Earth Equity News

Big Oil: Gettin' While the Gettin's (Still) Good. Editorial, NYTimes, June 19, 2008. "There is no doubt that a lot of people have been... genuinely hurt by $4-a-gallon gas. But... the Energy Information Administration says that even if both coasts were opened, prices would not begin to drop until 2030. The only real beneficiaries will be the oil companies that are trying to lock up every last acre of public land before their friends in power... exit the political stage... Separate studies by the House Committee on Natural Resources and the Wilderness Society... show that roughly three-quarters of the 90 million-plus acres of federal land being leased by the oil companies onshore and off are not being used to produce energy. That is 68 million acres altogether, among them potentially highly productive leases in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska. With that in mind, four influential House Democrats -- Edward Markey, Nick Rahall, Rahm Emanuel and Maurice Hinchey -- have introduced 'use it or lose it' bills that would force the companies to begin exploiting the leases they have before getting any more. Companion bills have been introduced in the Senate, where suspicions also run high that industry's main objective is to stockpile millions of additional acres of public land before the Bush administration leaves town. This cannot be allowed to happen."