So, did Obama thread the needle today in giving the oil and gas crowd what they want but not alienating environmentalists and liberal Democrats? The scorecard is still being tallied.
Florida’s Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, who authored a 2006 law that keeps oil rigs 100 miles offshore, said he had been worried that Obama’s plan would damage Florida’s economy and environment but the administration “heeded that concern”.
South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham, who is working with Sens. John Kerry and Joseph Lieberman to craft an climate change bill, offered a detailed critique of Obama’s performance.
“[T]his is a good first step,” Graham said of the offshore proposal. “But there is more to be done to make this proposal meaningful and the game-changer we all want it to become.”
He asked the administration to encourage states to allow exploration by sharing revenue raised from oil and gas drilling, open more areas of the Eastern Gulf of Mexico to exploration and include other viable drilling sites.
Graham helpfully pointed out that offshore drilling is only part of the solution — a solution that includes pricing carbonn.
We need a comprehensive energy strategy for our nation that breaks our addiction to foreign oil. We need a robust expansion of nuclear power. We need to price carbon in a consumer-friendly manner to help speed along the exciting, new technologies out there.
The Wall Street Journal’s Washington Wire has the environmental reaction. To summarize:
Greenpeace: Hated it.
Environmenta America: Ditto.
World Wildlife Fund: Happy that Alaska’s Bristol Bay is exempted.