Democrats and Drilling, Part Two
The ban on offshore drilling must be renewed by September 30th. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has categorically stated that she will not permit a straight up or down vote on whether or not to keep the ban in place. Instead, she has said that she will place the measure in an Omnibus Spending bill which will be needed to continue to fund the government.
For weeks, there have been no Appropriations hearings because that would allow Republicans to offer amendments on overturning the ban. Her partner, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, is also trying to stall any vote. So the Democratically controlled Congress ceases to do the people’s business on the orders of two people.
Why won’t they allow this vote? In a word—fear.
Fear that the ban might be lifted with full Republican support and the support of Blue Dog Democrats and many members from swing districts in the heartland that they recently wrested from the Republicans in 2006. Their constituents don’t own beachfront property in California or Florida. Heck, with gas prices being what they are, they can’t even afford to drive to the beach.
Shoring Up America’s Oil
Famed oilman T. Boone Pickens lately has been calling it the greatest wealth transfer ever – the $700 billion or so the United States now will send overseas each year to buy expensive oil. Much of that money is enriching regimes that want to undermine the West and kill Americans.
More people are motivated to take serious action and make sacrifices to trim our appetite for foreign oil. And California – which burns more gasoline than any other state and most other countries – is in position to make an important contribution. California should reopen offshore drilling.
I know there is a barrel of opposition to it. But most arguments against offshore drilling are old and no longer valid.
For example, those who say drilling inevitably leads to devastating oil spills apparently have missed the revolution in safety improvements. Sure, there’s risk in oil exploration and production, but in recent years the amount of oil spilled in the oceans from human activity has dropped so far it is now far less than from natural seepage. Think about this: Hurricanes routinely twist up dozens of rigs in the western Gulf of Mexico, yet you don’t hear much about oil spills there, thanks to safety improvements.
New Players, but Still the Same Old Play
Taking a long weekend, I didn’t have time to prepare a blog for today, so I figured why not use something I wrote years ago about the state budget debate. You see, very little has changed when it comes to the budget deliberations. A few cross-outs here, a new word there, a changed name and, presto, I have an up-to-date article.
The original, slightly longer opinion piece is from 2002 and the sad truth is we’ve all seen this play before—only some of the actors are different.
For suspense and thrills this summer, forget the Spiderman BATMAN movie or the latest Grisham JAMES PATTERSON novel. Follow the attempt to solve this year’s state budget crisis. The hole in the state budget is getting deeper. And with it, suspense builds like any good political thriller – how are the governor and legislators going to get out of this one?
Who the good guys and bad guys are in this drama will depend on your political point of view – but it will be exciting. Really!