"block drilling" is a correct and usable phrase in written English.
It is typically used to refer to a type of military training in which members of a unit are drilled together in synchronized movements. For example, "The recruits went through an intensive session of block drilling, learning the basics of marching and formations."
Though the vote to block drilling in the arctic was a setback, the energy industry has won many appointments and regulatory decisions in the Bush administration.
Leaders of the Northern Cheyenne tribe, meanwhile, have been using similar arguments to block drilling for coal-bed methane near their reservation in Montana.
Last month, presidential candidate Hilary Clinton Clinton said she would block drilling off the coast of Alaska, injecting a huge degree of uncertainty into Shell's plans for the region.
By voting this week to block drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the Senate dealt a setback to the petroleum industry and to President Bush, who had made oil exploration in the refuge a cornerstone of his national energy policy.
Maria Cantwell, a former high-tech manager, buttonholed colleagues to block drilling, even donning a similar "Incredible Hulk" tie to the one Mr Stevens wears when he goes into battle.Ms Cantwell's greenery has gone down well in her home state especially the populous western half where most of the Democrats are gathered.
We chose a lateral flexible tether because, when compared to ablative procedures such as a Phemister bone block, drilling or a vertical screw, the femoral neck growth is optimized rather than restricted.
The Teamsters union, eager to create jobs, joined forces with Republican leaders in the uphill battle to persuade members to reject an amendment that would have blocked drilling.
On one last week, the Senate essentially blocked drilling for oil and gas in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, another political defeat for the president, who made new exploration in Alaska a central element of his energy policy.
For more than 20 years Congress has blocked drilling for oil and natural gas on a tiny piece of the 19-million-acre Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, even though experts estimate that this 2,000-acre 2,000-acre0 billion bareals or more of oil.
What's especially absurd about all this is that ending the federal moratorium on offshore drilling would probably add only another 8 billion barrels (assuming California still blocks drilling off its coast) -- one fifth of what was opened for drilling offshore two years ago.
The oil companies already have access to some 34 billion barrels of offshore oil they haven't even developed yet, but ending the federal moratorium on offshore drilling would probably add only another 8 billion barrels (assuming California still blocks drilling off its coast).
