McCain says get drillin’ for oil, now. Good for him!
June 17th, 2008 at 10:26am Chuck Sweeny
John McCain will win a lot of voter approval for his latest policy position on energy, which is different from his old position on energy, but who cares? It’s politics. McCain now says we should end the ban on offshore drilling in US. waters and begin drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve, two things I’ve advocated in a recent column. He points out that the U.S. has 21 billion barrels that are off limits to drilling. Meanwhile, the Chinese are drilling oil in Cuba’s waters, roughly 50 miles from Florida. Offshore drilling rigs are safe — they withstand hurricanes, and they’ve been working safely in the North Sea for three decades. That’s one of the world’s roughest stretches of ocean.
McCain will also call for conservation, warning that we face $7 per gallon gasoline in the near future unless we change our ways. That will require him to change his ways. McCain has been trying to kill Amtrak for years, along with two Bushes and Bill Clinton, who was more of a benign neglect kind of guy when it came to mass transit.
Meanwhile, Obama is in the “O-zone” on energy. What in God’s name would a windfall profits tax do to benefit the public, other than RAISING the price of gas???? Yet, that’s what he advocates, along with no realistic solutions to the crisis we face right now.
That is not change we can believe in. That’s not even change.
Entry Filed under: John McCain
6 Comments Add your own
1. redrover | June 17th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
It’s clear that the finite amount of easily recoverable oil left in the earth is dwindling down, isn’t it?
It’s also clear that there are many things other than fueling our cars and energizing our purposefully wasteful society that crude oil is good for, like biochemicals, pharmaceuticals, and who knows what else as time goes by.
What gives our generation the right to deprive future generations of what little is left of the huge reservoir of oil that once existed, and the possible benefits they may obtain from that oil, just to bring gas prices down for those who cannot or will not break their automobile habits?
Why do McCain and you, Mr. Sweeny, thumb your noses at your own great-grandchildren in this matter? Why would you leave them an earth despoiled to satisfy your own insatiable appetites for cheap petroleum energy?
It is the most selfish position that I can think of, but that’s what you advocate, it seems to me.
2. Javan | June 17th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
The Chinese are not drilling off Florida. This is an urban legend. Even Cheney admitted he was wrong on this point. Please look it up and please get your facts straight..
3. Lawrence Gregory Clarkson | June 18th, 2008 at 11:42 am
The real thing the candidates and this administration need to do something about IMMEDIATELY is the speculation. many people believe the price has been driven up by futures traders who are exploiting both a loophole that allows them to trade in oil and deregulation several years ago that allows them to keep their transactions out of the public eye. Get this under control and then maybe you can debate drilling.
4. Craig Knauss | June 19th, 2008 at 8:31 am
Why should we drill more holes? We have thousands of existing capped wells stretching from Wyoming to West Virginia. They were capped because the old price of oil was too low to justify using them. Well guess what…..? Besides, producing more oil is just a Band-Aid solution. What we need to do is reduce our consumption of oil. Otherwise in couple of years we will be in the same situation.
5. Lawrence Gregory Clarkson | June 19th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
I’m with you Craig. The single most important step Congress could take right now is to slap a $x/gallon tax on gas IMMEDIATELY. It would not only encourage conservation, but it would stimulate serious investment in new technologies — you watch how fast we find an enduring alternative.
[But I still don’t understand the lack of outrage at the speculators. Read an article today that suggested speculators are putting a 100% premium on the price of a barrel of oil — meaning the true market price based on supply and demand is closer to $70/barrell. I am a big believer in free markets, but I have a hard time seeing how this is in the country’s best interests.]
6. Scott Summers | June 19th, 2008 at 5:54 pm
Hi again — I’m Scott Summers, already on your November ballot as the Green Party candidate for Congress against Messrs. Manzullo and Abboud. www.SummersForCongress.com
Hoo-boy. McCain — and Manzullo — just doesn’t get it.
Drilling the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) is extraordinarily counterproductive and short-sighted. But for now, I’ll spare you the global warming arguments, and the economic arguments, and the environmental arguments, and all the silly “pity the caribou” caricatures.
Saving the very last of our domestic oil now has become a national security issue.
That’s right: according to the Federal Department of Energy, the USA has less than 2% of remaining proven world oil reserves. Two lousy percent. (Derived from www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/international/reserves.html)
Essentially, Manzullo wants to pump it all out as fast as we possibly can. Never mind the future.
What will we — and our children, and our grandchildren — do in a couple of short decades if we have a war or a national emergency and have next to no domestic oil left?
Manzullo’s petroleum policy amounts to “Bleed America Dry First.”
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