July 25, 2011 09:47 PM UTC

"Drill Baby, Drill" (Is a Load of Crap)

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• by: Colorado Pols

This report Friday from the Colorado Independent’s David O. Williams shouldn’t slip away unmentioned:

U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Colo., in June introduced the Facilitating American Security Through Energy Resources Act (FASTER), and Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., introduced the American Energy and Western Jobs Act in May. Both bills look to streamline the regulatory process for oil and gas companies drilling on U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands.

Despite a study by the Interior Department showing half of all onshore federal leases are not currently being utilized by the oil and gas industry, the GOP drumbeat has been steady – more leasing means more drilling means more jobs and lower prices at the pump.

And besides, industry and friendly lawmakers point out, leases are broad swaths that have to be explored, oil and gas has to be found and permits then need to be issued in a timely fashion in order for drilling to actually occur.

Now comes a new study from the Wilderness Society showing that the oil and gas industry is sitting on thousands of actual permits that are not in production – the vast majority of them in the Rocky Mountain West…

“Drill Baby, Drill” goes the mantra from Republicans and backers in the energy industry, but what’s really at stake here is future profits, and future control of domestic energy production. Despite the blame put on regulatory authorities for a “lack” of domestic production, the industry simply doesn’t have the capacity to develop all of the leases already in their possession–including huge new leases granted under the Bush administration that nobody expects to be developed for years. The “stockpiling” of unused leases and drilling permits by energy companies serves their financial interests, but it belies political claims that the industry isn’t being “allowed to drill.” The price of gasoline to consumers, the issue that’s supposed to be driving all of this “Drill Baby, Drill” angst, won’t be helped in the least by speeding up a regulatory process that has by all appearances already outpaced the industry’s ability to develop the resources.

Like we said, it’s not about the price of gas.