"Drill Here, Drill Now" Crowd Still Not Satisfied

Inaction by Congress will allow the 27-year moratorium on new offshore oil drilling to expire on October 1. Unbelievably, even that piece of bad news may not be the worst development for our coasts. Today we learned that Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina intends to push for adoption this week of his bill, S. 3636, called the "Drill Now Act of 2008" (we're not making this up).

The bill would have the effect of rapidly accelerating expansion of offshore drilling on all parts of the Outer Continental Shelf, including the entire Pacific and Atlantic coastlines, as well as those portions of the Eastern Gulf of Mexico now protected until 2022 by the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006 (GOMESA 06). GOMESA represents a compromise in which Florida gave up 8.2 million acres of previously-protected waters to drilling through past authorizing legislation enacted in 2006.

Any state that had previously been protected by the annual congressional OCS moratorium could be opened to drilling before 2012, through a waiver of the usual congressional review of a new Five-Year Leasing Program. S. 3646 would also attempt to bribe coastal states into accepting offshore drilling with a share of federal revenues from such drilling, while severely weakening the ability of coastal states and impacted third-party interveners to engage in legitimate litigation to protect their interests as offshore drilling goes forward. The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA), the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), and the Endangered Species Act (ESA) would all be waived by this provision. You might ask yourself, if offshore oil drilling is as environmentally benign as its supporters claim, why do they need to suspend environmental laws?

Please contact your senators and ask them to oppose this legislation.

Senate votes to end moratorium on offshore drilling

This afternoon, the Senate overwhelmingly passed a spending bill that allows the 26-year ban on offshore oil drilling to expire.

The end to the ban on oil drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts is a major victory for Republicans, who have seized on drilling as a major election year issue, citing multiple public opinion polls that show a majority of Americans support more offshore drilling. Speeches at the Republican National Convention last month were often interrupted with chants of "Drill, baby, drill."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, had incurred Republican wrath for originally blocking any vote on drilling before allowing a vote on limited drilling earlier this month.

The federal moratorium will be lifted October 1st.

Former CIA Director Urges Us to Get Off Oil

It's not just environmental groups like Surfrider that that are concerned about the short-sighted, dangerous and ineffectual frenzy to "drill baby drill." In a Scientific American interview, former CIA Director R. James Woolsey says America's oil dependence is a grave threat to our national security. He states:

"It’s not just foreign oil. It’s oil. I think one thing that’s been wrong about the debate is that people assume everything would be fine if we just had more domestic oil and relied on foreign sources for a smaller share. I think that’s entirely wrong. [...] So I talk about independence from oil, not foreign oil."

He urges:

• the rapid adoption of plug-in hybrid vehicles
• prompting the transition by providing incentives for saving energy

Offshore Oil Drilling Ban to End - Democrats Show No Spine

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse on offshore oil drilling - it did.

Era of Offshore Oil Drilling Ban Draws to a Close

After 27 years, the moratorium will expire in days. Democrats say they have no chance of renewing it in the face of Bush's opposition and election season pressure.

"I think it's awful," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). "This battle is not over. We will come back and fight another day -- that's for sure." Rep. Lois Capps, a Democrat from Santa Barbara, where a 1969 oil spill devastated the coastline, said, "I hope that when Congress revisits this issue next year, with a new president, we can negotiate a compromise that respects the need to protect coastal states and puts our country on a path to a clean-energy future."

Read it and weep for our coasts here.

Is Drilling the Answer?

Well, as you might guess, we believe the answer is a resounding NO. But it's not just us. Check out this article that relies on energy statistics from the U.S. government to argue that OCS drilling will supply, at best:

• about 0.06 percent of our total national oil consumption in about 9 years and


• about 1 percent at its peak in the mid-2020s

Clearly, offshore drilling is not going to get us to energy independence, not even close.

What about the price at the pump? Analyses, including the government's own, predict that any price reduction will be in the neighborhood of pennies and not dimes and certainly not dollars.

By comparison most studies show that a very significant reduction in our dependence on foreign oil and in gas prices would arise from decreasing our demand for oil -- for example, by investing in technologies to increase the fuel economy of our cars and in mass transport.

From League of Conservation Voters:



The irreverence of "Drill, Baby Drill" should embarrass and infuriate anyone who cares about our oceans, waves and beaches.

Drill Rigs Coming to Your Beach

Think there won't be drill rigs off your beach under the oil drilling bill passed by the House? Think again.