· “I think people are reassured that not a drop of oil was spilled during Katrina or Rita. Those rigs in the Gulf, there was not a single incident of spillage that anyone reported.”--
I’m sure people would be reassured--if it were true.
· “...Hurricane Katrina ripped into Louisiana and Mississippi in 2005, destroying 115 oil platforms, significantly damaging 52 more and setting adrift 19. More than 7-million gallons of petroleum products spilled, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.”-- St. Petersburg Times, 6/20/08
· “The quantity and cumulative magnitude of the 595 spills, which were spread across four states and struck offshore and inland, rank these two hurricanes among the worst environmental disasters in U.S. history.”--Houston Chronicle, 11/13/05
The other big lie Republicans are pushing is that opening environmentally sensitive offshore areas and ANWR to drilling will lower the price of gasoline. The next time you see a Republican being interviewed, listen. It won’t matter what the question is, the Republican answer will be that we need to open ANWR and the remaining offshore areas to increased drilling.
The problem with this simple-minded solution is that expanded drilling in our coastal areas and ANWR will not lower the price of gasoline. Our government’s own Energy Information Administration released a report last year, saying:
· “[A]ccess to the Pacific, Atlantic, and eastern Gulf regions would not have a significant impact on domestic crude oil and natural gas production or prices before 2030. Leasing would begin no sooner than 2012, and production would not be expected to start before 2017. ...Because oil prices are determined on the international market, however, any impact on average wellhead prices is expected to be insignificant.”
Polling has yielded mixed results when trying to access the success of Bush’s campaign. The American people continue to value the environment and believe that more should be done to develop alternate energy technologies, but there has been a definite increase in the number of people who support increased drilling (once again proving the old adage: If you tell a lie often enough, it becomes the truth).
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