A Tough Drill to Swallow

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President Bush stumps for ANWR drilling and dirty-energy expansion

Posted at 3:17 PM on 29 Apr 2008

In a speech Tuesday, President Bush aimed to pacify Americans' concerns about skyrocketing fuel and food prices with the assurance that it's all Congress' fault. Bush advocated tackling energy prices by throwing environmental protection to the winds (in not quite those words), urging Congress to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling and rah-rah-ing new coal and nuclear power plants. Bush also expressed openness, though not support, to a summer-long gas-tax suspension, an idea backed by presidential contenders John McCain and Hillary Clinton but not Barack Obama.

sources: Reuters, Houston Chronicle

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Comments: (8 comments)

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phallic symbology?

Oral sex, with male as receiver? Anything to do with the current not-too-well-reviewed Owen Wilson vehicle "Drillbit Taylor"?

Anyway, what may save ANWR is only that the professional oil people -- unlike George W. Bush, who is way behind the curve -- seem to think that there is not all that much worthwhile oil there; they are looking out at the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas.

But in principle, W. is right to suspect that popular pressure regarding fuel costs will before long result in overpowering demand for domestic drilling, to hell with the environmental consequences.

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

by caniscandida at 6:02 AM on 30 Apr 2008

Troubling...

Have not pinpointed what is troubling about this, maybe the promotion of additional driving to Wal-Mart and the RV Park by suspending the gas tax or the fact that only lip service has been paid to alternative sources of energy (or perhaps no energy at all) and that oil production domestically (often on beautiful western wilderness lands) is still being pushed. We're Americans, we're innovative, let's come up with something that assures that our wilderness lands and oceans can be enjoyed for a long time.

The war for oil is a war for the beast The war on terror is a war on peace -Franti

by TheAnalogKid at 7:26 AM on 30 Apr 2008

ANWAR savings

Joe Romm at Climate Progress has an excellent piece on this subject.

http://climateprogress.org/

by Boyscientist at 11:23 AM on 30 Apr 2008

Addicts

I've heard that alcholics will drink mouthwash if they get desperate enough for a fix.

Are automobilers like this? That we'll seriously consider opening up for catastrophe one of the last pristine places on earth for a few more drops of oil?

If you continue to do what you've always done you'll continue to get what you've always got. - Yogi Berra

by Matt at 12:03 PM on 30 Apr 2008

Unreal

I've been awed, in a bad way, by the number of otherwise intelligent people who are so pissed off by high gas prices and corresponding rising prices on just about everything, that they think the solution is to drill in the Wildlife Refuge or anywhere else there might be a bit of oil, and blame environmentalists for the pain at the pump. It's just unbelievable. They're willing to sacrifice something wild, that can never be restored, to save a few bucks (well, we know it won't be "now", but that's what they think, like drilling starts and the price just plummets). It's so shortsighted, thinking maybe the next five years, nothing about the long term or their kids' future or the fact that without a healthy Earth we will cease to exist. I'm referring to people where I live, who have opinions others listen to. It's just unreal.

by SMLowry at 4:57 PM on 30 Apr 2008

Inevitable Consequence

If people base a society on fuels acquired by extractive means, of course they will demand those fuels at any cost to the environment. This entire society is rotten to the core and needs to be completely rearranged.

When I worked with Earth First! in the '80s, I told everyone that we could win victories in all the battles we fought, but it would do no good in the end. For example, when people run out of wood and/or paper, they'll cut down every last tree, regardless of whatever legal protections we'd been able to secure.

The problems are twofold: our leaders are totally corrupt and immoral, and the average person is not competent to make decisions about how society is run.

Re the leaders, really good ones show up in small societies, like hunter-gatherer societies where the villages don't exceed 40 people. Because the leaders are not very far removed from the people, and because the people will remove them as leaders if they do the wrong things, these leaders turn out to be the best. The only good choice for leaders in an overpopulated society like ours would be those who don't want to be leaders, like Buddhist monks.

Re average people making big decisions: Average people are like worker bees. They're certainly generally capable of making personal decisions, but when it comes to the ones that effect the Earth and/or society in general, they have nether the inclination to make the effort to learn the issues adequately nor the wisdom to make hard decisions that may require some sacrifice.

I have no solutions to this problem except to greatly lower human population.

by Wolverine at 6:23 PM on 30 Apr 2008

Never Mind the Ecocide ... Life[style] Must Go On

"We need cheap gas and we need it now! [There's something invigorating about being stuck in the traffic 4 hours a day wondering how you could live without your car.]"

"Alaska is a damned frozen place void of life, who cares how many holes they drill in the ice, or how much oil they spill there. [Who wants a living planet, after we are dead?] Most of us don't even have any children, why should we care about other people's nuisance?" ~ Anonymous [from Calif.]

http://feww.wordpress.com/2008/04/09/bering-sea-drilling/ ...

by LGT at 6:53 PM on 30 Apr 2008

The man's an idiot

What can you say for a prez with a 20ish% approval rating. He really doesn't care about how much destruction will have to be repaired after he is finally out of office.

I just have to wonder, is he really proud of what he has done in his presidency, being known as the worst environmental president ever? If he is, that is the frightening thought.

"For as long as space endures, and for as long as living beings remain, until then may I too abide, to dispel the misery of the world." - Shantideva

by mtvyfan at 7:27 AM on 02 May 2008

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