Obama announced two weeks ago that he was going to allow more offshore drilling, which would increase domestic oil flow, and it really pissed a lot of people off, like he’d just abandoned another campaign promise. I understand the implications of oil spills, and I’m no fan of “Drill baby drill, and drill now,” but I am a fan of energy independence. Like it or not, we’re still a very long way from an all-electric fleet of cars - so we’re going to have to continue using oil for at least 20 years.
So do we continue to buy oil from the Arabs, (you know, the people who really attacked us on 9/11), or Hugo Chavez in Venezuela… yeah, he’s real stable.
Please don’t get me wrong, I’d like to get us off of oil, like, yesterday, but we’re slow to change. We still use inches and pints, y’know.
It’s just that Americans either have a very short attention span, or selective hearing, or weren’t paying enough attention during the 2008 election to know that (if they voted for Obama) they got exactly what they voted for. If you voted for McCain, you voted for more of the same. And if you voted for Nader, you voted for a guy who doesn’t do anything important or good for the country in between presidential campaigns. And if you’re standing on a corner in Seattle supporting Lyndon LaRouche while holding pictures of Obama with a Hitler mustache, you’re not bringing anything constructive to the table either.
So, the day after Obama’s announcement, MoveOn.org sends out an email encouraging me to tell Obama this is a bad idea, and we should go solar, and wind, etc…like we could just immediately stop buying oil? I’m tired of this knee-jerk, reaction groups like MoveOn are sometimes prone to, though I still participate in most of their issues, just not blindly.
While campaigning in Lansing, MI, in August of 2008, Obama said “I also believe that in the short-term, as we transition to renewable energy, we can and should increase our domestic production of oil and natural gas. But we should start by telling the oil companies to drill on the 68 million acres they currently have access to but haven't touched. And if they don't, we should require them to give up their leases to someone who will.”
Before we get too pissed off because a politician actually kept his word, know that he also said (on the campaign trail) that he supported a bill in Congress that would levy a fee on oil companies that have rights to exploit federal property but don’t. Current law requires oil companies to develop a lease within 10 years or lose it. There are millions of acres of unexploited, leased lands in the federal inventory
On the campaign trail near Las Vegas, NV on June 24, 2008 he said “If that compels them to drill, we’ll get more oil. If it doesn’t, the fees will go toward more investment in renewable sources of energy.’’
What we have to look forward to:
Don’t forget we still need 60 votes in the Senate, this is a brilliant move to get the party of “Drill Baby, Drill” in an election cycle to either vote for increased drilling, or go against everything they believe in. John Boehner came out and said “the Obama administration continues to defy the will of the American people.” Seriously? Dude, go back to your tanning bed and shut the fuck up!
Short answer: He’s doing this to stave off oil speculators on Wall Street by forcing OPEC to meet to keep the cost of gas from going up to $4.00 again, thereby keeping our fragile financial recovery from losing ground. Speculators were the cause of $4.00 gas last time. If we do our own drilling, we will be closer to energy independence, we will be less reliant on foreign suppliers, and we will force Republicans to oppose it because Obama supported it.
This is what a comprehensive energy package includes:
Drilling Domestically
Nuclear energy – once we figure out how to store spent fuel (Nuclear Non-Proliferation is Obama’s main concern for this planet)
Clean coal (which I still think is an oxymoron)
Cap and Trade
Taxes on corporations will fund Green Energy Projects
Electric Cars and incentives to those who buy them and those who build them
Ultimate Goal:
Energy Independence free of fossil fuels
Innovation
Responsibly reversing the damage we've already done to our planet (as much as possible)
Who you’re really mad at:
Oil Speculators
Bill Clinton (sort of) for enabling them (Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000)
Ronald Reagan for taking Jimmy Carter’s solar panels off the White House
George W. Bush for giving tax incentives to people who bought SUVs
The Republican Congress that did nothing to make us more energy independent.
Articles / Transcripts…
Transcript of Obama speech, Lansing, MI , August 4, 2008
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/politics/july-dec08/obamaenergy_08-04.html
Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-commodity-futures-modernization-act.htm
and
www.cftc.gov/lawandregulation/index.htm
OPEC – International Energy Forum calls for Tranparency in oil market.
Press Information Bureau – Government of India
http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=60003
Obama Suggests Charging Oil Companies for Unused Leases
Great blog (article? pensée? essay? - whatever.)
ReplyDeleteI think part of the problem is that many on the way left had their own private Obama. No matter what he actually said, they thought his administration was going to be a very radical one that would follow their agendas and fulfill all their hopes and dream.
The teabaggers are are different story. This army of invincible ignorance and incredible stupidity - I prefer the generic term: whackos - are against Obama no matter what he might do. If he were to somehow repeal the income tax, they'd still be against him. He's a Democrat, and, what's worse, he's black (although they prefer another term.)
Politics, however, remains the art of the possible. And here in the US, where the majority of the citizenry is either middle-of-the-road or slightly to the right. that's not going to happen.
Woodstock Nation we're not.
OK, looks like I'm going to have to post again to get rid of that annoying "1 comments." Let's see if I can find something to disagree with.
ReplyDeleteHmm, OK - just how LONG do you think it's going to take for this proposed new drilling to make any kind of appreciable, significant difference in our curtailing imported oil from the Arabs (and some of my best friends are Arabs) and Hugo Chavez (and some of my best friends are Hispanics?)
How about - at least a decade or more?
So, isn't this REALLY just a political rather than an environmental act?
So, now that we have that mega-disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, how's that defense of drilling working for you?
ReplyDeleteJeez, Louise - inciting comment on this blog is a bitch.