Friday, July 29, 2011

Thank You Obama: Cuba About To Drill Off Florida Coast, Put Coastline In Danger


By Gary P Jackson

We've reported before that Cuba and China are teaming up to steal our oil. They look to "slant-drill [drill sideways] in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico and tap into oil and natural gas reserves that belong to the United States. Thanks to Obama's war on energy production, these two communist nations are doing this unchecked and unchallenged.

Lefties are worried about the environment, but support Obama's moratorium on drilling. As the National Journal points out, this has dire consequences. No one has a better safety record than American drilling companies, and they are forbidden to do business with Cuba, so chances of a BP type oil spill, with disastrous results are almost a given. And unlike BP, the U.S., short of going to war, won't be able to hold Cuba, or China, responsible.


Castro wins

From National Journal:

Sometime over the next three months, if all goes according to plan, Cuban workers on a Chinese-built, Spanish-owned rig will start drilling for oil in the mile-deep waters just off the north coast of Cuba, 70 miles from the Florida Keys.

If the drill hits a major oil deposit—and all geologic signs indicate it will—the discovery will unleash a cascade of developments with profound political, environmental, and economic consequences.

The Cuban government has long wanted to extract the rich reserves of oil and natural gas believed to lie off its shores. Estimates for oil range from 5 billion to 20 billion barrels, while the estimate for natural gas is 8.6 billion cubic feet. Unlocking that oil could jump-start a nascent Cuban offshore-oil industry—and free the island nation from its energy and political dependence on Venezuela, from which it imports 60 percent of its oil today. A newfound independence from its socialist neighbor and its mercurial president, Hugo Chavez—coming at a time when the Cuban leadership is facing change with the eventual demise of Fidel Castro—is an appealing prospect to the United States.

But the potential of a closer relationship with Cuba comes with a terrifying specter: An oil blowout in Cuban waters could reprise the nightmare that was last year’s Gulf of Mexico oil spill, and send crude spewing to the beaches of Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. And the likelihood for such a disaster is very real, say oil industry experts, thanks in part to Washington’s 49-year-old embargo on Cuba.

Because of the embargo, U.S. companies cannot drill in Cuba, supply equipment to Cuba, have any say over safety regulations in Cuba, or even take part in helping control a blowout and spill in Cuba. As the island prepares to begin offshore drilling, it has signed contracts with oil companies from Brazil, India, Italy, Russia, and Spain—and is in talks to lease major portions of its coastal water to Chinese companies (continuing China’s pattern of pursuing oil exploration in countries where U.S. drillers aren’t welcome).

Under the embargo’s terms, the oil drilling and safety equipment used by those companies must be less than 10 percent U.S.-made. But all of the most technologically advanced equipment for drilling and preventing or stopping oil spills is made in the United States or by U.S. companies.

Read more here.

It's incredible to me that we, as a sovereign nation, would allow this to happen, but it underscores why Barrack Obama and every democrat up for re-election must be defeat soundly in 2012. Though a lot of what they stand for harms America and her people, the left's hard line stance against energy development is evil, and immoral.

We've mentioned this numerous times, but it bears repeating: We have over 300 years worth of recoverable oil and natural gas right here in this country. Chad Stafko wrote The President's Oil Reserves Lie for the American Thinker and spells it all out. Read it here.

If all of the areas were opened up, a million jobs would be created in very short order and gasoline prices would drop significantly. Most importantly though, our national security would be enhanced. Being energy secure means we would never again be held hostage by international affairs that threaten supply or production.

There is only one person with the will to make this happen, and that's Sarah Palin. There are many reasons why it is essential that she become our next President, but energy security and national security is the most important. With Sarah Palin leading the charge from the Oval Office, the United States can become the most prosperous and secure nation in history. That would be her lasting legacy, as well as America's.

Meanwhile, we all have to stand by as foreign governments steal our resources and our feckless president and the losers in Congress allow it to happen, without the slightest word of protest. This is the Obama legacy, and the legacy of the Ruling Class.

Thanks to the Obama regime's drilling ban:

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