Bush/McCain Overlap #763
Our fearless leader has killed the 27 year old moratorium on drilling offshore of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
Bush's Announcement can be watched here.
All we can do now is sit tight and hope our congressmen and women have a spine. This will be tough, considering finding oil in the OCS could lower the already astronomical gas prices for their constituencies.
The definition of irony: The original moratorium was started by none other than Papa Bush.
Environmental agencies are up in arms about the risk that offshore drilling poses to the waters surrounding the US. However, some people aren't as convinced. For example:
'I think people are reassured that not a drop of oil was spilled during Katrina or Rita. Those rigs in the Gulf, there was not a single incident of spillage that anyone reported.'
-Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
That is a lie. Here is the truth. And here. And here.
You know who else is on board with these lies? None other than Johnny Mac!
Here's his position (that is wrong).
Four more years of Bush. Makes me nauseous.
P.S. McCain supported the moratorium during his presidential bid in '99. Flip. Flop Flip. Flop.
2 comments:
This entire post completely ignores the fact that we are, at the moment, subject to an enormous energy crisis. First of all, it makes sense that McCain would suddenly NOW want to start offshore drilling. After all, in 1999, gas didn't cost $4 a gallon, did it? Second, McConnell may have misspoken, but the truth is that there better be a damn significant threat to those waters (more than something, say, you find on another blog) if we're not going to drill there. In fact, beyond the point of something from The Day after Tomorrow, I can't think of any detrimental environmental factors that should take priority right now over new energy sources. This is important, in other words, beyond anything else-- especially right now.
1. It takes a hell of a long time to find and drill for oil in the ocean. In fact, there is even a shortage of ships to do it (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/19/business/19drillship.html). By the time that any significant amount of oil is coming out of the continental shelf, China and India (and a whole host of other developing countries) will have grown enormously and be even more oil-thirsty. The principal reason for the rise in oil prices is simple: supply and demand. Lots of people want a lot of oil, so it costs a lot of money. Drilling in the continental shelf will not produce enough oil to meaningfully alter the supply and demand equation here. Ergo, it will not lower prices.
2. Oil companies already have leases to plenty of land where they are not drilling. If we are actually trying to produce more oil to lower prices, then why don't we urge or subsidize or whatever in order to get them to drill in these places?
3. This is a clear opportunity to take advantage on the high incentive to invest in a long-term solution (alternative energies from wind to solar to nuclear). If, Jeremy, you are actually so concerned about new energy sources, then why are you so interested in squeezing every last drop out of places where there is not that much oil in the first place?
4. Not that I think we should do this, but if we actually wanted to lower gas prices in America, we would release some oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
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