Unused oil drilling permits: 9300

Watching Cspan at lunch of the House debt on taxes and energy Rep Emanual stated there are currently 9300 unused oil drilling permits in the US. The counter to the statement was from Rep McCrery: There must be a reason for them being unused.

Yes, obviously if they are unused there is a reason. Any guess? Of course, that they are unused McCrery noted is the reason why we need to drill in ANWR and all 3 coasts; East, West, Gulf. Rep

McCrery seems to imply here that the permits are unusable. Well, if they are unusable, then why are they still open? Why have they not been returned as unusable and thus the ares of permit removed from the list of viable drilling property.

Fascinating. Being that we are not opening up any new refineries which is blamed on all sorts of things (usually those tree hugger types) where would all this oil, whether from the republican wish list of holes in the ground or the current 9300 ok’d potential holes in the ground be refined? If not here, then we are exporting crude. Will that offset our import costs?