Ed Markey: “I thank the gentleman. I have a suggestion to succinctly tell the whole story about the tens of millions of acres that…”

“I thank the gentleman. I have a suggestion to succinctly tell the whole story about the tens of millions of acres that oil companies are allowing to sit idle. Fox should create a new TV show for the oil companies holding all these idle wells, and it could be called ``American Idle,'' with Exxon and Chevron and BP and all those companies as the contestants. Every week, the oil companies can come and sing their sad tune about needing more taxpayer-owned land to drill even as their lease blocks are left lonely for years at a time and they don't drill at all. {time} 2030 ExxonMobil and BP could sing songs like ``Not Taking Care of Business'' or ``Sitting on a Block in the Bay,'' where the refrain sung by the oil company executives would, of course, be ``wastin' time.'' And Simon Cowell could come back to the show he created so we can all watch as he mocks these companies for their subpar drilling performance. And of course, in typical fashion for the oil industry, they'll still demand to be advanced to the next round of leasing, even though they're doing nothing.…”