“This administration’s approach to energy is to drill, drill, drill.” The (Democratic) governor of New Mexico, Bill Richardson, stands up to the Bushies over their plan to allow oil drilling in Otero Mesa. Not surprising at all is the fact that the companies apparently in line to do the drilling are tightly and deeply connected to the top levels of the Executive Branch. [via the G Man]
One aspect of the justification (given by a spokesman for the Interior Department) that bothers me, and has for a long time, is the shortsightedness of the cost proposition. That is, the spokesman says that our natural gas power plants need the gas from somewhere and if we don’t allow drilling here, the American public will just ending up paying higher prices for foreign-drilled gas. I think that is ass-backwards though: in the long run the entire world will run out of petroleum and if we save America’s for the end game, letting other countries pump now, the net effect will be a much better outcome for America. Why doesn’t that scenario get brought up? Because these companies and their co-dependents want the money now, irregardless of their paper-thin justifications.
BillSaysThis 