising from 3,802 five years ago to 7,561 in 2007. Between 1999-2007, the number of drilling permits issued in public lands increased by over 361%, yet gasoline prices have also risen dramatically, contradicting the argument that more drilling means lower gasoline prices. There is simply no correlation between the two. Even if increased domestic drilling could reduce gas prices, there’s no justification to open additional federal lands because oil and gas companies can’t keep pace with the number of drilling permits the federal government is handing out. Over the past four years, the Bureau of Land Management has issued 28,776 permits to drill on public land – 18,954 wells were actually drilled. That means companies have stockpiled nearly 10,000 extra permits. The Feds have made 47.5 million acres of on-shore […]

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Greening the Capitol:The House (but not the Senate) Cleans up its Act

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by Jenifer Joy Madden Cafeteria stations feature fresh-made wraps and salads, hormone-free burgers and mounds of fruit arrayed on bamboo mats. Food is served on compostable sugar cane plates and beverages in cornstarch cups. Receptacles invite easy waste separation. Welcome to the Longworth House Office Building Café in Washington, D.C. The food service makeover is a tip-off to how fast things are changing in one branch of the U.S. legislature. Just over a year ago-March 1, 2007-newly elected Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued her edict: the House of Representatives must become carbon neutral by the end of this year and cut its carbon footprint in half within a decade. The Speaker’s first order of business was to lure Dan Beard out of semi-retirement to act as Greening Czar. Beard previously held top jobs in the Interior Department’s Bureau of Reclamation, the House Appropriations and Natural Resources Committee and the National Audubon Society. On arrival, Beard confronted the status quo. In 2006, the House was responsible for 91,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions, equal to the output of 17,200 cars. Heating and air conditioning came from an ancient carbon-belching coal-fueled plant, the third largest source of air pollution in the District of […]

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