SteveB/Colorado

Tight Sands Natural Gas: An Ignored and Promising U.S. Energy Frontier

Well, this is an interesting thread. Unfortunately, Mr. Dar's commentary about a lack of political will in D.C. & public policy hostility is not supported by objective evidence. One only needs to count the leases granted to energy companies here in the West in the past 8 years. Drilling isn't happening; wells are being capped and rigs idled; because we are in a recession and demand is way down.

Joe H. referenced "greenie blowhards" and FlipDog wrote "why are producers punished and 'drill here, drill now." Sorry guys, but you're both guilty of not doing your homework. As of June, 2008, energy companies held over 67 million acres of undeveloped oil & gas leases; onshore, mostly here in the West, and offshore (source: Republicans for Environmental Protection). It's not the environmental lobby stopping production; it's the companies themselves. And the June, 2008 figure comes from just before the recession fully kicked in. My thought is to grant no more leases of public land until the companies get the backlog down below 10 million acres.