President Obama: Drill, Baby, Drill
by Jake Tapper
![[In addition to the moves allowing oil and gas exploration and drilling from Delaware to Florida, the Department of the Interior will continue lease sales in the Central and Western Gulf of Mexico, opening up two-thirds of the resources in this region should Congress lift the moratorium imposed upon it. (AFP/Getty Images/David Mcnew) ]](http://www.commondreams.org/files/article_images/obamaoksoffshoredrilling.jpg "obamaoksoffshoredrilling.jpg")
In addition to the moves allowing oil and gas exploration and drilling from Delaware to Florida, the Department of the Interior will continue lease sales in the Central and Western Gulf of Mexico, opening up two-thirds of the resources in this region should Congress lift the moratorium imposed upon it. (AFP/Getty Images/David Mcnew)The official says that “To set America on a path to energy independence, the President believes we must leverage our diverse domestic resources by pursuing a comprehensive energy strategy.”
This includes setting high fuel efficiency standards, the clean energy investments in the stimulus bill, and the recent announcement of loan guarantees for new nuclear reactions. The move represents another step in President Obama’s evolution on the issue of offshore drilling.
In June 2008, then-Sen. Obama told reporters in Jacksonville, Florida, “when I’m president, I intend to keep in place the moratorium here in Florida and around the country that prevents oil companies from drilling off Florida’s coasts. That’s how we can protect our coastline and still make the investments that will reduce our dependence on foreign oil and bring down gas prices for good.”
In July 2008, he said, of lifting moratoriums on offshore drilling, that “if there were real evidence that these steps would actually provide real, immediate relief at the pump and advance the long-term goal of energy independence, of course I’d be open to them. But so far there isn’t.”
But his Republican opponents — Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and perhaps even more so, his running mate, then-Gov. Sarah Palin, with her “drill, baby, drill” chant — used the issue to paint Obama as a stubborn ideologue.
But by August, then-Sen. Obama signaled that he was willing to support legislation that included off-shore drilling as part of a bipartisan compromise.
“What I don’t want is for the best to be the enemy of the good,” he said at the time. “If we can come up with a genuine bipartisan compromise, in which I have to accept some things I don’t like and the Democrats have to accept some things they don’t like, when it’s actually moving us in the direction of energy independence, I’m open to that. What I will not do is support a plan that suggests that drilling is the answer to our energy problems.”
By September 2008, then-Sen. Obama was saying an energy strategy means “increasing domestic production and off-shore drilling.
As president earlier this year, he said in his State of the Union address that a sound energy policy “means making tough decisions about opening new offshore areas for oil and gas development.”
In addition to the moves allowing oil and gas exploration and drilling from Delaware to Florida, the Department of the Interior will continue lease sales in the Central and Western Gulf of Mexico, opening up two-thirds of the resources in this region should Congress lift the moratorium imposed upon it.
© 2010 ABC News
I found this comment on Common Dreams to the article. I am posting it here because I thought it was good and I wanted to comment on it.
glenn ford March 31st, 2010 11:36 am
People who still support Obomber are a great hinderance to a rational solution to the USA’s War, Social and Enviornmental crimes.
My state has 15 times the wind and solar energy it needs for itself and has shovel ready plans for Green Smart grids but our democratic Senators came back from DC with money for a Drone command center but none for our Green Smart grids.
This nation is morally and economically bankrupt and the supporters of Obomber are complicit in administering his coup de grace
AZ has enough sunlight that we could power the rest of the county. CA has desert too so they can also provide solar engery. KS and other parts of the midwest have lots of wind. We don’t need to continue to use oil, coal or nuclear.
Time and time again, I am reminded how I was right to not vote for Obama because he didn’t earn my respect or vote. He still hasn’t earned my respect. Time and time again, I realize that my moving to the Green Party was the best thing I could do.
Here is another comment to the article on Common Dreams.
fallen world March 31st, 2010 11:30 am
This is the final straw for me. I will go join the Green party, and actively work to defeat Obama in 2012. If it results in a victory for the republicans, so be it. Sarah Palin couldn’t be much worse than this corporatist sellout—at least she’s up front about it.
Another Democrat switches to the Green Party, because they can’t stand the corruption that has overtaken the Democratic Party. If we can get enough Progressives to join the Green Party, than we might just have the numbers to get our message to the table. At least we would have won a seat at the table with the big boys.
The question is how many Progressives will leave the Democratic Party and join the Green Party? How many Progressives are brave enough to stand for what is morally right and not just do what their political party tells them to do. Both the Republican and Democratic Parties are corrupted. Neither one of them is a true friend to Progressives. How many Americans are ready and willing to do Spring cleaning and vote out those who do not do want the people want but do what their party or big corporations tell them to do?