House Votes to Keep Offshore Drilling Ban
Why the heck do we have a Republican majority in Congress if they aren’t going to vote conservative? A majority of Republicans in this country are smart enough to know that we need to start drilling for more oil here at home if we’re ever going to get away from depending on a nut in Iran for our oil. We’re also smart enough to know that fish, antelope, and other wild animals have never had an issue with walking or swimming around drilling equipment when they encounter it. They aren’t liberals, so they can figure it out. When I see Conservatives voting like this, it makes me think it’s about time a third party won some elections.
This argument against offshore drilling was brilliant:
“People don’t go to visit the coasts of Florida or the coast of California to watch oil wells,” Rep. Sam Farr, D-Calif., said.
I wonder if this genius considered the fact that tourists aren’t going to want to drive to California at all, let alone visit the beach, when gas is 4 dollars a gallon. Good grief, these people are running a country?
Despite talk of an energy crisis and the need for independence from foreign oil, Congress seems to be in no mood to open more of the country’s coastal waters to energy development.
The House late Thursday rejected an attempt to end the quarter-century ban on oil and natural gas drilling that has been in effect for 85 percent of the country’s coastal waters from Alaska to New England despite arguments that new supplies are needed to lower energy costs.
Lawmakers from Florida and California, who led the fight to continue the drilling moratorium, said they feared energy projects as close as three miles from shore could jeopardize multibillion-dollar tourism industries in their states.
