Cuba To Continue Gulf Drilling

HAVANA—Cuban officials say that exploratory drilling to assess the potential for oil reserves in the Gulf of Mexico is likely to resume in the second quarter of this year, a sign that lower world oil prices have not derailed efforts by the Cuban government and its foreign corporate partners to keep moving toward offshore oil production...Cuba believes it has major oil reserves in its waters. But the prospect of exploratory drilling—followed by likely future commercial drilling—in the Florida Straits has fired controversy in the United States, with the expectation that someday, foreign oil firms could be drilling as close as about 50 miles from parts of Florida."

No word on when U.S. Environmentalists will be travelling to Havana for protest activities. I haven't seen any opposition to drilling anywhere in Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Mexico, Russia or any country other than the U.S.

That's because the environmental movement is not about the environment. It's about damaging and cutting the world's largest economy down to size. We're standing in the way of world socialism/corporatism and need to be hamstrung in order to achieve that goal.

Cuba Claims Huge Gulf Oil Reserves

BBC-The state-owned Cuban oil company says the country may have more than 20bn barrels of oil in its offshore fields - more than double the previous estimate.
Cubapetroleo's exploration manager said drilling in the offshore wells would
begin as early as the middle of 2009. Such reserves would place Cuba among
the top 20 oil producing nations. MORE

No word yet on whether US enviro-nuts will be running to Havana and filing lawsuits to stop the drilling. Don't worry. Nancy Pelosi is going to save the planet by preventing drilling on our side of the Gulf.

A Letter To My Congressman

The following was emailed to my congressman, CW Bill Young, serving Florida's 10th District in Pinellas County, Fl. Senators Bill Nelson and Mel Martinez were CC'd.

Dear Congressman Young: If you are already on the house floor this week, please disregard this mail. If not, then I urge you to go there immediately. I am expecting your support of increased drilling for oil and natural gas throughout the United States, wherever those resources may be found. That includes The Gulf Of Mexico up to 25 miles from our shore, which is well over the horizon. As a resident of your district who lives on the Intracoastal Waterway and a stone's throw from the Gulf, I obviously have a direct interest in this matter. However, I can find no rational basis for opposition to exploration and drilling in our waters and remaining the only country that places its oil and gas resources completely off limits.

The hundreds of rigs already in the Gulf have proved to pose almost no environmental threat, despite being battered by numerous storms. Indeed, far more oil and other pollutants enter the Gulf every day due to mere runoff from everyday activities on shore. Our tourism industry would not be harmed but helped, in that people could actually afford the fuel to get here. Additionally, oil exploration in our waters would not only provide greatly increased economic activity at the Port of Tampa, it would bolster our commercial and recreational fishing stocks as these rigs invariably become huge havens for marine life.

We must couple this with exploration and drilling throughout the Outer Continental Shelf and ANWR, additional nuclear power, coal to liquid, shale oil and any other technology that will increase domestic energy supplies.

This is not only an economic issue but one of national security. It is inherently dangerous to depend on oil supplies from governments that at best don't like us very much and in many cases are outright hostile toward the U.S. I'm old enough to remember what happened to this country during the Arab oil embargo of the 1970's. No matter how much we conserve at home, countries like China and India will continue to increase their energy usage at a rapid pace. That's over 30 per cent of the world's population. World demand for oil will go up drastically, no matter what we do or wish would happen. It will also go up here if we still want to grow our economy. Alternative sources such as solar and wind are at least decades away from becoming an efficient substitute for current technologies and as of now are nothing more than a pipe dream and a distraction.

Speaker Pelosi and the Democrat Party have obviously been co-opted by Eco-Marxists whose goals have far more to do with damaging our free market economy than protecting the environment. Democrats are unwilling to do anything that will help the little people they purport to care about and are just insulting our intelligence with silly platitudes and scapegoats.

Pelosi is vulnerable in that her refusal to allow a vote on this issue reveals an admission on her part that she will lose when many Democrats defy her will for their own political survival. As you are well aware, this is winning political issue for your party.

As a congressman whose district is literally on the front lines of this issue, your vocal and unqualified support will prove invaluable in moving this issue forward. I am confident that you have the courage to do what is right for Florida and the Country.

Very Truly Yours,
Cliff Waldron http://www.radclown.com/