by the Earth First! Journal Collective
Heads up Gulf coasters and Alaskans, Obama wants more of what is killing you and the ecosystems that would sustain you.
In his weekly radio address this week, President Obama announced he will set into motions steps to “increase safe and responsible oil production here at home.”
Obama admitted that U.S. oil production last year was at its highest level since 2003 and said: “I believe we should expand oil production in America…”
This is how he says he’ll do it:
-Directing the Department of the Interior to conduct annual lease sales in Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve.
-Creating a new interagency group to streamline Alaska drilling permits. [ed. note, streamline usually means cutting oversight]
-Expediting evaluations of oil and gas in the mid- and south-Atlantic.
-Extending leases in Gulf of Mexico areas affected by last year’s temporary moratorium after the BP oil spill. [well, most everything in that part of the Gulf is already dead right?]
Despite the millions of gallons of “revenue” and “production” lost from the BP disaster (or perhaps because of the lack of oversight that led to the spill in the first place), US oil production actually increased from 4.95 million barrels per day in 2008 to 5.36 million in 2009 and 5.5 million in 2010.
Once again, the Omaba Administration is attempting to take credit for actions they had nothing to do with. The strong production in the Gulf was due to leases issued in 1996-2000 under the Deepwater Royalty Relief Act – long before President Omaba took office.