{"id":568209,"date":"2010-05-18T08:46:32","date_gmt":"2010-05-18T12:46:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/climateprogress.org\/?p=25288"},"modified":"2010-05-18T08:46:32","modified_gmt":"2010-05-18T12:46:32","slug":"gingrich-%e2%80%98of-course%e2%80%99-gov-barbour-should-encourage-tourists-to-visit-oil-contaminated-gulf-beaches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/568209","title":{"rendered":"Gingrich: \u2018Of course\u2019 Gov. Barbour should encourage tourists to visit oil contaminated gulf beaches"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/em>Weeks after the massive BP oil spill<\/a> in the Gulf of Mexico, Newt Gingrich still continues<\/a> his \u201cDrill Here, Drill Now\u201d mantra, writing that \u201chuman progress is not without risk\u201d and that \u201c[o]ffshore drilling is no exception.\u201d Even though the oil leak at BP\u2019s Deepwater Horizon rig continues largely unabated and is \u201calready far larger<\/a>\u201d than the Exxon Valdez crash, Gingrich is holding firm.\u00a0 Think Progress<\/em> has more original investigative reporting<\/a>:<\/p>\n

<\/span>At the NRA\u2019s annual conference in Charlotte, NC, yesterday, ThinkProgress asked Gingrich if he still accepts this level of risk to continue offshore drilling:<\/p>\n

\n

TP: So given the scale of the oil spill in the gulf, do you still think that it represents an acceptable risk to continue offshore drilling?<\/p>\n

GINGRICH: Yes. \u2026 One oil spill since 1969 with 4,000 wells<\/strong>. If the Coast Guard had a reasonable research program, we\u2019d be much further down the road to solving this kind of thing.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

ThinkProgess also asked the former GOP House Speaker if he agrees with Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour\u2019s (R) recent campaign<\/a> to encourage tourists<\/a> to visit gulf beaches despite oil and dead sea animals washing ashore<\/a>. While Gingrich hesitated for a moment, he replied, \u201cOf course.\u201d Watch the interview:<\/p>\n

\n

<\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

While it\u2019s unclear which \u201c4,000 wells\u201d Gingrich was referring to, his claim that there has only been one spill since 1969 is not accurate, as the Wonk Room\u2019s Brad Johnson has noted<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

Between 1992 and 1998 there were 319 failures of blowout preventers found in US offshore drilling, an average of 45 a year. [MMS, 1999<\/a>] Between 1992 and 2006 there were at least 39 blowouts off the US coastline, 38 of them in the Gulf of Mexico. [MMS, 7\/07<\/a>] From 2007 to 2009 there were 19 blowouts, all in the Gulf of Mexico. [MMS<\/a>]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Moreover, the largest accidental oil spill<\/a> in history was a Gulf of Mexico exploratory rig blowout in 1979 and other major offshore spills have occurred elsewhere around the world. In \u201cone of Australia\u2019s worst oil disasters<\/a>,\u201d a PTTEP oil rig blew out in the Montara deepwater oil field on August 21, 2009.<\/p>\n

Sunday morning, Newt Gingrich sat for a softball interview with Fox News’ Chris Wallace to discuss his new book. Wallace never asked Gingrich — the originator of the “drill here, drill now, pay less” slogan — about the oil spill.<\/p>\n

Alabama Gov. Bob Riley (R) has been arguing that his state’s beaches have never been so clean<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

Alabama Governor Bob Riley said Thursday that the beaches of Gulf Shores are safe for this weekend\u2019s Hangout Festival despite the oil rig explosion that continues to dump as much as 200,000 gallons into the Gulf daily.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe atmosphere has never been as electric, and I don\u2019t think Orange Beach and Gulf Shores has ever looked as attractive as it does now,\u201d Riley said from the Hangout.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Weeks after the massive BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Newt Gingrich still continues his \u201cDrill Here, Drill Now\u201d mantra, writing that \u201chuman progress is not without risk\u201d and that \u201c[o]ffshore drilling is no exception.\u201d Even though the oil leak at BP\u2019s Deepwater Horizon rig continues largely unabated and is \u201calready far larger\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-568209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=568209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568209\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=568209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=568209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=568209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}