The Facts on Drilling Slowly Surface

[pberq]

The Facts on Drilling Slowly Surface

http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/facts-drilling-slowly-surface

By Bill Scher

June 24th, 2008 - 3:24pm ET

After a big PR push to exploit public frustration with high gas prices and open up our coastlines to more oil drilling, the facts on how little drilling can help are starting to surface.

Recall that last week, President George Bush said coastal drilling was part of the "short run" answer to high gas prices. As noted here previously, that is false. The oil would take years to get out the ocean floor and into our cars. More importantly, there is too little oil off the coasts to make a serious dent in the price gas twenty years from now, let alone this year.

And yesterday, White House spokesperson Dana Perino admitted it (via Think Progress).

Asked by the reporter about the logic of trying to lower gas prices today with "oil that can't be gathered for another 10 years," Perino conceded the point:

...there's not a real good short-term answer. And we've been very explicit about that from the beginning...

...So the important thing that we need to do is continue on -- to continue the conservation measures, work on a way to send a signal to the market that we're serious about increasing domestic production here in environmentally sensitive ways, and in addition to that, find ways that we can continually express to the American people not to expect a short-term response. There's not going to be a short-term response, and it would be irresponsible for anybody to suggest there would be.

Apparently, that means President Bush is being "irresponsible." But at least now it's indisputable. The White House acknowledges that lifting the coastal drilling ban will not do anything to lower gas prices "in the short run."

(more at link)

[liberal N proud]

1. There's not going to be a short-term response or a long one

The bu$h regime isn't going to do anything to help the American consumer on oil prices.

[pberq]

2. Exactly - their only concern is oil company profits

[Fovea]

3. Why should they?

They is in the owil bidness. As they say in SE Kansas.

Halliburton is king of the world right now, as is Exxon, etc.