Ten days ago when the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded it appeared that not many were concerned about the possibility of a massive oil spill like the one we are seeing today. I found it odd, that there seemed to be far less preparation for such an event. Time will tell if the administration and BP acted appropriately. For now, we are staring at an environmental nightmare.
As the oil spill starts to reach the Louisiana coast, we are just beginning to realize what kind of impact this spill will have on the wildlife, ecosystems and the economy of that region. Of course the anti-domestic drilling forces will, for the short term, score a tremendous victory. How can they not? With each passing day, week and month we will see the physical evidence of the risks to offshore drilling. This spill has the potential to make the Exxon Valdez spill look like a mud puddle. This is why I find it pretty brave for Sarah Palin to step up and continue her mantra of drill baby, drill. Already, the left is beginning to mock her for her continued push for domestic drilling. It is a very easy thing to do when the evidence is currently on their side. However, there are some powerful truths to Palin’s argument.
Alaskans understand the tragedy of an oil spill, and we’ve taken steps to do all we can to prevent another Exxon tragedy, but we are still pro-development. We still believe in responsible development, which includes drilling to extract energy sources, because we know that there is an inherent link between energy and security, energy and prosperity, and energy and freedom. Production of our own resources means security for America and opportunities for American workers. We need oil, and if we don’t drill for it here, we have to purchase it from countries that not only do not like America and can use energy purchases as a weapon against us, but also do not have the oversight that America has.
We need the oil! This is the unshakeable truth we should not lose sight of as the whole Deepwater Horizon fiasco unfolds. Yes, there are real risks to offshore drilling. No one can deny that now, but we must not deny the fact that even if a new energy source was discovered today, it would be decades before that new energy source can fully replace oil, until then oil is what we need. We can continue to delude ourselves that buying oiling from dangerous regimes won’t backfire on us someday. We can continue to delude ourselves that that our national debt is not at the breaking point and we can afford wild fluctuations in oil prices. We can continue to delude ourselves that letting less developed nations irresponsibly extract oil for us is somehow saving the planet. Or we can put our emotions in check and face the stark realities before us. We need the oil.
So as the Deepwater Horizon nightmare unfolds, let us suppress the obvious emotional responses to the devastation. Instead let us go forward with clear thinking and a true understanding of our economic and political realities. We can learn from this fiasco how to make offshore drilling safer. We can learn from the fiasco how better to protect our environment from such accidents. We can learn from this fiasco our energy needs come with risks. The current economic and political realities of our energy situation leave us little choice.
Via: Memeorandum
Via: The New York Times
Via: Rachel Maddow
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8 comments:
I'll be watching this one with interest. Would anyone be at all surprised if it is found that leftie loon eco-terrorists did this in response to BO's announcement last month? I sure wouldn't be.
As to the fall-out whether it was an act of domestic terrorism or not, I agree here, too, we cannot let this stop us drilling off-shore. We need the oil, but more importantly, we need to be as self-sufficient as possible in this increasingly dangerous world.
I think there is a general "sense" that eco-terrorists are behind the tragedy; what will be more interesting is whether or not that ever comes out. There is a chance that the reason for the explosion will be deemed "unknown".
If oil-drilling is once again "banned"; it will only empower the eco-terrorists with another victory.
My prayers continue for those who lost loved ones in this tragedy.
There is some rumors in an English paper saying it was North Korea that did it and Obama is covering it up.
I cannot remember the name of the paper but I have read it before and it seems a little on the kooky side to me.
I wouldn't consider it "brave" that Sarah Palin is sticking by her position of increased domestic drilling; Mrs. Palin is not representative of any constituency of any sort right now. In fact, she is really nothing more than a high-profile freelance PR rep / thinktank.
It's easy to forget that she essentially has nothing to lose when she takes a partisan or controversial position on an issue. It's not as if her 'base' is inclusive or multi-dimensional, and her job is more about keeping people interested than it is addressing the general concerns of a constituency.
I don't disagree with your overall point at all, but I felt it was worth noting.
lol, so much I wish I could say here. Drilling 5000 feet down is risky, but that is what the industry if forced to do. You can drop a drill bit off the coast of CA and hit oil. In fact, it leaches up on its' own everyday. But, we can't drill there. The environuts force us to drill where they believe it cannot be done. At least not for profit. This was a foreign rig on lease. Something went wrong on the drill floor. The only witnesses who could have provided exact detail died on the drill floor. We will put it together as best we can from those that had recently been on the drill floor, but we may never know exactly what happened. Needless to say, drilling deep has risks. On the flip side, the inabliity of this administration to make a decision has cost us precious time in dealing with the oil spill. They weigh politics against action.
Obviously, BP needs to get its crap together and start putting better contingency plans together to handle this kind of thing. Growing-up, I learned to plan for the worst and hope for the best. This oil spill has gotten way out of hand, due to BP's lack of planning and the administration dragging its feet.
Of course, the left is screaming that we must stop all off-shore drilling, but this is just plain ridiculous. We do need the oil and lots of it. I wish we never had to buy anymore of it from the Saudis, so we could tell them to stick-it.
If liberals ceased every action and policy of theirs which caused calamitous results, we'd be living in a much better society.
I'll deal with and gladly pay taxes for a Deep Horizon every year over Social Security, Medicare, and Obamacare.
We could probably afford 100 Deep Horizons for the cost of those programs.
I'm concerned of what new regulations and government agencies this will spawn. There is a lot of money invested in going "green" and I really don't think we'll get the truth if there was a criminal action involved. Don't waste this emergency.
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