One Year Later: Why Are We Drilling?

Yesterday was the first anniversary of the BP blowout, sponsored by the GOBP and select DINOs.  I would have hoped that we might have made some progress toward safety and environmental sanity in the interim, but sadly, I have nothing good to report.  This is one time when we can’t blame the return to the status quo on Obama and the Democrats.

Although there was substantial support for increased offshore oil and gas drilling at the height of the BP disaster, there was a noticeable decline in support—particularly from those who had intensely supported increased drilling. Now, one year after the accident that caused the disaster, it’s almost as if nothing had ever happened.

Americans may not like being addicted to oil, particularly to foreign oil, but the thing about addiction is that the only thing worse than craving a fix is not getting it. We can talk until we’re blue in the face about how little sense increased drilling makes as a serious energy strategy, but if the energy debates we have are mainly focused on things like offshore drilling, we’re doomed. Ultimately, one of two things will stop offshore drilling: either we’ll deplete resources so much that there isn’t anything left that can be practically extracted, or we’ll have an alternative source of energy to fuel our economy that renders offshore drilling moot.

I’m not saying we should roll over and play dead when it comes to drilling. What I’m saying is that there’s a reason that Republicans want drilling to dominate the energy debate, and the reason is in the chart above… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Daily Kos>

Before the disaster 74% of Americans supported increased drilling.  Now 69% do.  House Democrats bucked majority opinion and passed stiffer regulations on Big Oil, but in the Senate, Republicans filibustered and even apologized to BP.  Rachel Maddow interviewed Bob Cavnar to bring us up to date, after reviewing the deeply sleazy record of “Doc” Hastings, the Republican chair of the House Natural Resources Committee.

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So here’s the bottom line.  As much as I support banning drilling until and unless there are protections for the environment in place that really work,  I recognize the political rally that there can be no real progress as long as Republicans control the house and as long as most Americans refuse to do what’s right for the planet, themselves, and future generations.