The case for domestic oil drilling
If anybody learned anything yesterday, it should have been that we need to expand our domestic oil production. Russia and the Belarus battling each other over gas lines,Hugo Chavez nationalizing the US-corporation-owned telecommunications and electricity industry in Venezuela (while Chavez stays insulated from serious backlash with massive petrodollars after nationalizing the oil industry last year) to cries of “Always towards victory, Comandante!” from his cabinet.
Iran appears to be running short of oil according to Roger Stern in the International Tribune which doesn’t do anything for stability in the oil-rich Persian Gulf. Without the US in the Gulf, Iran would be free to run rough shod over the emirates and then hold the world hostage to it’s lunatic President’s whims.
A UPI story reports that the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta holds Nigerian oil production hostage to it’s demands that the industry be nationalized to “let profits benefit the people”. A chonology of the attacks on Nigerian oil by the rebels courtesy of Reuters.
With vast reserves of oil in Alaska, the Gulf of Mexico and off the West Coast, it seems to make common sense to get ahead of the impending worldwide energy disaster. But no one has accused Democrats of having too much common sense.
Since we haven’t built an oil refinery since 1978, it’d probably be a good idea to build or expand a few of those as well. In his 1979 “malaise speech“, Democrat President Jimmy Carter promised us that
We will protect our environment. But when this nation critically needs a refinery or a pipeline, we will build it.Â
So where are the Democrats when there is a Republican administration facing an energy crisis? Are they on the side of working Americans or are they on their own selfish, political side?
But President Bush’s administration is lifting a ban on drilling in Alaska’s Bristol Bay and boosting royalty rates to offset OPEC’s impending production cuts. While in the interim, Democrats are planning to cut back tax breaks for oil company exploration and development. So who’s really doing the people’s business here?
Captain Ed comments on Chavez at Captain’s Quarters
Category: Hugo Chavez, Jimmy Carter, Politics
