Ken Salazar today announced the White House is supporting a ban on drilling in the Gulf for the next seven years. It's about time.
Via CNN:
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Obama's decision effectively reverses White House plans announced at the end of March to open the Gulf region -- along with other large swaths of U.S. coastal waters -- to oil and natural gas drilling.
Under the plan, roughly two-thirds of available oil and gas resources in the eastern Gulf would have been opened to drilling. Areas located within 125 miles of the Florida coast would have remained off limits.
Salazar said the seven-year ban is being imposed as a result of lessons learned from the April 20 explosion of BP's Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf, which killed 11 people and triggered one of the worst environmental disasters in U.S. history.
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Under the plan, roughly two-thirds of available oil and gas resources in the eastern Gulf would have been opened to drilling. Areas located within 125 miles of the Florida coast would have remained off limits.
Salazar said the seven-year ban is being imposed as a result of lessons learned from the April 20 explosion of BP's Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf, which killed 11 people and triggered one of the worst environmental disasters in U.S. history.
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I hope this ban is serious, not like when the White House post-BP announced a moratorium but continued to issue drilling permits. I have been irritated by Obama's squishiness on drilling for a while. Considering most Republican leaders don't care to touch this issue, regardless of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, I think it is a wise political move as well.
But only if Obama is serious and sticks to his guns.
Poor decision on on Barry O's part; simply more political pandering. I doubt that even Obama thinks he is doing the correct thing, but is simply positioning himself for the 2012 elections
ReplyDeleteIf this is pandering to voters, has Obama written off the oil producing states? This will leave some oil men unemployed.
ReplyDeleteJake, the election is over and the newly elected haven't taken office yet. Oil drilling, other pollution, water usage, infrastructure development, state finances, education, etc. are problems worth looking at, far more than the personal failings of the idiots recently elected to office. For instance, I expect our legislature to pass the education bill Crist vetoed during the campaign season, and am more interested in what that will do to public education in Florida than in whether you like or hate certain legislators. There is a certain amount of sense in a 'celebrity' approach to politics during an election, but the issues are still there when the voting is over.
The teacher pay bill is interesting because it was one that was not over-written in the special session. I expect a version of the education bill to get passed next year, but I am not sure it will look exactly the same. We will have to see.
ReplyDeleteAnd if this is pandering, I'm glad for it. The entire Gulf coast is better protected without deepwater drilling. It simply isn't safe enough, and the fact it took Obama eight months following the Deepwater Horizon spill to realize that shows a lack of political sensibility, not an overabundance.