DRILL, BABY, DRILL”

 

By Roger C. Kostmayer

 

Trying to appease political opponents and the oil industry by balancing good and bad environmental decisions, is exactly the opposite of what caused the President’s recent approval ratings to jump above 50%.

 

 

Banning drilling in the sensitive Arctic seas was good for future generations and consistent with a rational global climate policy; opening East Coast Atlantic waters to the real risk of environmental disaster, like the BP catastrophe, is short sighted and dumb. Someone should ask President Obama how this kind of “balancing” worked for him over the last 6 years.

 

 

Instead of investing in energy independence through non-petroleum renewable energy, the administration is endangering the East Coast and its own environmental legacy. Deep sea drilling off the mid-Atlantic jeopardizes tourism, beaches, jobs, wild life, fishing and other local industries along the entire eastern seaboard. And these dangers are in addition to the threat of climate change.

 

 

In case you believe the current Congress will protect you, it’s telling that in the 5 years since the BP eruption in the Gulf, a much more progressive US Congress failed to impose any tighter safety requirements on the off-shore oil industry.

[livemarket market_name="KONK Life LiveMarket" limit=3 category=“” show_signup=0 show_more=0]