What is wrong with drilling offshore in US...isn't it just those McMansion folks preventing this?

[KoKo]

I don't understand what the fuss is all about. If we have oil off our coasts then shouldn't we give American Taxpayers a relief by drilling for it. Let's GO FOR IT...and SAVE ANWAR!

[bbinacan]

1. I say drill away. n/t

[benddem]

2. Haven't we had enough

oil spilled in the ocean???? edited to say
We cannot drill our way out of this mess.

[HereSince1628]

5. Apparently not enough for KK nt

[rawtribe]

3. More carbon for the atmosphere

Who needs fucking polar bears.


:sarcasm:

[MadMaddie]

4. Consider that we drill extensively in America and we export

something like 60% .....The US should consider oil drilled on American soil at this time be part of our Infrastructure....nuff said...

[Warpy]

6. McMansions aren't the problem

My last trip to Florida, when my dad died, I spent the last day tying up all the loose ends and packing, finally decided to drive out to the beach and dip my toe in the water (it was February) for old time's sake.

Well, I not only couldn't get to a beach, I couldn't even see the ocean. What I remembered as an unspoiled beach was now walled off by high rise condo buildings, one after another, no access between them, no place to park but their guarded lots. The nature walk was gone as was the parking lot at the old public beach, a beach that was no longer visible or accessible.

All those yuppies with the overpriced time shares are going to blow gaskets if they have to see an oil rig off in the distance, even if those rigs are well run and non polluting.

Jebbie got drilling off the Florida coast banned because apparently his developer friends were making lots of GOP cash slapping those high rise monstrosities up to fence the coast off from the peasants, monstrosities that would never have sold had the view included oil rigs.

[klyon]

7. Do you like oil on the beaches? It floats in drops on the water.

I remember after an oil spill in the gulf all the hotels on the coast gave out wipes to clean the oil of your feet and other body parts and it never comes out of your clothes and swimsuits. It also stinks, I remember the smell just thinking about it. I won't go back .

It is a quality of life thingy.

[spanone]

8. it's a small amount of oil....we need to get off oil

[babylonsister]

9. McCain should explain why he changed his tune today:

as usual, he's weathervaned.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x148665

[haele]

10. Why don't we start by uncapping perfectly good wells in Oklahoma

and Texas that were capped in the 70's during the oil crisis and are still just sitting there idle. A co-worker's family members used to work some of those fields and still lives in the area, according to him, there's still plenty there and it would probably only take a year or so to get those fields up and running again. Unlike rebuilding or building new offshore oil drilling derricks, which costs whole lot more and takes a much longer "warm up" time than drilling on land.

If the country were to decide to start drilling offshore today, it would take a good 3 - 5 years before there would be any oil production. Just as if we were to start up plans to drill ANWAR. And I'd betcha dollars to doughnuts that the majority of any oil we pump in the US will be given to China to "pay off our debt".

As it is now, it's "supply and demand" - oil corporations intentially shorting the supply to drive prices up. It would be quicker - and cheaper - to develop a cheap solar/hybrid vehicle for the general public than it would to start up drilling again.

Haele

[pt22]

21. Most of those plugged wells have been reopened. Few of them produce more than

5 to 10 bbl a day...which is why they were plugged in the first place. They're worth operating now that oil's over $100 but their total output is a very tiny drop in the bucket, as it were.

[bluerum]

11. How about we drop some cash into alternative energy development?

[27inCali]

12. I LIVE ON THE COAST -OBVIOUSLY YOU DONT

I've seen what off-shore Drilling does, It's dirty, it ruins the surrounding ocean and beaches.

EMPATHICALLY NO.

I DRIVE A FUEL EFFICIENT CAR, IF YOU DON"T BY NOW, TOUGH SHIT. YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN A SMARTER CONSUMER>

THESE HIGH OIL PRICES ARE HOW WE ARE FINALLY GOING TO FORCE THE COUNTRY AND WORLD INTO NEW TECHNOLOGY THAT MAKES PETROL OBSOLETE AS A MEANS FOR TRAVEL.
(AS IF GLOBAL WARMING WASN"T ENOUGH TO GET PEOPLE OFF THEIR ASSES AND DOING THE RIGHT THING!!!!)

FUCK OFFSHORE DRILLING. NO NO NO NO.

IF YOU DON"T LIVE ON THE COAST IN QUESTION, YOU DON'T GET A SAY. WE LIVE HERE, IT IS OUR COAST, OUR HOME. WE SAY NO.

There are a lot of us on the Coast who have an infinite number of happy memories playing in the Ocean as kids during summertime vacations and still do whenever we have the chance.
We want our children and our grandchildren to know the same happiness we did.
And we're not going to let all you inland retards ruin something so good and sacred to us so you can drive your stupid dirty fucking SUVs all over the fucking place.

NO. AND DON'T CALL YOURSELF PROGRESSIVE ANYMORE BECAUSE OBVIOUSLY YOU DON"T GET THE SINGLE BIGGEST PROGRESSIVE ISSUE THERE IS>
I.E. NOT FUCKING OVER FUTURE GENERATIONS BECAUSE YOU'RE TOO STUPID AND LAZY TO CHANGE YOUR DESTRUCIVE HABITS.

