Say Anything Blog

That’s right, the liberals at the Forum are crediting Byron “Windfall Profits Tax On Big Oil” Dorgan, the man who has spent the last several years opposing the expansion of domestic oil exploration in places like Alaska, with discovering the massive oil reserves in North Dakota’s Bakken formation.

PRAIRIE ROSES: To Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., and other state and federal officials who pushed for a comprehensive scientific assessment of the oil reserve potential of the Bakken Formation in North Dakota and Montana. The study by the U.S. Geological Survey was released last week, and its findings are amazing. It looks like the formation holds an estimated 3.65 billion barrels of oil, 1.85 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 148 million barrels of natural gas liquids. It’s nothing short of a world-class reserve of energy, right under North Dakota. New exploration and recovery technologies make tapping the formation economically viable. While there is plenty of drilling and pumping activity under way in parts of the Bakken, last week’s news could spur much more. And because the reserves are so large, oil and natural gas activity could be sustained for many years. It’s good news for North Dakota and good news for the nation’s energy security.

The thing is, will Dorgan let the oil in the Bakken be exploited?  He’s opposed the exploitation of other oil reserves in America, why his sudden change of heart on oil reserves in his home state?  Is it because this particular oil deposit stands to benefit a significant number of his constituents?  Which means that he’s basing his stance on oil issues more on political expediency than anything else?

If oil in North Dakota is good for the country’s energy security, what about oil in Alaska?  Or off the gulf coast?

And what about Dorgan’s history of wanting to gouge oil companies with massive new taxes on the very proceeds those companies would use to develop oil deposits like the Bakken?

I fail to see how Dorgan can make a career out of fight the oil industry only to turn around and become an oil hero the minute a big deposit is found in his home state.  Dorgan deserves criticism for his inconsistency and rank opportunism, not praise.