I just saw this a few minutes ago.(House Votes to Lift Offshore Drilling Ban)
Does anyone have any thoughts about this vote or its impact (if any)?
Some Clips from the article:
"Republicans, who have seen their political fortunes improve by focusing on their support of drilling, said the bill was designed mostly to give election-year cover to Democrats, who fear being seen as anti-drilling."
The energy bill, passed with the support of most Democrats, would let states decide whether to drill between 50 and 100 miles off their coasts while allowing the federal government to open areas beyond 100 miles.
"Republicans opposed the bill, calling it a sham because it would not give the states any financial rewards for drilling and would ban exploration within 50 miles of shore."
Pelosi hailed the 236-189 vote as a victory because the bill also included Democratic priorities such as stripping oil companies of $18 billion in tax breaks, renewing expiring tax credits for wind and solar, and requiring electric utilities to get 15 percent of their power from renewable sources by 2020.
The White House issued a veto threat today, saying the House bill "purports to open access to American energy sources while in reality taking actions to stifle development."
Nobody's going to do anything about the price of gas. We'll do the exact same thing we did in the 70s-set around with our thumbs up our ass. We could have been making gas out of garbage by now, had we started the ball rolling back then.
posted by Darkseid on Sep 16, 2008 at 11:50:32 pm #