Originally Posted by Rochard

Permits came screaming to a halt due to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

This is nothing more than cherry picking stats. One sides picks a date range that produces stats that is favorable to their argument and ignores the rest. They picked a date range when permits dropped due to an environmental disaster and ignore that fact that oil production went up during the same period.

Originally Posted by crockett

Well for starters, new land isn't just coming out of no where.. Unless we take over Canada there isn't any new BLM land to just give away to the oil companies like they would like.

See the right thinks just because there is govt owned land, that oil companies should have access to all of it for their profit taking. The Right fails to realize that federal land is owned by the citizens of this country for their usage not just big oil's.

Therefore when Obama decided it wasn't worth the risk of damaging much of this environmentally sensitive land forever when compared to the oil it would produce. Obama decided the best option was to protect the federal land so that all US citizens could enjoy it and not just let big oil ruin it while gouging the American pubic.

Added bonus even Jeb Bush whom was a Republican Governor of Florida was against drilling off the Fl coast due to the negative impact it would have on Florida tourism. Not to mention the environmental issues that would occur if a spill took place.

God damn Liberal Jeb Bush I bet he even runs for President in 2016. Fucking Commie not letting big oil have their way! Oust him!