Not Expanding Drilling May Cost US $2.4 Trillion

By Tom Doggett Tom DoggettTue Feb 16, 7:34 am ET
Yahoo News
This is a most amazing story to be published at this time.  Consider this if limited or no more drilling for oil and gas in the US  would cost us 2.4 Trillion Dollars how much has limiting and locking up Federal Land and off shore drilling since 1970 cost the US ecomony? 6 Trillion Dollars ? 8 Trillion Dollars?  The true answer is the total amount of money that the US has spent over the last 40 years in purchasing crude oil and gas from foreign countries, add to that all the petro-chemical products bought in the same time period, add now all of the US business profits and employee salary and wages that never came into being to drill, pipe, transport, refine, distill, and then sell locally, as well as sell those products in stores and the like coast to cost and the figure would more than likely come out to be in excess of 14 Trillion Dollars that everyone nationwide has paid the price for in loss of income and taxes.  All the while the US has been hemorraging trillions of dollars to nations that hate us and would seek our destruction.


14 Trillion Dollars is such a vast sum of money that the mind can not comprehend the value or worth of it.  And yet in this one area not becoming oil and gas self-suffiencent has cost this nation and its people
14 Trillion Dollars.  Add not to that our internation trade imbalance over the same period of time, as well as the money that congress has thrown overboard to nations around the world, and finally the money that the Fed has embezzeled from the US to fund its own agenda and together these would add up close to 34 Trillion Dollars or what some report our true national debt to be.

 

Far from being a protector of our nation and our national interests Congress has instead been on a quest to contrain restrain control and limit US business and commerce.  It is time to consider the real cost to this nation and its people of all of the laws and regulations that have been passed over the last 40 years that have instead of clearing the way for new business and greater commerce have instead staved off and strangled them down to a whimper of what they could be.      

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. economy will lose $2.4 trillion over the next two decades if the federal government does not allow oil and natural gas drilling in restricted onshore lands and in offshore areas previously closed to energy companies, according to a new study released on Monday.

The report, prepared for the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, also said U.S. imports of crude oil, petroleum products and natural gas would increase by $1.6 trillion over the period without access to the energy resources.

In particular, the United States is expected to pay the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) $607 billion for an extra 4.1 billion barrels of crude, the report said.

Separate congressional and presidential bans on drilling in most U.S. waters beyond the western and central Gulf of Mexico ended in 2008, and the Interior Department is now considering whether to expand exploration in only a small part of the formerly closed areas.

"It's clear from this report that the status quo on energy production simply won't suffice," said David Parker, president of the American Gas Association. "We encourage lawmakers to heed the results of this study and take a closer look at the energy-rich areas in our country that are currently off limits."

Many environmental groups say the United States should rely less on oil and gas and more on cleaner energy sources like wind and solar.

The study also raised the estimated U.S. oil and gas resources that are available in all areas based on advance drilling technology and easier development of energy supplies trapped in shale rock.

As a result, U.S. resources of crude oil were increased by 43 billion barrels to 229 billion and natural gas was raised by 286 trillion cubic feet to 2,034 trillion cubic feet.