One of the most simple-minded slogans to come out of the 2008 campaign was “drill, baby, drill!” This empty-headed bumper sticker of an idea was shouted by a parade of buffoons at the Republican National Convention, including “energy expert” Sarah Palin, the astonishingly incompetent Michael Steele, Sylvester the Puddy Cat Rudy Guiliani, and the massive failure from the 1990s known as Newt Gingrich. The trained seals delegates at the convention barked roared their approval at this paper-thin substitute for a real energy independence policy.
Unfortunately, drilling for oil isn’t that simple, and the environmental consequences can be catastrophic. We see that in the current BP spill off the Louisiana coast, with total spillage now expected to be 18.9 million barrels, even larger than the Exxon Valdez disaster.
Even land-based oil drilling in environmentally sensitive areas like ANWR is preferable to off-shore drilling. God only knows how more of these disasters we would have if the Republicans set energy policy.
Oil is already reaching the Louisiana shoreline, and the coasts of Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle are also under threat. The clean-up will be long and extremely costly. The environmental consequences from this calamity are immense, as protected wetlands and endangered species hang in the balance.
This bird used to be white. Not anymore, thanks to the greatest oil spill in history, compliments of BP.
The fishing industry will likely be devastated, as massive numbers of fish and shrimp will die as a result of this slick, and the those that survive will be contaminated.
Just one of the countless dead fish and contaminated fish as a result of the BP spill. Fishing has now been banned from Louisiana to the Florida Gulf coast. Inadequate regulation of one industry has helped to devastate another.
Of course, we haven’t heard much chanting by Caribou Barbie et al or the wingnut masses demanding “drill, baby, drill” over the last few days. Also silent about this ecological fiasco is Louisiana’s dimwitted, diaper-wearing, prostitute-visiting, drill-baby-drill U.S. Senator David Vitter. None of these people are really serious about creating a real energy independence policy, which requires an activist federal role promoting the development and promotion of alternative energy technologies (solar, wind, tidal power, etc) which are clean and renewable. They reject any need for conservation and vigorously oppose any patriotic sacrifice, rationalizing that it’s perfectly fine for five percent of the world’s population to consume a quarter of the world’s energy. Some, incredibly, revel in their wasting of energy as some sort of American entitlement!
Thankfully, President Obama has at least temporarily blocked plans to push for more off-shore oil drilling. Hopefully, the administration will stop trying to appease Republicans with concessions on issues like deep-water drilling, and push for a more environmentally responsible energy policy.
And for the “drill, baby, drill” crowd, I agree with Bill Maher that they should all report for duty on the Gulf Coast to help with the clean-up.