BLOG WATCH
Last updated: 5:33 am
July 20, 2008
Posted: 5:17 am
July 20, 2008
Oil's well
Ed Morrissey at hotair.com notices a spectacular cause and effect: More oil means lower prices.
"The Bush administration didn't waste much time after its lifting of the executive ban on off-shore drilling to make its second big gesture towards the oil markets. Late yesterday, the Bureau of Land Management opened 3.9 million acres of land in Alaska for drilling and exploration. The land had already been reserved for petroleum production, but had been kept in limbo by complaints and legal action by environmentalists. According to the New York Times, the field could contain as much as 3.7 billion barrels of oil. It could start producing oil by 2010, far shorter than the seven years that opponents of drilling claim for both off-shore and interior use. Oil prices have tumbled the last two days since Bush lifted the executive order. The price on a barrel of oil fell more than $10, the largest such reduction in almost 20 years. Analysts in the media claim that the prices have fallen due to "demand destruction" and the fears of a long economic slowdown in the US, in which less energy will get expended. However, that doesn't take into account the rising demand from China and India, which is expected to grow - and so a lack of American demand doesn't make a lot of sense as the reason for the sharp drop. The markets may have begun to factor in more American production - and more moves to open resources in the US could add to the momentum."
Firing blanks
Apparently winning in the Supreme Court doesn't change much, Jacob Sullum notes at Reason.com.
