For Pelosi, a Fight Against Offshore Drilling

[DeepModem Mom]

NYT: For Pelosi, a Fight Against Offshore Drilling
By CARL HULSE
Published: July 17, 2008

WASHINGTON — Upon entering Congress in 1987, Representative Nancy Pelosi quickly became part of the solid California front against oil drilling along much of the nation’s coast. The Santa Barbara oil spill in 1969 and the steady push to tap the potential reserves off the state’s rugged coast had galvanized Californians and made opposition to offshore drilling part of the political DNA of up-and-coming figures like Ms. Pelosi.

She repeatedly resisted oil drilling in marine sanctuaries near her San Francisco district and, after joining the Appropriations Committee, was an advocate of reinstating the ban on coastal drilling through spending restrictions each year. “We learned the hard way that oil and water do not mix on our coast,” Ms. Pelosi told a crucial committee in 1996 as she argued for keeping the ban before a Congress then controlled by Republicans.

Now, with gasoline prices soaring, those drilling restrictions are facing their most severe test in years as calls intensify to pursue domestic oil more forcefully. Yet despite increasing pressure from President Bush, a full-bore assault by Congressional Republicans and some anxiety among her own rank-and-file Democrats, Ms. Pelosi is not budging.

“The president of the United States, with gas at $4 a gallon because of his failed energy policies, is now trying to say that is because I couldn’t drill offshore,” Ms. Pelosi said in an interview. “That is not the cause, and I am not going to let him get away with it.”

Her voice carries considerable weight because Ms. Pelosi, who is now House speaker, can prevent a vote on expanded drilling from reaching the floor. And she and Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, appear intent on holding the line against calls to approve drilling in areas now off limits. They argue that the oil and gas industry is not aggressively exploring large expanses it has already leased on land and offshore. They have also urged Mr. Bush to pour some fuel from national reserves into the commercial supply chain in an effort to lower prices....

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/17/washington/17pelosi.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper&oref=slogin

[liberal N proud]

1. So how soon before she caves to the regime?

[Enrique]

2. I just sent my republican congressman a thank you

for continuing to oppose offshore drilling.

Not unusual for a Florida congressman, but keep in mind that republican gov. Charlie Crist recently flip-flopped on it and now supports drilling.

[Enrique]

3. kick

:kick: