Next week the Senate will vote on a bill that would remove longstanding protections for coastal areas and open eight million acres of Gulf Coast waters to offshore drilling rigs.
The drilling bill the house passed last month is a complete disaster that ends a 25-year moratorium on oil and gas drilling off our coasts, so we need to make our push with the Senate vote this coming week.
According to the National Resources Defense Council, offshore drilling is the "slowest, dirtiest and most expensive way to produce energy." The measure would do little if anything to reduce skyrocketing gas prices and it would threaten our beaches with pollution and potential oil spills. When you are at the beach this summer, look around and think about the cost to tourism, property, and much more that a big oil slick could cause. Think about the millions of jobs.
Please call your Senator and let him or her know that you don't want some of our most beautiful and vulnerable coast lines opened up to drilling.
That's right! Let's not take any initiative at all to and be less dependent on foreign oil supplies. Sheesshhh!
Posted by: Linda at July 27, 2006 04:15 PMI just checked out the article you posted and it mentions that Democrats are trying to widen the debate to include "possible amendments on automobile efficiency standards and other proposals to lower soaring U.S. energy prices." As I have learned from this site I think that trying to curb and lessen our addiction to oil is the best bet!
I am giving these coastal oil exploration bills a second thought. At first it would seem that drilling in the Gulf of Mexico would be a bad thing. However, PEMEX has been doing it for decades. This is not virgin territory, as beautiful as some of it is. Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) is strongly promoting this bill. I would rather see drilling in the Gulf of Mexico than anywhere off the East Coast, the West Coast or the Arctic Nation Wildlife Reserve. The oil reserves in the Gulf are much richer and drilling would be more productive. YES, we must cut our dependence to oil and carbon fuels. But until we do, we must cut our dependence on imported fuels.
Posted by: Arthur at July 27, 2006 06:13 PMGreat blog, but I disagree strongly. We desperately need more drilling, before the war in the Middle East raises prices to $4-$5 a gallon.
Posted by: Jack Davis at July 27, 2006 07:10 PMDrilling is not the answer, in the short term, and certainly not in the long term. We need to stop spending billions of dollars on a lost cause in Iraq and begin spending that money on alternative fuels. This administration is clueless in so many ways, and energy policy tops the list. Just imagine what we could have done with that $300 billion if we spent it on alternative energy
Posted by: Steve at July 28, 2006 03:37 PMGot this update from the American Progress Report
ENVIRONMENT -- OFFSHORE DRILLING BILL INCHES CLOSER TO PASSAGE: The Senate voted yesterday to end debate on offshore oil drilling legislation, virtually ensuring the bill's passage. The measure, which easily won cloture by a vote of 72-23, "would open a portion of the eastern Gulf of Mexico to drilling while protecting Florida’s west coast." Specifically, it would lift a moratorium in place since 1981 and allow drilling in approximately 8.3 million acres, including "2.5 million within a section known as 'Lease Area 181,' long a prime target for the oil and gas industry." Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Pete Domenici (R-NM) was pleased with yesterday's vote, but unsatisfied with simply accepting victory: “I will in due course argue for opening more, and then more, and then more, and then more,” he said. “That’s how I see it happening. I think this is the first giant step.” While conservatives like Domenici tout the bill as part of a solution for our energy crisis, in reality, Lease Area 181 would only provide the nation with 47 days worth of oil and four months of natural gas. Upon passage, the Senate bill will have to be reconciled with the House version, which would "[open] the nation’s entire coastline to drilling." Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has threatened a filibuster if the Senate bill is altered.
Decreasing demand is the easiest and most effective step toward solving the oil crisis. Instead of pushing for better mileage standards and other demand side solutions, Republicans like Domenici would rather blot the coastline with oil rigs to squeeze a few more drops. Take a drive up to beautiful Santa Barbara sometime (I was there recently), look out at the ocean, and you'll see what I'm talking about. Not pretty.
Posted by: JSM at August 2, 2006 04:21 PMWhen talking about off-shore drilling rigs, you need to look at the bigger picture. Their effect is not just above the waterline. Below the waterline, they act as natural reefs and attract and sustain a profusion of sea life. This is a boon to recreational fishing and scuba diving.
I agree completely that we need to reduce dependace on fossil fuels, but let's use what we have during the transition rather than increasing our dependance on Islamo-fascist (Middle East) or Communist (Venezuela) oil producers.
Posted by: Brian at August 2, 2006 04:40 PMThere is another way. We have the technology and we have the resources to tackle this problem. Another oil rig would be just "another drop in the ocean". Literally.
Posted by: joe at August 2, 2006 10:40 PM