Most of the Eastern Seaboard, a chunk of the Gulf of Mexico, and the north coast of Alaska are now open for drilling, thanks to a new plan put out by Administration officials Tuesday.
The plan, which will open millions of new acres of the continental shelf to oil exploration, but set aside sensitive Bristol Bay in Alaska as off limits, predictably and understandably drew criticism from both sides today.
Drilling for oil off the coast of the U.S. is a losing proposition. It doesn’t make sense in the short term. And it certainly doesn’t make sense in the long term as part of any strategy to reduce climate change.
The administration effectively abandoned bipartisanship in the passage of healthcare reform (lets not pretend about this folks, not a single Republican voted for the bill). Somehow they manage to hold out hope that waving juicy oil profits in front of climate deniers and footdraggers will get some Republicans and Democrats in the tank for the oil industry (see this helpful list) to vote with the president on climate change legislation. That’s not the hope or change that most Americans voted for.
When will the administration learn… before midterm elections, not a single Republican plans on doing anything, anything, that might be considered going along with the President. Their entire platform this November is based on one word, “NO!” which they have been screaming at the top of their lungs since it became obvious that a black man was going to win the White House.
If the U.S. is going to actually do something about climate change, it is clear it will have to overwhelm the massive hypocrisy of a large, though not majority, number of Senators. The Administration ought to start that battle now, rather than give away our coast in what amounts to a futile bribe.
(On a slightly related note: notice on pages 29-31 of this 2010 RNC fundraising presentation just how willing to work with Democrats the GOP seems.)
Louis Wertz 
AMEN!
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