Obama blocks US from drilling off our coasts-Cuba moves in

The Viking wrote: So now Cuba and The Castro Regime is partnering with China, Spain, France, and Canada and will begin drilling off the coast of Florida next year...

It depends on the writer's definition of what "off the coast of Florida" means. When I read the original story which was several clicks deep in the linked article I learned the area they want to drill is "22 miles north of Havana and 65 miles south of the Marquesas Keys."

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/09/29/1 ... -than.html

I suppose 65 miles south of the Marquesas Keys could be framed as "off the coast of Florida" by some. But it's 3 times the distance from the Florida Keys as it is from the Cuban coast.

The Wall Street Journal gave this description of the drilling area:

"A foreign oil company plans to drill off Cuba, just 60 miles south of Key West, the Wall Street Journal has quoted Repsol spokeswoman Maria Ritter as saying."

By point of reference, the Marquesas Keys are about 20 due west of Key West. Take a right there, go 65 miles south and you are at the drilling area that is "off the coast of Florida" according to the obviously slanted original article. You're also 22 miles from Cuba at that point.

It seems like a stretch to tie the Cuba drilling thing into something connected with the U.S. drilling moratorium. It appears they are drilling about half the distance from their shore than BP was drilling Deepwater Horizon and could do so whether there is a U.S. drilling moratorium or not because it's in their EEZ.

By virtue of the Law of the Sea, which the US has signed but not ratified, each nation controls an Exclusive Economic Zone that extends 200 nautical miles from its shore. The EEZ confers exclusive rights to a nation to explore and produce minerals, including oil and gas. In areas within 200 nautical miles of two or more nations, the territorial line is drawn equidistant from the shores of the two nations. (That would be about 45 miles south of the Keys for the U.S. and 45 miles north Cuba for that nation).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offshore_o ... ted_States

So how did a location 65 miles south of the Keys but only 25 miles off the coasts of Cuba (in their own Exclusive Economic Zone) end up being "off the Florida coast"?

That's just one "fact" I question.

Another is "the no zone." Apparently, from the wikipedia article above, "the no zone" was put into place by another president who blocked drilling for a decade:

"In 1990, President George H. W. Bush issued an executive moratorium restricting federal offshore leasing to Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and parts of Alaska. The moratorium banned federal leasing through the year 2000 off the East Coast, West Coast, the eastern Gulf of Mexico (offshore Florida Gulf Coast), and the Northern Aleutian Basin of Alaska. In 1998, President Bill Clinton extended the moratorium through 2012. In July 2008, President George W. Bush rescinded the executive order."

Don't you know? No country has the right to persue it's own interests unless they coincide with American interests.. Never mind what the map says, maps lie, it's our world.

Don't go troubling anyones minds with petty facts now. Don't you know all the worlds resources are ours? How dare Cuba try to profit of their own oil.

Nmysys wrote: What justification can there be? Will our Liberals please tell us?

We poor stupid Conservatives need your wisdom and guidance!

Oh, I see, we are being responsible in spreading the wealth to the rest of the world at the expense of the 2%. No, then what could possibly be the reason? We can't drill but they can. Do they need it more than we do?

Why should any liberal bother to answer this thread with an explanation? It would be a waste of time since you have us all on ignore.

Nmysys wrote: What justification can there be? Will our Liberals please tell us?

We poor stupid Conservatives need your wisdom and guidance!

You should direct that question to the president who set up the first "no zone" and 10-year drilling moratorium that banned federal leasing off the East Coast, West Coast, the eastern Gulf of Mexico (offshore Florida Gulf Coast), and the Northern Aleutian Basin of Alaska.

That would be George H.W. Bush.

Never mind. I forgot you have me on ignore.

kneb, is right on and I agree with her, she is good socialist and knows truth! Its cuba's oil not america's, bush was horriable president, all liberals know that.

Batifa Zaxo wrote: kneb, is right on and I agree with her, she is good socialist and knows truth! Its cuba's oil not america's, bush was horriable president, all liberals know that.

Hey, FYI, it's not working. It's not funny at all, it's just stupid. Maybe I should do what your trying to do so you can see how it's done?

The Viking wrote: Democrats have blocked one effort after another to responsibly develop the energy resources our country possesses, transforming vast areas of opportunity into “The No Zone.”

The map is the same as it was in 1990 when Republican president George H.W. Bush signed a 10-year moratorium on drilling in those areas. The only time the moratorium has not been in place since then is when his son rescinded the moratorium in 2008.

So please don't be intellectually dishonest and say the Democrats are blocking an opportunity to responsibly develop energy resources. It started on the Republican watch 20 years ago.

:rofl Bush is blocking offshore oil...

Both sides have been blocking offshore drilling since 1990, except for one year when the oil lobby managed to somehow(?) convince George W. Bush to drop the moratorium.