Offshore drilling platform
*In a reversal of a long-standing ban on most offshore drilling, President
Barack Obama is allowing oil drilling 50 miles off Virginia’s shorelines. At
the same time, he is rejecting some new drilling sites that had been planned
in Alaska.
Obama’s plan offers few concessions to environmentalists, who have been
strident in their opposition to more oil platforms off the nation’s shores.
Hinted at for months, the plan modifies a ban that for more than 20 years
has limited drilling along coastal areas other than the Gulf of Mexico.
Obama was set to announce the new drilling policy Wednesday at Andrews air
base in Maryland. White House officials pitched the changes as ways to
reduce U.S. reliance on foreign oil and create jobs – both politically
popular ideas – but the president’s decisions also could help secure support
for a climate change bill languishing in Congress.
The president, joined by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, also was set to
announce that proposed leases in Alaska’s Bristol Bay would be canceled. The
Interior Department also planned to reverse last year’s decision to open up
parts of the Chukchi and Beaufort seas. Instead, scientists would study the
sites to see if they’re suitable to future leases.
Obama is allowing an expansion in Alaska’s Cook Inlet to go forward. The
plan also would leave in place the moratorium on drilling off the West
Coast.
Get MORE of this AP story HERE.
I personally don’t see a problem with drilling, given that I’m not an environmental or global warming freak. And I think the prez softened his earlier anti-drilling stance a while back. However, the left is a-flutter with more criticism of him and I can’t say I don’t understand why. On principal, this is not the first and will likely not be the last of “reversals” or campaign doublespeak or downright broken campaign promises of Black America’s hero. As I stated last week, he tends to have some issues with integrity. But we will see…
LOL..U don’t have to be an environmental/global warming “freak” in order to have concerns about the effects of offshore drilling. That’s a legitimate concern to have. You remember the aerosol deodorant cans of old don’t you?…
Re: integrity. I’m not sure if this new announcement addresses how energy costs will be lessened since Obama did oppose offshore drilling if it didn’t address energy costs. This doesn’t seem to.
It’s hard to fully criticize him w/o seeing a fuller list of changes but I know what he said as campaigner. He was against it but subtedly changed his tone after McCain came out in favor of it.
This sounds like a ploy to get a cap/trade policy through congress.
Remember the phrase we hated: “Drill Baby Drill”
I’m concerned but not so much that it clouds my judgement. I think self-determination–which producing our own oil would be–could do wonders for the economy. And at the state we’re in, we need to utilize all our resources. All I’m saying…
No disrespect to you TGen, but offshore drilling has an entirely different complexion when you live “on the coast.” For me, that’s the coast of Florida. Believe me, it IS an issue to me and I wouldn’t put me in the ultra environmentalist camp.
I understand that this move may be pragmatic. But I’d be concerned if any sites were authorized for drilling off my coast. My state is big on tourism. The last thing we need is the mess, destruction to the ecosystem and potential spill from an offshore oil well.
I understand why he “thinks” he has to do this, but honestly it’s an odd look for a President from the Democratic Party to be reversing a 20 year old ban on offshore drilling. And I don’t give a care of which ones he opened or closed. It’s just an “odd” look for someone who (at least during his campaign) earned so much praise from the Progressive Left. Boy, what does it say about you when you’re doing things that not even George Bush would have done?
Exmun, Georgia is one of the states that will be affected as well, so my immediate environment might be effected just like yours. But as I told Musb, this is about sheer economics. I think we are in a dire state and have to utilize all our resources. In fact, I think it would be derelict for the government to NOT try to use those resources given the state of our economy, simply for some fairytale treehugging fantasy.
Re the environment: I am not a believer in global warming. Too many conflicting scientific reports plus the unchallenged fact that the earth has not “warmed” since 1998 plus what I see in front of me ie record cold winters year after year. So I just don’t buy the global warming stuff the treehuggers keep trying to stuff down our throats…given that they don’t “know” anything either, only what they read. PLUS, even IF I bought the global warming stuff, I’m not convinced that man has the capability to stop the work of the Almighty anyway, so … BTw, I’m not saying I don’t think we should be clean and try to keep the air clean and whatnot. I have no problem with being “green” to a degree. But I just think there’s a lot of propaganda being sold for some reasons other than “saving the earth.” (See Climate-gate in which some scientists were caught falsifying information to try to illustrate global warming when the evidence showed something different.)
But let me step off my soapbox, that was kind-of unrelated. lol (Sorry)
Obama is opening up more land to oil production than what he campaigned on. For all intents and purps..it seems like this is more a giveaway to oil companies and republicans. He campaigned against it because he favored energy cost cutting measures. Based on ample reporting, offshore oil drilling does not actually lower the cost of energy and there is legitimate debate whether doing so moves us more towards energy independence.
TGEN, please don’t tell me that you have bought the quite ridiculous line from antiglobal warming radicals that colder weather disproves global warming. It seems like you have. Global warming is much more complex than the name suggests. and to clarify, no one was actually caught falsifying any information.
You are absolutely right that there are this is being used as propoganda but that cloth cuts two ways. The idea that global warming isn’t real because we had bad snow is one piece of propoganda that defies intelligent discourse.
Re: Climategate, that too has been proven propoganda. There has been no verifiable evidence which proves a conspiracy. Yet, americans with our lack of research skills believed it because? Just because we wanted to..no real other reason. If I recall, there were discussions around how to present the information to get a desired result. I’m sure the numbers have been fudged, but you’ll be hard pressed to find a company, organization, pollster or whatever who doesn’t see fudging numbers as part of their jobs.
lol Musb. So if the temperature doesn’t indicate “warming,” WHAT DOES? What do YOU use to base your belief that the earth is warming? Hmmm
I’m not a scientist so I base my belief on scientific research.
Warmer air holds more moisture. What happens when the temperature drops below 32 in an atmosphere full of moisture? Snow.
Global warming is a gradual process not an instant one.
I thought you were joking at first but damn TGEN…how could you even think that SNOW disproves global warming?….wow..lol
TGen,
I get your point, but IMHO protecting the environment is not a “fairytale treehugging fantasy.” Even assuming a best-case scenario, problem free offshore drill, sea animals and plant life will die. And their death will change the environment.
Planning for the environmental impact of some act should be par for the course, but unfortunately in our world, it’s not an issue unless some “tree hugger” group ‘makes’ it a priority. Sad but true.
Look at the bright side. At least now Sarah Palin have to come up with a new catch phrase. And we know how limited her vocabulary is.
Musb: :I thought you were joking at first but damn TGEN…how could you even think that SNOW disproves global warming?….wow..lol” Hmmm First of all I didn’t say weather was the only factor that makes me a global warming skeptic. I said CONFLICTING SCIENTIFIC REPORTS plus the AGREED UPON REPORT that the earth HASN’T WARMED SINCE 1998 led me to be a skeptic.
BUT even IF the weather was the basis for my skepticism, you haven’t told me what the basis for your belief is? Why is the weather NOT a good determinant for global warming? I don’t follow your snark at all.
Don’t get mad at me because I’m not gullible and don’t fall for all the crap some agenda-driven folk want to feed everyone.
TGen,
I see “global warming” as a boogeyman much in the way or Republican/Democrat or Conservative/Liberal. The terms in use obfuscate a ‘real’ discussion on stuff that few of us disagree on. Whether you agree or disagree with the theory of global warming, do you at least believe that human’s efforts to tap the earth’s resources has an impact on the earth? Let’s at least start with “impact,” so we avoid how much of an impact.
So do you?