Posted on 07/17/2008 7:38:08 AM PDT by vietvet67
WASHINGTON: Upon entering Congress in 1987, Representative Nancy Pelosi quickly became part of the solid California front against oil drilling along much of the nation's coast.
The 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill and the steady push to tap the potential reserves off the state's rugged coast had galvanized Californians and made opposition to offshore drilling part of the political DNA of up-and-coming figures like Pelosi.
She repeatedly resisted oil drilling in marine sanctuaries off the state's coast near her San Francisco district and, after joining the Appropriations Committee, was an advocate of reinstating the coastal drilling ban through spending restrictions each year.
"We learned the hard way that oil and water do not mix on our coast," Pelosi told a key committee in 1996 as she made her case for keeping the ban in place before a Congress then controlled by Republicans.
Now, with gas prices soaring, those drilling restrictions are facing their most severe test in years as calls intensify to more aggressively pursue domestic oil. Yet despite increasing pressure from President George W. Bush, a full-bore assault by congressional Republicans and some anxiety among her own rank-and-file Democrats, Pelosi is not budging.
"The president of the United States, with gas at $4 a gallon because of his failed energy policies, is now trying to say that is because I couldn't drill offshore," Pelosi said in an interview. "That is not the cause, and I am not going to let him get away with it."
Her voice carries considerable weight since, as speaker, Pelosi is in a position to prevent a vote on expanded drilling from reaching the floor
(Excerpt) Read more at iht.com ...
Yep. dumb rednecks that can still find gas for less than $4 / gal.
lol
Chained to the base of the oil platform.
I’ll handle the air supply machinery.
I love that oil dropped $10 a barrel after the President announced his plans it makes the Dims look like the liars they are! Nope drilling won’t do a thing except DROP THE PRICE!
“Couldn’t Repubicans get the majority back in both houses by running on a campaign promise to lift the congressional ban?”
I believe they could....if they would actually do it!
Counter sue them with a class action lawsuit.
If no one had ever heard of Jimmy Carter, he could run and win today. I guess we have a whole new generation that needs to learn some lessons.
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