Big Oil: Profits could be higher.

This is amazing. Although the GOP has been making drilling in ANWR a top priority, apparently they've been sneaking the oil companies in the back door and giving them access to other spots-- even though they're already making record profits. So many, in fact, that the oil companies haven't been able to take advantage of all the spots that have opened to them.

From Salon, with a link to the WaPo:

As Congress draws closer to passing budget legislation that includes a provision for opening Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling, other, less publicized federal lands are being drilled for gas and oil at an unprecedented rate. The Washington Post reported late this week that parts of the Rocky Mountain West are now so exposed to industry exploitation that the number of drilling permits issued by the Bureau of Land Management has outpaced the amount of equipment and manpower available to take advantage of them.

That contradicts longstanding claims by the energy industry that restrictive federal regulations have prevented them from getting at America's abundant natural gas deposits. Last year, Big Energy's best friend in Washington, Vice President Dick Cheney decried the fact that "large parts of the Rocky Mountain West are off limits." The BLM proceeded to issue an unprecedented number of drilling permits last year, which continues apace, in spite of energy companies' inability to keep up.

"When you have a huge portfolio of unused leases, why does the Bush administration continue to issue more, especially in environmentally fragile areas?" asked Dave Alberswerth, an analyst for the Wilderness Society.