Idle leases or just addled minds?

Liberal Democrats who oppose producing more American oil are in a bind.

They know voters are suffering from high energy prices and overwhelmingly want more American oil production. But they can't side with angry citizens and risk upsetting their left-wing base. So they need to make us think they support more drilling—while effectively preventing us from drilling any new wells.

They think they've found a way out: a proposed "use it or lose it" law for energy exploration. Drilling opponents accuse the oil industry of "sitting on" 68 million acres of "non-producing" leased land—and say energy companies must "use" this leased land within 10 years, or lose exploration and drilling rights... [snip]

The proposed legislation rely on the absurd assumption that every acre of leased land contains oil. Obviously, they don't. And the lease law agreements already require that energy companies explore expeditiously, or risk forfeiture of the lease. The Democrats' "solution" would just duplicate these requirements... [snip]

We don't need a "use it or lose it" law—or more big-oil conspiracy theories. Congress simply needs to allow drilling on the 60 percent of onshore federal oil and gas prospects and 85 percent of Outer Continental Shelf prospects that it has placed off-limits...

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