Yes, Virginia, there is…
… an estimated 130 million barrels of oil and 1.14 trillion cubic feet of natural gas off your coast, and the U.S. Department of the Interior has closed public comment on the proposal to lease 2.9 million acres of ocean to natural gas and oil companies for drilling. This summer, President Bush repealed a presidential ban on offshore drilling put in place by his father, and in October, Congress let a separate drilling moratorium expire after 26 years, after some Republicans held, as hostage, the funding of the U.S. government. I linked to a CNN offshore-drilling map at around that time. After the recent attack on the Endangered Species Act and a move to allow uranium mining adjacent to Grand Canyon National Park, you almost have to ask yourself, “What next?”
The U.S. Navy has expressed some concern over the potential for oil rigs in an area where much of its Norfolk fleet trains (hmmmm, sounds like San Diego) and NASA has objected as well, because of satellite and rocket launches (hmmmm, sounds like Vandenberg AFB). In addition, the North Atlantic right whale (only 300-400 individuals left) migrates through that area (hmmmm, sounds like gray whales and other whale species that migrate along the California coast).
Since President-elect Barack Obama reversed his position on offshore drilling during the campaign, a lot of folks in California, and of course, Virginia (which may have been viewed as a “softer target”) are now wondering what his views will be when he takes office.
With greatly reduced prices of gasoline at the pump (I paid $1.659/gallon recently) and a conscious desire by some states to reduce the amounts of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and methane (a principal component of natural gas) released into the environment, the shrill hysterical chants of “Drill, Baby, Drill” from the Republican National Convention seem better left as an unfortunate memory.
-Bill at Cheshire Cat Photo™
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