Nah............
Posted on 06/16/2008 12:39:23 PM PDT by Aria
RLINGTON, Va. (AP) - Sen. John McCain said Monday the federal moratorium on offshore oil and gas drilling should be lifted, and individual states given the right to pursue energy exploration in waters near their own coasts. With gasoline prices rising and the United States chronically dependent on foreign oil, the Republican presidential contender said his proposal would "be very helpful in the short term resolving our energy crisis."
McCain also suggested giving the states incentives, including a greater share of royalties paid by companies that drill for oil, as an incentive to permit exploration.
Asked how far offshore states should be given control of drilling rights, he said that was a matter for negotiation.
He offered no other details for his proposal, which he is expected to describe more fully on Tuesday in an energy speech.
The current drilling moratorium is a perennial cause for controversy, pitting those who favor additional exploration on the one hand against environmentalists on the other.
The current ban on offshore drilling covers an estimated 80 percent of U.S. coastal waters. Given Democratic opposition in Congress to ending it, the Bush administration and congressional Republicans have been seeking the type of state option that McCain endorsed.
The GOP presidential candidate said a recent run-up in the price of oil was having an adverse effect on consumers.
"We've seen the impact of it in the form of food prices, in the form of gasoline, in the form of threats of inflation and indeed indications of inflation, and we must we must embark on a national mission to eliminate our dependence on foreign oil," he told reporters. McCain has sought to carve out something of a middle road on energy issues, parting company with many Republicans by opposing drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, for example and calling for measures to reduce greenhouse gases.
The Senate last month rejected a GOP energy plan, 56-42, that included a provision similar to McCain's proposal. It would have allowed a state's governor to petition to have the federal moratorium lifted for waters off its coast. Republican senators argued there are some 14 billion barrels of recoverable oil available in waters now off limits. Also, the House has twice approved giving states the right to opt out of the federal ban, both when the GOP held the majority, but the proposal has never made it through the Senate.
McCain made his remarks before leaving the Washington area for a pair of fundraisers in Dallas.
Another fundraising event, originally set for the home of Clayton Williams in Midland, Texas was pulled from the schedule after a controversy erupted over remarks the 1990 Texas GOP gubernatorial candidate made several years ago about rape.
McCain sought to minimize the fallout, telling reporters that his aides had not known of the earlier comment when they scheduled the event
"We'll do it someplace else and I understand he's not attending. That's pretty much the sum of it all," he said.
He said he would hold another fundraising in the Midland area later this summer and Williams would not attend. Democrats have called on McCain to return more than $300,000 that Williams had raised for McCain from other individuals.
Well, well.....
We will see, if ever there was a hanging softball of a political issue this Campaign, this is it, but I don’t like the caveat of “If the States want to”.
Give them their 20 mile limit (or whatever) and let the contracts begin for the 200 mile limit drilling!
McCain can be stubborn as hell, if he really sinks his false teeth into this one, he could have a win win for him and for us...
It’s a start Senator. Now, you said you would not drill in ANWR for the same reasons you would not drill in the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon is one of the most beautiful, breathtaking natural sites on earth, is a tourist attraction to millions, and has no oil. That’s why I wouldn’t drill there. ANWR is a mosquito infested tundra wasteland nightmare that no one visits, and it has lots of oil. That’s why I would drill there. Hope this helps.
Good morning. Looks like Team McCain is finally starting to wake up and read the polls.
And what states would those be?
Nah............
The McCain Campaign must’ve gotten my letter regarding why I wouldn’t give them a dime.
Coulda sworn He said “no drilling” a week ago. Maybe he is catching on. I sent him an old drill bit of mine after one of the talk show guess suggested it. Who knows. Wherever we decide to do it we need to have strict rules, limits, and oversight. But it has got to be done.
Doesn’t the federal government regulate off shore waters?
McCain is starting to get it.
Keep it up, don’t stop here.
Drill Here, Drill Now.
Louisiana is for drilling!
Can you specify for me any offshore tracks of the coast of Louisiana that are currently off limits to offshore drilling?
Can you specify for me any offshore tracks of the coast of Louisiana that are currently off limits to offshore drilling?
I like that idea! Can you imagine if every FReeper, and later every conserative in America, starting mailing drill bits to congress critters?? They'd sure get the message -- and the public would hear about it, because the Capitol Hill mail room would be on the evening news, talking about how every piece of mail set off the metal detectors... I love it!
Very much agree with the above.
A start - of sorts.
Now if he would just take a realistic view of how opening ANWR would IMPROVE the migration patterns of the caribou, and in fact make the migration that much easier (resulting in a larger herd of caribou, therefore more Arctic foxes and timber wolves and black bears), the positive good that would come out of this opening of the Arctic far outweighs the supposed harm of the “anthill on the tennis court”.
I do not believe any of the protestors has a clear idea of what the ecology immediately surrounding the caribou might be, which species may be enhanced, and which may be further threatened by the the presence of more or fewer caribou.
A start - of sorts.
Now if he would just take a realistic view of how opening ANWR would IMPROVE the migration patterns of the caribou, and in fact make the migration that much easier (resulting in a larger herd of caribou, therefore more Arctic foxes and timber wolves and black bears), the positive good that would come out of this opening of the Arctic far outweighs the supposed harm of the “anthill on the tennis court”.
I do not believe any of the protestors has a clear idea of what the ecology immediately surrounding the caribou might be, which species may be enhanced, and which may be further threatened by the the presence of more or fewer caribou.
I’ve got some spare bits - won’t drill much, but might cut through to a brain.
He says this then he babbles about global warming...
WHICH IS IT?!?!?
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