Senators Steadfast in Support for More Offshore Drilling. By Mike Soraghan, ClimateWire, May 7, 2010. "The more oil gushes into the Gulf of Mexico, the more things stay the same in the U.S. Senate. None of the coastal Republicans and centrist Democrats considered swing votes on climate change and energy legislation have changed their positions on offshore drilling since the Deepwater Horizon rig sank two weeks ago and the well it drilled started belching crude into the Gulf at the rate of about 210,000 gallons a day. To Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida, it seems obvious the spill should reverse the support of Gulf Coast lawmakers for offshore drilling.
"Instead, Republicans and Democratic drilling supporters say exploration and production must continue in U.S. waters. They repeat nearly the same talking points. The cause of the explosion and spill needs to be investigated. Safety rules might need to be stiffened. But thousands of rigs are still operating safely, and the spill is no reason to stop drilling, because the country still needs oil. Not even Nelson's Republican colleague from Florida, Sen. George LeMieux, wants to block more rigs... Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), whose state is the most directly threatened by the spill, said he's not hearing the panic among his constituents that Nelson is talking about. And Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) said he doesn't see the need to pull back, either... 'As a senator from a coastal state, and in light of the historic oil spill off the coast of Louisiana, I think it makes sense to find out what happened, enact safety measures to prevent similar accidents from occurring in the future, and then build consensus for the expanded offshore drilling our nation needs,' Graham said."
No comments:
Post a Comment