31 March 2010

Drill Baby Drill

The President has decided to open the East Coast and parts of the Gulf Coast for oil and natural gas exploration.

I applaud the President's decision.

There is speculation that this is an attempt to woo Republican votes for the upcoming cap and trade legislation. While this may be true, I am more of the opinion that it is an economic necessity.

Candidate Obama said that it would be a futile gesture, but I believe that was just a way to differentiate between himself and his Republican opponents. Candidate Obama had that latitude, but President Obama will eventually have to face the economic reality, and that reality is that we cannot rely on foreign oil sources for the long term.

I may be wrong to give him the benefit of the doubt here, and it is probable that it is a combination of the two reasons, but whatever the reason in my opinion it is a long needed step in the right direction. I'm willing to give him credit (or at least partial credit) where it is due.

It will take a while for any boon to be realized; first there will have to be geological and environmental surveys, followed by the inevitable environmental group challenges in courts, but the sooner we start the sooner we can get the product on the market.

I have always held the opinion that if it is going to take ten years to get the product to market we should have started ten years ago. Better late than never.

UPDATE: Confederate Yankee points to a different take on it. His conclusion: "...sound and fury, signifying nothing."

4 comments:

moose1942 said...

Sometimes a good thing done for the wrong reasons is okay. IMHO Mr. Obama is trying to look good for 2012. "See I CARE about oil prices!"

But no mater the motivation IF we actually get some more OIL rigs drilling in the ocean it will be a good thing. And it will reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

We should have built these offshore oil rigs 30 years ago.

Larry said...

Yes Moose, we should have started a long time ago, but like I said, better late than never.

Mike Mendez said...

Unless we build more refineries, more crude is meaningless. Our refineries are at maximum capacity right now.
Witness Iran, who exports crude, but has a shortage of gasoline - because they have to import it.
But, every little step help.

Larry said...

That's true too, and it's a good point.
Thanks for dropping by Mike!