Comment & Debate
“Expanded offshore drilling is no answer to our energy crisis”. Citizen Times. 16 July 2008 – But back to rewriting history — why do oil companies need leases to drill offshore?
On June 26 the U.S. House sent the Senate a bill called “use it or lose it.” The bill, directed at dormant leases covering 68 million acres in the West and Alaska, would require oil companies to either drill on federal land they have leased or relinquish the right to do so. It would deny new federal leases to companies not drilling on acreage already leased. Experts say it’s an area that contains more than 100 billion barrels of oil, according to Senate Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md. That’s more than five times the amount thought to be available offshore.