Republicans press Obama to back FEMA $$ bill as storm nears

The House voted Friday to fund the Federal Emergency Management Agency amid the partial government shutdown, with Republicans casting the bill as an emergency measure to help Americans threatened by the approaching tropical storm. 

The bill was one of several House Republicans have pushed in recent days to fund chunks of the government. 

They've been pressuring Democrats, with little success, to support these mini-spending measures while the budget impasse drags on. Republicans upped that pressure on Friday, saying disaster response is critical as Tropical Storm Karen tracks toward the Gulf Coast and is poised to hit this weekend. 

"When you've got a storm in the Gulf of Mexico, this is not a time for partisanship," Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., said after the vote, flanked by Gulf state lawmakers. Scalise called on President Obama to remove his veto threat and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to pass the bill in the Senate. 

"This is about people's lives, people's businesses," Rep. Randy Weber, R-Texas, said. 

The House voted 247-164 to approve the FEMA spending bill. 

The chamber plans to vote later in the day on nutrition services for low-income women and children. 

Via: Fox News

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‘The President’s All-of-the-Above Energy Strategy’ and Other Self-Delusions

We’ve been having area-wide lease sales over the same portions of the Gulf of Mexico for the last 30 years. Despite this week’s tepid response at the Western GoM Sale (shelf and deepwater offshore Texas, mostly), the press release from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management would have you thinking it was a smashing success.

Western Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale Yields $102.4 Million in High Bids on More Than 300,000 Acres

As part of President Obama’s all-of-the-above energy strategy to continue to expand safe and responsible domestic energy production, the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management today held Western Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 233, . . . [blah, blah, blah & etc.]

But the Oil and Gas Journal cuts through the self-congratulatory baloney:

Lackluster western gulf lease sale draws $102 million in bids

The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s western Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 233 offshore Texas netted $102,351,712 in apparent high bids—less than the first two sales in the Obama administration’s Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas leasing program for 2012–17.

Twelve offshore companies submitted 61 bids for 53 tracts covering 301,006 acres. Nearly 21 million acres were available for oil and natural gas exploration and development.

It was even worse than that. Two adjoining blocks accounted for fully 50% of the total high bids. Almost all of the action was in deepwater, and few blocks drew bids that substantially exceeded the minimum bid level. Only four, count ‘em four, shelf blocks drew any bidding attention at all.

In fairness, the shelf in the Western Gulf is gas-prone, and gas prices are historically low compared to oil. But industry’s tepid response to the sale also reflects concern about Interior’s increasingly stifling and costly approach to regulation.

Also this week we were graced with a blog post from White House economic advisors Jason Furman and Gene Sperling (AFAIK no relation to the Hair Club for Men guy). The thrust of it is taking credit for the positive impact that the energy sector has had on GDP growth, the balance of trade and on job creation. I’ll only comment about a couple of their more noteworthy claims, which have become talking points for the Administration:

The President established a national goal in 2011 to reduce oil imports by one third by 2020 and elevated the goal in 2012 to reduce them by one half by 2020. We are currently on track to meet this ambitious goal if we continue to follow through on the policies that are critical to achieving it.

That’s accompanied by this graph:

 Via: Human Events

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Head Propaganda Czar Jay Carney: We “Haven’t Rejected” The Keystone Pipeline…

(CNSNews.com) – White House Spokesman Jay Carney said that the Obama administration had not “rejected” the Keystone pipeline, despite the fact that the president did, in fact, cancel the project after congressional Republicans forced him to make a decision.

“First of all, the Keystone Pipeline is a process. We haven’t rejected anything,” Carney told reporters Thursday.

Carney had been asked by ABC News’ Jake Tapper why the White House used the term ‘all-of-the-above’ to describe its energy policy when it had rejected Republican ideas like Keystone.

“It’s a process that is underway at the State Department that was delayed because – for two reasons – one because of concern by folks in Nebraska including the Republican governor about the original proposed route and then because of Congress’ [and] House Republicans’ insistence on including it as part of the payroll tax cut extension,” Carney continued.

However, the White House did reject the Keystone Pipeline in January, formally denying the application of TransCanada – the company hoping to build the pipeline – to begin work on the project. Federal permission was needed because the pipeline crossed national boundaries – running from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.

Via: CNSNews

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