Lies so big you can see them from space

Just when I thought there was going to be a break, that final smear of excrement in the corner of the office pipes up on its home camera in front of a curled printout of the CEI logo of the Earth bearing Saturn's rings to drop his lies about drilling for more oil in the Depleted States of America.



According to space alien Myron -- whose job will not be done until the climate of the Earth becomes like Venus where it rains concentrated sulphuric acid -- high oil prices are a result of environmentalist pressure on the US government to ban oil drilling in Federal lands and off-shore areas.

Yeah, and how many secret meetings did Greenpeace hold with Dick Cheney in the last 8 years, exactly?

But let's listen to what he says:

The public is angry over high gasoline prices.

Environmental pressure groups and many in Congress [smirk] have responded over and over again: "We can't drill our way out of this problem."

They say that and then they say the reason is because the United States consumes 25% of the world's oil, but has only 3% of the reserves.

What they don't say is: "The United States only has 3% of the proven reserves."

The reason we have only 3% of the proven reserves is because Congress and pressure from environmental groups has made off-limits 85% of our off-shore areas and large areas that have huge oil and gas potential in Alaska and the Rocky Mountains on Federal land. Those areas can't be explored, and therefore they have no proven reserves, because proven reserves mean drilling a well and finding oil.

So the next time you hear the words, "We can't drill our way out of the problem," just tell them, "Yes we can."

I'm Myron Ebell with the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

Let's think about the world's oil reserves. Nobody knows what it is, so saying something is 3% of it makes no sense. In any case, he's forgetting to count Iraq, whose reserves have been annexed by US oil companies.

But that's beside the point. The fact is that the leasing and drilling activity in Public lands has been at a record high under the Bush administration, not surprisingly. The industry is working at max capacity and creating as much environmental pollution as it possibly can -- which makes Myron Ebell pleased.

The oil companies, through mouthpieces such as Myron, always, always exaggerate the situation and the dire threats posed by any regulation whatsoever, that it is left to other people to produce analyses that, you know, contain numbers that can be checked out. For example:

• Economically recoverable gas in national forest roadless areas of our study area would meet total U.S. gas consumption for about 9 to 11 weeks.


• Economically recoverable oil in those roadless areas would meet total U.S. oil consumption for less than 24 days.


• The 15 national monuments contain less than six days of gas use and 15 days of oil use for the United States.

As to the usual cries to drill the last tiny corner of Alaska that hasn't yet been drilled, I'm sick to death of it. The area is miniscule and has hardly any oil. Myron would be happy to personally plow it under the treads of his fat SUV.

But that's not the point. The point is psychological. By hammering this one tiny sore spot over and over again like a demented devil-child as though it were something really big, Myron and his pals keep the opposition occupied over something that is basically inconsequential. This means they can get on with the real work hastening the extinction of the human race.

And finally, the topic of off-shore drilling has been so packed with lies like this one about China drilling off the coast of Florida, and this one about there being no oil pollution as a result of Hurricane Katrina, that it's no surprise to find Myron picking it up.

There is no limitation imposed by off-shore drilling moratoriums. As in the Rockies, the oil companies are running at max capacity on a surplus of leases they already have. This is their final chance to grab a set of valuable new leases which they can bank for the future from the most oil friendly administration in the history of the Union.

Myron is just a front man for the lies necessary to cover over for this outrageous give-away.

And remember, the issue is not about money. It's about power. The more free money the oil companies can get, the more power they can buy with it, and the more incredible damage they can do in less time to all life on this planet.