Presidential hopeful John McCain was quick to jump on the "Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less" bandwagon. The problem is that the whole thing is a lie, and is no more that one more gift to the oil industry. More drilling will not reduce your gas prices.

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      You have to give the Republicans credit: When their corporate bosses give them a “talking point”, they talk about it. The latest one is the “urgent” need to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and all of our offshore waters to oil drilling.

     President Bush began the campaign by lifting the presidential “ban” on offshore drilling and challenging Congress to lift the congressional “ban” also. In reality, there is no “ban” on offshore drilling--only a moratorium on the sale of any further offshore drilling permits, because eighty percent of our offshore areas are already open for drilling.

·        Over the past 40 years, oil companies have drilled thousands of wells across the western and central gulf, and there are now about 3,800 offshore structures there.”--St. Petersburg Times, 6/20/08

     The moratoria began in 1990, after the supertanker Exxon Valdez ran aground and spilled 11 million gallons of oil into Alaska’s Prince William Sound. The spill fouled 1,300 miles of shoreline, killed hundreds of thousands of birds and marine animals, and destroyed the livelihood of thousands of fishermen. This moratorium remained in effect until George W. Bush rescinded it (July 14, 2008). Fortunately, there is still a congressional moratorium preventing the expansion of drilling into protected areas (at least until Congressional Democrats surrender to the White House--as they usually do).

     To pull this off, the Republicans know that they must convince the American people that offshore drilling is environmentally safe and our beaches will not end up like the shores of Prince William Sound. To accomplish this, they will do what they usually do--LIE!

·        “When we had Katrina and Rita, the two worst hurricanes in--at least in recent memory, in ‘05, some three years ago, there was not one case where we had a situation with oil or gas being spilled in the environment.”--Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman

·        “[T]hat’s one of the great unwritten success stories, after Katrina and Rita, these awful storms, no major spills.”--Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R), Fox News, 6/27/08

     …and for sissies who do not even want a single drop of oil spilled on their beaches, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said this:

·        “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).

     One notable convert to the Bush Administration’s call for increased offshore drilling is presidential candidate Senator John “the maverick” McCain (R-AZ), who had previously opposed offshore drilling. To call his change of mind sudden is almost an understatement.

     In May, McCain commented on the proposition of increased domestic production as a solution to our energy crisis:

·        “[Increasing domestic production] would take years to develop, it would only postpone or temporarily relieve our dependency on fossil fuels. ... [T]he exploitation of existing reserves...are all great things. But we have to devote our efforts] to alternative energy sources, which is the ultimate answer to our long-term energy needs, and we need it sooner rather than later."”--Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 6/20/08]

     ...one month later, McCain had completely changed his mind about the moratorium:

·        “There are areas off our coasts that should be open to exploration and exploitation, and I hope we can take the first step by lifting the moratoria.” McCain added that drilling “would be very helpful in the short term in resolving our energy crisis.”--6/16/08 (Republicans refer to this as a flip-flop--when a Democrat does it.)

·        “My friends, we have to drill offshore. We have to do it. ... The oil executives say within a couple of years we could be seeing results from it. So why not do it?”--7/22/08

     Well, why didn’t you say so? If the oil executives say we have to drill, then it must be true. After all, Vice President Cheney collaborated with energy executives to formulate our present energy policy, and we all know how well that has worked out.

     Which brings us to the question: What could possible induce a straight-talker like John McCain to suddenly reverse his position on offshore drilling, thus alienating environmentalists and closing the already imperceptible gap between his policies and those of George W. Bush? (Hint: Remember, we are talking about politics.)

     The day after making this speech, McCain was in oil country, where he raised $1.3 million at a private luncheon with energy executives at the San Antonio Country Club. Prior to his sudden popularity with oil executives, McCain had only received $300,000 from oil and gas interests over the course of sixteen years (1990-2006).

·        “Oil and gas industry executives and employees donated $1.1 million to McCain last month--three-quarters of which came after his June 16 speech calling for an end to the ban...”--The Washington Post, 7/27/08

     So far, McCain has maintained his opposition to drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, but let’s see if a couple of million dollars more of campaign donations from the oil lobby will change his mind. I guess McCain figures, if he’s going to pander, he might as well pander to the big money; but considering the billions of dollars in profit the oil companies have made during the Bush years, McCain is selling out pretty cheap.

Authors Bio:

Mick Youther is an American citizen, an independent voter, a veteran, a parent, a scientist, a writer, and all-around nice guy who has been roused from a comfortable apathy by the high crimes and misdemeanors of the Bush Administration.