Amit Mehra
r lovedayOffshore Drilling - Nothing More than Pocketbook Pandering
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With gas prices being a hot issue in the upcoming election it seems that everyone is scrambling to find a solution to sell to voters. John McCain and President Bush have both proposed that the rising price of oil can be counterbalanced by lifting the moratorium on offshore drilling. Is it really that simple? All we have to do is drill more? The answer is, No. It is not that simple.
An article on msnbc.com quotes Florida Senator Bill Nelson as saying the U.S. has 3% of the worlds oil, but consumes 25% of the worlds oil. It is easy to see that the numbers do not add up. Even if we produce at full capacity the amount of oil produced in America would not be enough to offset the rising price of oil.
Lets assume for a second that this is a good idea. Great, lets start drilling. Some experts estimate that the first barrel of oil would not hit the market for, at best, five more years. This is hardly a short term solution. People, myself included, need help now and are not able to wait and pay $ 4-5 or more a gallon for gas during the next five years.
Ok, if it is going to take years to get the oil into the barrels, to the refinery, and into our gas tanks then surely it will help America in the long term, right? Wrong. With fossil fuels contributing to the increase in greenhouse gasses our long-term focus needs to shift to alternate energy sources for both America and the environment. Even John McCain has recognized this as an important shift in not only political policy, but the way Americans live. So why should we waste important time and resources on drilling for more oil if it does not help in the short term and our long-term focus needs to be developing alternative energy sources?
So if offshore drilling is not a viable short or long term solution to our oil problem then why would anyone even propose such an idea? Its simple, they are pandering to the masses. Doing and saying anything for a vote. Americans want to hear that a candidate and/or political party has a solution to combat rising oil prices and want to vote for the candidate/party that can do the most for them. The reality is that it will take more than a "band-aid" to fix this problem. It is not simply an American issue, but a world issue.
Below are links to recent news coverage on this issue.
Senator McCain talking about the importance of alternate energy sources
CNN news coverage of Senator McCain Offshore Drilling Speech in Texas
MSNBC news coverage of Senator McCain and President
President Bush Rose Garden Speech on Offshore Drilling
Senator Obama's Response to Senator McCain's Offshore Drilling Proposal
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