DRILL, BABY DRILL? NOT HARDLY
My latest at PJ Media is up. It examines President Obama’s new offshore drilling policy.
In fact, what Obama giveth with one hand, he taketh away with another. Some leases already in motion have been canceled while potentially huge deposits of oil and natural gas are still off-limits, including the entire Pacific coastline of the United States from the Mexican border to Canada. In addition, in order to expand drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, the president must get the authorization of Congress. This would have been a snap when gas was $4 a gallon, but is much less a certainty today.
Other leases that had been approved in Alaska have also been canceled for further environmental study. Of course, the president didn’t even bother to mention the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge — sacred calving grounds of the porcupine caribou — which would yield as many barrels of oil as all the areas the president opened for drilling combined. And the slow motion approval process guarantees that I will be retired and getting to and from our little grocery store here in Streator, Illinois, riding a donkey before a drop of that East Coast oil makes it to market.
What is the point of this welcome but ultimately less-than-half measure to expand our domestic oil production? Note the word “drill” used in just about every headline in the media about this story. The president is sending a signal to the American people that he has heard their cries of “drill, baby drill” and has deigned to respond favorably. Citizens will think better of him for it, despite the fact that it will not increase domestic oil production until the president is long out of office and considered an elder statesmen. Perhaps he will have been elected president of the world by then, but if we’re still in Afghanistan I wouldn’t bet on it.
I should have written the article to reflect the fact that both parties are to blame for our current energy situation. The government has massively failed over the past 30 years to address the pressing matter of dependence on foreign oil as well as our refining capacity, and the future of energy in America.
I don’t care if its green energy or clean coal or natural gas and neither should anyone else. We need every erg of energy that can be squeezed out of our domestic supplies and a plan for the future that reflects the reality of Peak Oil and the necessity to find cleaner ways of powering our society.
We have gotten little leadership over the years - just grand plans and a lot of talk. Obama has made a good start with a solid plan for alternative energy sources, nuclear, and a clean coal. I wish he would have seriously looked at expanding this offshore drilling plan that doesn’t do near enough to exploit the resources of our own country.
But beyond that, Obama needs to lead. Let’s see how far he gets in pushing his energy agenda.