Maybe you weren’t surprised that Sen. Landrieu and Rep. Boehner called for expanding oil drilling in the face of BP’s oil disaster. Maybe you are so jaded that you expected Newt Gingrich’s “drill here, drill now” campaign to continue as the disaster grew and grew.
But I expect this statement from Missouri’s Sam Graves (R) will make you wonder whether he has jumped to an alternate reality:
[Please put your head in a vise before continuing. You have been warned.]
Like many of you, I’ve been following the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. This tragic environmental disaster is partly the result of America’s unworkable energy plan. We wouldn’t need to drill hundreds of miles off the coast, in thousands of feet of water if we had access to fossil fuel deposits located onshore in the United States.
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska is a perfect example of how we can drill safely and in an environmentally responsibly way on land we already control…
Because of self-imposed onshore drilling limitations, America is more dependent than ever on foreign sources of energy. The only way we can become less dependent on overseas oil is to develop American sources of energy, like ANWR and our massive reserves of oil shale in other western states.
[Insert your snappy riposte here.]
We must destroy the environment to save it. That is all.
h/t FU!M
For the record, EIA concluded a while back that new offshore drilling will lower gas prices in 2030 a few pennies a gallon.