John McCain begins Energy “talks”.
Image details: Off-shore oil rigs served by picapp.com
At a press conference in Houston, Texas, John McCain held the first of (what has been described as) “a series of talks” to his plans for mitigating American dependence on foreign oil. He proposed that the “swiftest path to energy security is to produce more, use less, and find new sources of power,”.
As part of the “produce more” plan, Senator McCain called for the lifting of the ban on offshore drilling as means to reduce the cost of oil. McCain would shift the decision making to the States, by removing the federal ban, which has been in effect since 1981, and allow each State government make their own rules about coastal drilling.
McCain also took the opportunity to find fault in the energy plans that have been proposed by Barack Obama, most notably, the “windfall tax” (on excessive profits made by oil companies). He noted that such a policy had been tried, and failed, before, under President Jimmy Carter’s administration, and would do nothing to combat America’s dependence on foreign fuels.
Senator Obama responded to Senator McCain’s proposals by stating that permitting offshore drilling would not produce immediate or even long term relief for gas prices, as the increase in supply would take years to reach the market, and even then would only result in a modest price change.
Where do you stand on this issue? Should States be given the opportunity to make their own rules regarding off shore drilling? Is the risk of environmental damage/disaster worth the return?
I don’t think it’s worth the return. Oil is a fossil fuel, not renewable. Once it’s gone, it’s gone and then we’ll have to come up with some other way to make energy. We should be coming up with and utilizing these ways now, not continuing to drill for oil in precious lands (Alaska and Texas) and water (”off shore”). We Americans should be buying fewer SUVs and Hummers and more energy efficient cars like Civics, Accords, Corollas etc. . . Oil is not going to be around forever and we need to be prepared for its extinction, if for nothing else, for future generations who will be the ones stuck if we don’t act responsibly now.
I agree with Doodlebug. Think about it: By the time we invest billions of dollars and years of time into “producing” more oil through additional drilling in America, we could have developed technology to make renewables more efficient. Indeed, that is what we should be focusing. We’re Americans for heaven’s sake. Let’s INNOVATE, rather than continue to rely on the fuel source of the last century.
McCain’s energy “policy” is pandering to the fearful and Big Oil. The gas tax holiday that he continues to tout is also a red herring. A gas tax holiday would simply allow the oil companies to charge the same (or more) and then pocket the extra money.
I’m not overly fond of Obama’s “windfall tax”, either. Incentives for renewables should be offered instead of punishment for being profitable. However, subsidies for Big Oil should be ended — they don’t need taxpayer support on top of everything else they earn.