Alaskan oil on life support, Obama pulls potential leases

We all know Obama has a war on not only coal, but all fossil fuels. He has placed drill moratoriums on most U.S. off-shore waters but allowed one lease to go through: one for Shell in the Alaskan Beaufort Sea several years ago.

But that exploratory lease was fraught with problems: radical environmental groups filed suit in July of 2012 to try and stop Shell’s drilling. This on top of Alaska lawmakers asking NOAA and other federal agencies to send protection for Shell’s drill ships as Greenpeace was following them and vowing to stop them.

Then we have washed up actress Lucy Lawless arrested when she turned pirate and tried to board one of Shell’s ships.

Shell kept throwing millions at their project despite Obama’s endless regulations, new and old. It’s enormous rig broke free three years ago and slowed everything down.

Then in January of this year, Obama revoked Alaskan areas he declared could be potentially leased.

Shell got so fed up they decided to call it quits in the Arctic giving Vladimir Putin the potential of grabbing most of the Arctic oil. Their statement of “why” was they didn’t believe the amount of oil was there they originally believed. This author thinks that’s hogwash. But I’ve been wrong before.

Now to find out yesterday Obama’s Interior Dept., namely Sally Jewell, decided to cancel all potential leases for Alaskan off shore drilling. Senator Lisa Murkowski states she heard the news in a voice mail from Jewell. Rep. Don Young suggested a lawsuit.

Anchorage NBC station KTUU has a short video describing in more detail the news:

“In light of Shell’s announcement, the amount of acreage already under lease and current market conditions, it does not make sense to prepare for lease sales in the Arctic in the next year and a half,” Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell said, according to the Interior Department statement.

The Institute for Energy Research tells us an estimated one third of Alaska’s jobs are dependent on oil and accounts for 85% of the state’s revenue.

If these statistics aren’t scary enough, TAPS, or the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline system, an engineering marvel, has the capacity to carry 2.2 million barrels of oil a day. Because of the lack of drilling since Obama took office, the amount of oil carried per day is now about 500,000 barrels. Down by 75%. And that figure could go down even further. And the worse part of this scenario would be Obama’s biggest wet dream. If the pipeline one day ceases to carry oil, by law it must be dismantled. That would be a huge tragedy and a slap in the face to all those who built this pipeline. One of this author’s biggest lifetime thrills was visiting Fairbanks and standing under the pipeline.

House Natural Resources Committee Chair Rep. Rob Bishop (R-UT) had this statement:

“This Administration has dangerous priorities. It drives Shell out of the Arctic by giving the company regulatory hell for years, then uses this victory for big special interest groups to stop any hope for future energy development in the Arctic. While the Obama Administration pats itself on the back, Putin is patting this Administration on the head. Obama has once again played directly into Russia’s hands as he destroys our nation’s energy potential.”

Obama seems to be deliberately striking a blow to the Alaskan economy and also to all Americans by denying us oil that is right here in our own country, thus having to buy oil from countries who don’t like us very much.