no relief for the ache of gas prices

Drilling without Novocain?

Posted by Mick on Jun 20, 2008 - 12:18 am

Recently, John McCain made public his newly found desire to begin drilling for oil in two distinct parts of the US.  One of these places hits home to me, well, because it is my home.  Granted, prices of oil are through the roof, but John McCain’s flip-flop is solely to pander to less educated Americans who do not understand the repercussions and risks of such drilling.  Rasmussen recently unveiled that 2 out of 3 Americans favor offshore drilling.  Well I’d wager that one of the two have never even seen the ocean—the farmer from the Heartland is more interested in putting gas in their tractor than preserving the ecology and economy of somewhere a continent away.

The problem is not the scarcity of oil, or even the scarcity or real estate to explore.  There are vast areas in the Gulf that are currently leased by the oil companies, yet they remain untapped.  These companies are not struggling by any sense of the word--ExxonMobil had an Operating Income of 70.4 billion in 2007.  Keep in mind that high prices are in fact beneficial to the oil companies – they have no incentive to bring down oil prices, and just because they are allowed to drill doesn’t mean gas prices are coming down.  Best estimates predict that will take some ten years after new drilling takes place to have even a marginal effect on the price at the pump.

Is it worth it?  Why risk destroying the Florida coast?  Remember the ExxonValdez?  I can’t think of a better way to risk decimating one of the largest tourist industries in America.  And what if there is a severe hurricane—John McCain are you so naïve to think that offshore oil-rigs are immune to nature’s wrath?

I should also mention the environmental effects, as one of these oil rigs pumps tons of heated fluids into the water, drastically affecting the ecosystem.  Even in a best case scenario, the endangered coral reefs in the area will be affected severely.  It may only be a matter of time until coral reefs and pristine turquoise beaches are just a legend of the past, now that Florida’s copy-cat pandering Governor Charlie Crist has suddenly changed his position.  He’s obviously got VP aspirations so he’s gotta suck up to McCain--I hope John McCain’s got a hell of a vetting team-- there’s nothing that can hurt your campaign more than opportunistic hypocrisy.