Flaglerlive.com - February 19, 2012

Last Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would compel the federal Bureau of Land Management to lease potentially up to half a million acres of federal land in Utah, Colorado and Wyoming to oil companies to “research” and explore oil shale and tar sands development, two largely unproven or prohibitive technologies. A wind production tax credit, meanwhile, failed to pass the House. Canada is developing tar sands at immense environmental and energy costs: it takes burning a barrel of oil to produce three barrels of oil from tar sands (so marketable production is two barrels for every three produced). Tar sands production in Canada consumes enough energy to heat nearly all the homes in the country. Oil shale has never been produced effectively despite a century of experimenting because, as Elizabeth Kolbert described it in an article on synthetic fuels for The New Yorker, it “involves basically rewriting genealogical history.” That history also involves bleak experiments by Exxon Mobil thatresulted in mass layoffs. During debate over the bill, Kathy Castor, D-Fla., proposed an amendment that would have done just that: it would have prevented drilling within 5 miles of any of the Great Lakes or the Everglades. The amendment failed on a 241-176 vote, with 17 of Florida’s House members, including Mica and Sandy Adams, rejecting it. For her speech, and full article, click here.