Posted by Tina
Energy Policy: Our interior secretary plans to reinstate the offshore drilling moratorium struck down by a federal judge. But if deep-water drilling is so unsafe, why are we helping Brazil drill nearly three times as deep? ** Maybe Secretary Ken Salazar can explain why Britain and others can safely drill in the North Sea and no other nation has suspended its offshore drilling. ** Last August, the U.S. Export-Import Bank issued a “preliminary commitment” letter to Brazil’s state-run Petrobras in the amount of $2 billion, with the promise of more to follow. Why are we lending billions to a foreign oil company that made $15 billion last year? ** These taxpayer dollars finance exploration of the huge offshore discovery in Brazil’s Tupi oil field in the Santos Basin near Rio de Janeiro. Apparently there are no pristine beaches full of tourists there. Someday we may be importing that oil we’re helping Brazil get at. ** Has that letter been rescinded as part of the moratorium? Why are Brazil’s offshore fields safe but ours aren’t? ** The irony is that most of the deep-water rigs idled by the moratorium may shortly be snapped up by a Petrobras apparently undeterred by images of tar balls on Rio’s beaches. Petrobras plans to drill to a depth of 14,022 feet, a depth that makes our 500-foot limit laughable. Brazil is going big-game hunting, and we’re stuck in the petting zoo.
Wasn’t it Peggy (?) who reminded us that George Soros is tied to Petrobras. Hmmm…wasn’t there a great big hoopla made over Dick Cheney’s former associations in the oil business?