Earth Equity News

Quest for Oil: Where to Look Is the Question. By Stephen Power and Ben Casselman, WSJ, June 16, 2008, subscription. "For years, political and environmental obstacles have limited the oil industry's access to large swaths of [environmentally sensitive land]. Democrats have tended to support restrictions... [But] industry backers... say the answer to high [gas] prices is increased supply... [i.e., drilling] in areas now off-limits. Now, voter anger over soaring gasoline prices is shoving this perennial dispute to the top of Washington's energy agenda... Democrats are... arguing it is possible to increase domestic oil production [if oil companies would develop current leases]... The industry and its backers say... companies don't know how much oil is under the lands they lease, so they buy up large swaths... Much of the area that isn't producing, they say, doesn't have oil or gas in commercially viable quantities... [But] such explanations aren't winning over skeptical Democrats... [Last] Thursday, House Democrats introduced legislation that seeks to compel energy companies to either produce or give up the federal onshore and offshore leases they are holding, by barring them from obtaining any more leases unless they can demonstrate that they are producing oil and gas, or are 'diligently developing' the leases they hold... Even if the lands are opened to drilling, however, most experts don't expect immediate relief from high prices... The remote Arctic refuge would take a decade or more. Even once those fields did come online, their impact on prices would likely be limited. The largest field in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is believed to contain about 1.4 billion barrels of oil -- roughly half what Saudi Arabia exports in a single year."