[deadmessengers]

13. Inland Retards?

Nice. Real nice.

[Carnea]

20. I didn't realease the single biggest progressive issue was your quality of life....nt

[Hekate]

24. Please don't shout. I think you'll find a lot of support here, as well as the opportunity to educate

Welcome to DU. :hi:

Hekate

[ellenfl]

27. i may not agree with how you said that

but i definitely agree with the sentiment.

ellen fl

[kineneb]

14. who is against it...the entire state of California

with the exception of a couple of doddering old fools in Orange County. Some of us still remember the Santa Barbara oil spill. Ain't no f***ing way that will be allowed to happen again.

[ben_meyers]

15. Oil, coal and nuclear power is all obsolete

As soon as Bush leaves the White House we'll all be using solar, wind and driving hybrids! Can't you wait a few months?

[tekisui]

16. High Risk. Low Potential Gain.

It's just not worth risking ocean and beaches for a dying, harmful energy source.

It wouldn't help you and what you pay. I would only line the pockets more of the oil execs.

[pt22]

17. Too late, Anwar was murdered years ago.

...

[Carnea]

18. It effect rich people like windmills off Nantucket. Now oil outside poor black folks homes ...

Giddy-up

[flvegan]

19. Who will pay for the damage from the first spill?

Exxon is still fighting Valdez.

But hey, ecosystems are overrated anyway. Drill away.

[KoKo]

22. Yes...it becomes overwhelming to give up on this....n/t

[Hekate]

23. Speaking as a Santa Barbarian, let me point out that the massive oil spill here in 1969 ...

...ruined our PUBLIC beaches for humans and sea life. That's how Santa Barbara became Ground Zero for the birthplace of the environmental movement. For 20 years we had a Republican Congressman named Bob Lagomarsino, and even he got the local folks' concern for the environment. One of the reasons Mike Huffington failed after one term was that he did not.

Read here http://www.geog.ucsb.edu/~jeff/sb_69oilspill/69oilspill_articles2.html
and here http://www.sbwcn.org/spill.shtml
photos! http://www.flickr.com/photos/gamma-infinity/2304146238/
LA Times http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-santa_barbara1969_oilspill-pg,0,4140637.photogallery

There's plenty more online. We have a lot of oil offshore of Santa Barbara County, and the oil companies lust for it. Attempts by the county to regulate them have met with limited success at best. Greka Oil drills inland, and in the past couple of years have had spill after spill after spill that drain into creeks and soak into the ground. I could go on -- and on -- but suffice it to say, a lot of us here think Big Oil makes a very bad neighbor.

How about using the sun and the wind, for starters? How about using some of the abundant technological innovations for cars -- instead of suppressing it?

Hekate

[Jennicut]

25. How much are we really going to save in the long run from this?

Whenever I see my Mother (who is a McCain supporter and longtime backer of Rethugs) we have this argument. She thinks drilling in the U.S. will bring down our oil prices. I think its a load of baloney. First of all it will take 3-5 years to get these offshore wells bringing in the good stuff, second of all I doubt we will pump enough oil to meet our ever growing demand and third of all its a short tem solution to a long term propblem: we need an alternative to oil.

[mrs_p]

26. are you missing the sarcasm icon?

i'm not even sure if you want an answer, but here are a few

1. there wouldn't be any taxpayer relief. it takes awhile between drilling, extraction, and release to the market

2. this would ultimately lead to lining oil company pockets, not ours

3. drilling off shore will affect wildlife as well. have you ever seen what even a little oil can do to waterfowl? http://www.ibrrc.org/oil_affects.html

4. finally, we should be thinking of the long term - we are democrats, right? oil is a finite resource. we can no longer stay in this me, me, me, now, now, now mentality

edit - one more: we have no idea how much oil is off shore anyway. many sites could very well prove unproductive

[Doctor Cynic]

28. You actually treat them as "our" resources?

Wisen up, man.

The market for petroleum is global. If a Chinese company is the highest bidder for a tank of oil drilled off Florida, then the tank is exported. None of this "domestic supply" bs. Thank you.

[madrchsod]

29. because there is`t enough oil to cover the costs

[Mojorabbit]

30. I live in Florida

and the coasts are a nursery for sea life. We have hurricanes. It would ruin the beaches for tourism, and ruin the ecosystem if we had a spill. Why don't we invest in alternative fuels and save what we have for the grandchildren down the road instead of pumping every last drop for today? It is a finite resource. Our oil should be nationalized and treated like it is gold and used judiciously.

[KoKo]

31. I live near the NC Coast...I wouldn't like to see this...and I grew up on SC Coast...but

there's so much "hullabaloo" about it...I really posted to counter the "Why not have Nuclear" post here.

I don't know if drilling can be safer than having Nuclear. I'm not in favor of either...I want Wind, Solar and whatever we can do to recycle the Fast Food Restaurants Cooking oil for BioDiesel.

I'd prefer no Nukes or Drilling.