Drill Here, Drill Now! (not really.....)

The folks at Investor's Business Daily have seem to be saying the the Democrats proposed Drilling Bill is a bit of Election stage dressing.  Political gamesmanship with such an important issue? Of course!

This type of Bill-for-elections-sake concocting is usual.  Everybody in Washington (and the Press) knows the game that being played.  Well, almost everybody.  There appears to be a small band of easily duped Republican Senators who are seemingly oblivious to the game being played, and who have signed on to vouchsafe this fraud on the people while proving air cover for the Democrats.  Well,on November 4th, you get to express your opinion on this one way or the other...

The House is likely to vote either Tuesday or Wednesday on a bill that would let states approve offshore drilling from 50 to 100 miles off their coastlines. Beyond that, drilling would be allowed with no regard to what the states want. The eastern Gulf of Mexico would be closed until 2022.

But the bill does not include "revenue sharing" with the states. That is, they won't get a cut of the profits from drilling.

Sham Legislation?

Without that, argue Republicans, oil industry spokesmen and state representatives, the bill has no incentive for states to actually allow drilling.

"If you are going to do it, there should be revenue sharing with the states," said Tamra Spielvogel,representing the National Conference of State Legislatures [NCSL].

The nonpartisan NCSL is neutral on the congressional debate itself, but has called for at least 50% revenue sharing with states should Congress pass a drilling bill.

Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., a leading pro-drilling voice, said a "strong financial incentive" to states is key to any compromise.

Anything short of that smacks of a less-than-serious attempt to expand domestic drilling, he says.

Cathy Landry, a spokeswoman for the American Petroleum Institute, described the 50-to-100-mile region off of state coasts as "the sweet spot." But she too said that without revenue sharing, states won't be on board.

Giving the all-clear to far-offshore drilling won't do much either, she said.

"Essentially they are saying, oh, you can have 100 miles out. Well, in many of these places there is no infrastructure at all and it is likely deep water and incredibly expensive" to drill, Landry said. "Companies are going to say, 'Should I go out into the middle of nowhere or should I go abroad where investment is more palatable?' "   MORE....