Revisiting Stands on Offshore Drilling. By Juliet Eilperin, WashPost, May 6, 2010. "The catastrophic oil spill unfolding in the Gulf has provided the environmental community with a rare opportunity to shift public opinion on climate and energy issues, an opening on which it has been quick to capitalize. National environmental groups... are holding news conferences, filming TV spots and organizing protest rallies, all aimed at persuading lawmakers to block new offshore oil drilling and pass legislation curbing U.S. greenhouse gas emissions... 'This does serve as a wake-up call, to both the administration and Congress, to focus more effort on reducing the demand for oil,' said Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune...
"A little over a month ago, it appeared that environmentalists would have to accept the prospect of expanded oil drilling off the U.S. coasts, as President Obama identified new areas for exploration and the three senators working on a bipartisan climate bill -- John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) and Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) -- inserted offshore drilling provisions into their draft. But now the administration has said it will review its proposal, and two GOP governors -- California's Arnold Schwarzenegger and Florida's Charlie Crist -- have reversed course and said they oppose any drilling off their state's shores. At least two Democratic senators, Robert Menendez (N.J.) and Bill Nelson (Fla.), have said they won't support a climate proposal that encourages offshore drilling, and even some moderate Republican senators say they want to reexamine the role offshore drilling should play in the nation's energy supply. 'Whether it should be there in the future is an open question,' said Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.)."
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