Drill, baby, drill, baby one more time
In looking for a photo for our previous post about using access to gasoline as leverage against Iran, we came across this gem. While we promised to try and stop talking about her, given her seemingly perpetual presence on the TV and internet news sites, and our personal inability to get over the dangers of her populist anti-intellectualism, we had to post this illustration.
“The chant is ‘drill, baby, drill.’” -Sarah Palin, VP debate.
Palin’s ‘all of the above’ is really just ‘more of the same’
Sarah Palin gave an energy policy speech on Wednesday. While her audience at a solar technology start-up refrained from the zombie “drill, baby, drill” chant, that didn’t stop Palin from re-emphasizing that message. Unfortunately, even Palin’s “all of the above” policy is empty.
Without imposing a cap-and-trade or carbon tax on emissions, oil and coal will remain artificially cheap, leaving alternative energy start-ups on an uneven playing field to compete. This, of course, will result in more of the same old policy we’ve had for 30 years, which is over consumption of artificially cheap, dirty fuels. Palin said she disapproved of the Bush Administration and Congress’s energy policies, but her plan will also just lead to more of the same.
Environmentalists shouldn’t miss an opportunity to include the rest of the country in the cause
Some environmentalists focus so much on the ecological effects of our energy crisis that they ignore the very real geopolitical effects that are also being caused by our over-consumption of oil. This narrow view has two fundamental problems.
First, it fails to tap into a large portion of the population that may not be very sympathetic to green causes, but are quite sensitive to national security issues. If framed in the right way, this huge group of voters would become much more open to environmental policies. READ MORE
NYTimes endorses Obama, citing energy and climate issues
The NYTimes op-ed board naturally endorsed Barack Obama today (having endorsed 13 of the last Democratic presidential candidates). In the endorsement, the board notes “Mr. McCain could have seized the high ground on energy and the environment. Earlier in his career, he offered the first plausible bill to control America’s emissions of greenhouse gases. Now his positions are a caricature of that record: think Ms. Palin leading chants of ‘drill, baby, drill.’ Mr. Obama has endorsed some offshore drilling, but as part of a comprehensive strategy including big investments in new, clean technologies.” READ MORE
As oil prices fall, a lesson should be learned (lower demand=lower prices)
As the global economy slows, oil prices continue to fall. Much can be learned from this fact. Mainly, that the “drill baby drill” demagogy we have seen our leadership digress into lately, is completely misguided. The most important weapon against high oil prices is our ability to lower demand. Unfortunately, demand is currently being lowered due to our financial crisis, rather than a shift in our energy policy. Nonetheless, one lesson that should be learned is that once we get our economy back on track and oil prices begin to trend back up, the solution is to decrease demand through a comprehensive shift in energy policy, rather than a politically motivated drop in the bucket from increased drilling. READ MORE
The money behind the ‘drill here, drill now’ movement
Conspiracy theorists believe that our nation’s oil policy is being run by secret corporate bogeymen who are behind the scenes, pulling the strings that control government. What these paranoid people don’t realize is that much of the big money and influence that is actually involved in shaping our political policy is already out in the open.
The Center for Public Integrity had a nice piece looking at the vast amounts of money that has been raised by Newt Gingrich’s American Solutions for Winning the Future, a political organization behind much of the “drill here, drill now” movement. This entity is a “527 group,” which means that it does not have the strict fundraising restrictions that other political action committees are limited by.
Apparently, American Solutions has raised over $16 million in donations this election season, some of which has gone to influence government policy on oil drilling. As the Center for Public Integrity reports, although “American Solutions bills itself as a ‘new, innovative, and nonpartisan’ organization… Gingrich says he’s personally working to help McCain.
With so much money and influence so readily out in the open, who needs conspiracy theorists?
