A Reason to Drill in the Gulf (NY Slimes; Read Carefully)

It is time to make a serious effort to save the vanishing wetlands and barrier islands along the coast of Louisiana. The best chance is a bill passed by the Senate that would guarantee Louisiana and three other coastal states a share of oil and gas revenues from drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. The states would be expected to use the proceeds largely for coastal restoration and related projects. The House should adopt this measure in its present form during the coming lame-duck session, and President Bush should sign it.

Since the deluge of Hurricane Katrina anniversary coverage in August, there has been very little talk about the safety of New Orleans and the surrounding region. In fact, the city and the region are more vulnerable than ever.

Even before last year’s storms, the wetlands and barrier islands that provide a protective buffer were eroding at a rate of 25 square miles a year — the result of a half-century of calamitous mismanagement of Mississippi River water flows. Katrina and Rita together snatched away another 217 square miles. Levees, of course, are necessary to protect New Orleans and other low-lying areas, but they are only the final line of defense. Healthy wetlands are essential to any long-term plan.

The Senate bill — whose principal architect is Mary Landrieu, a Louisiana Democrat...

The states would be expected to use the proceeds largely for coastal restoration and related projects.

Coastal restoration and related projects, eh? No need to try to save face, Lefties. This is simply the right thing to do.

The states would be expected to use the proceeds largely for coastal restoration and related projects.

Yeah...sure. Louisiana's politicians will suck this teat dry. And when the next hurricane hits New Orleans, those same politicians will use the same 'We didn't have the funds' excuse.

The corruption in that state knows no bounds...

This is the same U.S. Senator who was able to find 1400 buses and get the court to extend voting hours when the exit polls showed that she was losing on Election Day.

Yet she was unable to find any transportation to help evacuate the residents of "Chocolate City."

Where is her (and the NYSlimes) calls for an audit and publication of the BILLIONS of U.S. Tax Dollars that went to "Chocolate City" for flood control over the last decade?

This request is but another attempt to add a nipple to the breast of the U.S. Treasury to feed some more corrupt pimps of the election system!

"It is time to make a serious effort to save the vanishing wetlands and barrier islands along the coast of Louisiana."

Where the NYT compound now stands was once an area of gently rolling hills, glades, forests and valleys.

The Times compound should be siezed, at 11¢ on the dollar, and the land restored to its former bucolic glory. I'll even throw in a cow or woodlands buffalo - your choice. The reporters can be dispersed to reserves in the wide open Oklahoma plains to write of the plight prarie dogs, while the editors can corral and herd various animalcules back to these lovely expanses of New York City nature.

4 posted on 10/23/2006 4:38:16 AM PDT by sergeantdave (Consider that nearly half the people you pass on the street meet Lenin's definition of useful idiot)

“The states would be expected…”

What a bold faced lie.

Anytime you give money to a politician you can expect him to use it for his purpose and not what any expectation or law requires him to do.

Proof of statement?

Look at the various tobacco law suits, laws.
Look at the various casino laws.

I don’t expect any politician, particularly dimocrats and liberals, to act only in their self interests and never in accordance with laws or the best interests of the electorate unless they think there is a minor chance of being voted out of office. That is their track record to date and I see no changes in the future.

5 posted on 10/23/2006 4:56:04 AM PDT by Nip (SPECTRE - taking out the enemy one terrorist at a time; at night; without warning or mercy)

Creating a ginormous unaccountable never-ending slush fund for the most corrupt state in the Union does not strike me as a particularly good idea. But that's just me...

6 posted on 10/23/2006 5:40:11 AM PDT by gridlock (The 'Pubbies will pick up at least TWO seats in the Senate and FOUR seats in the House in 2006)

The CARA Compromise of 2000 will be expiring soon and Congress is trying to put in place legislation that takes up where CARA leaves off.

Back then, one of the objections was that the coastal mitigation money would be used by the coastal states to "mitigate themslves some coastal freeways and shopping centers". That fact is also true today.

Also, never mentioned, is that 25% of this re-allocated OCS royalty money will be going into the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which fedgov will be using to buy and set aside land. This 25% is remarkably higher than the funding going inro LWCF today.

8 posted on 10/23/2006 6:14:23 AM PDT by Gritty (Government is nothing but a group of men, and usually they are very inferior men-H.L. Mencken)

This request is but another attempt to add a nipple to the breast of the U.S. Treasury to feed some more corrupt pimps of the election system!

Concurring bump. Either make it a 100% Corps of Engineers program, or forget it.

No money to the people who stole/misappropriated the last wheelbarrowful. They used that to fund tourism "attractions" like a floating casino -- no, really.

There's always a joker with a deal.

We need to drill in the gulf, off of Florida (beofre Castro and the Chinese take it all), and in ANWR.

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