The ‘Gang of 10‘ energy plan being sold by a bipartisan group of Senators claims to be a ‘compromise‘ that Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) calls “a step in the right direction.” But is it? Does the bill really make an honest attempt to develop more of our domestic energy supplies?
The House All of the Above energy plan includes permanent tax breaks for wind and solar power, as well as lifting oil and natural gas exploration bans in the Outer Continental Shelf and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The Gang of 10 energy plan removes the OCS ban only in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico. The ANWR ban and all of the Pacific OCS bans remain in place and the Atlantic OCS has to get each state’s approval before exploration can begin. Here is a handy chart from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) showing how much oil is estimated to be where:
As you can see, the Gang of 10 plan only opens up 3.87 of the 18.17 billion barrels available in the OCS. Throw in the 10.3 billion barrels that the EIA estimates are in ANWR, and we see that the Gang of 10 opens up only 14% of the 28.47 estimated billion barrels of oil that the House energy plan is trying to open up for American consumers.
