SC REPUBLICANS BUILDING MOMENTUM FOR OFFSHORE DRILLING
With gas prices soaring to more than $4 per gallon and the price of oil hitting a record high $147 per barrel, the topic of offshore drilling in the United States has gained unparalleled momentum.
In South Carolina, Sens. Lindsey Graham and Jim DeMint along with Rep. Joe Wilson led the charge last month by publicly supporting the exploration of oil off South Carolina’s coast.
And on Wednesday, Katon Dawson grabbed headlines by becoming the first State Republican Party Chair to endorse the “Drill Here. Drill Now. Pay Less.” campaign.
“We can shore up our country’s energy security, economic security and national security by breaking our country’s addiction to foreign oil,” said Dawson. “If we take the bold step to cultivate energy resources here at home, we will not only break our dependence on foreign oil, we will also bring meaningful relief to hardworking families who are experiencing unprecedented pain at the pump as gas prices continue to skyrocket.”
The following day, Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer joined Dawson and encouraged Congress to act immediately to approve offshore drilling, among other proposals to access oil in the United States.
Bauer said that, “escalating gas prices are hurting our seniors each and every day. The Office on Aging works closely with seniors on fixed incomes who tell me of their hardships endured by the escalating costs of fuel, which directly impacts the increased costs of food and health care.”
And now both the Tennessee and Alabama Republican Party heads have followed Dawson’s lead and backed the offshore drilling movement.
Chairman Robin Smith of Tennessee called it “an absolute travesty” that Democrats have opposed the idea that he said would “supply thousands of American jobs.” Alabama’s party chief Mike Hubbard echoed that sentiment, noting “Democrats who are obstructing this legislation need to understand that those cries grow louder everyday.”
The “Drill Here. Drill Now. Pay Less.” campaign, led by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s American Solutions, has already collected more than 1 million signatures.
This entry was posted on Saturday, July 12th, 2008 at 1:48 pm and is filed under Around the state, Republicans. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
“Drill here. Drill now. Pay less (five years from now).”
Don’t bother with the gate; the cow is already long gone.
1. South Carolina subsidises a bunch of oil companies to come drill.
2. Oil price continues to rise catosrophically.
3a. A viable alternative energy transport method is found (don’t ask me which one, I don’t know) and the national/global economy shifts away from oil, dropping it’s price considerably.
3b. No viable alternative to oil can be found, global economic activity grinds to a halt. Price of oil drops considerably due to world-wide deflation.
3c. (unlikely) Turns out speculators were to blame, oil bubble pops and price of oil drops considerably.
4. Development of south carolina’s oil production capacity is completed; oil can’t be sold at a price that makes the development worthwhile, and SC taxpayers eat a bowl of fail.
Senator Graham, Senator DeMint and Joe Wilson say and do a lot of things. That in itself doesn’t always make them the right things and more likely, makes them wrong drawing from my experiences with these men and their opinions.
I believe the prices are being maintained at artifically high prices by the crooks in the oil biz in an effort to force Americans to allow them to drill wherever they want, whenever they want.
America is a fascist country now. People need to remember that. If you forget, I promise, that Senator Graham, Senator DeMint and Joe Wilson will show you and tell you and remind you with a vengence.
Why didn’t the economic stimulus provide jobs for people to build solar panels and then the panels be distributed instead of $300.00, $600.00 and etc checks? Because then the oil men can’t get their way… that’s why.
Americans need to keep their critical thinking skills honed in on the Republican leadership because they do not believe what We the people believe. The elected take the power from the people then abuse the grantors of the power.
Lindsey Graham is a fag. That is the official position of the Bob Conley campaign. It’s time to let the cat out of the bag and call a spade a spade. The proof: Just go ask Virginia Ellisor, sister-in-law to Michael Ellisor, Joe Wilson’s opponent last election cycle. Michael is the former Chairman of the Lexington County GOP. Virginia even supported Buddy Witherspoon over the bitterness of a close personal friend, who happens to be a gay rights activist and an angry jilted lover of the homosexual incumbent Senator. Lindsey upset his lover when he failed to sign a bill that had a tiny embedded clause that was favorable toward gay marriage, and he is eager explain things on YouTube. Ok, you reporters… go to work… If you’re lucky, you’ll find the really perverted kinky stuff that is tied into Lindsey’s consultant’s in-house benefactor, Charles Hamel, and all of the crazy stuff that goes on at the gay S&M commune out in the woods near Ridgeway SC.
Kind of miffed at just where Tennessee plans to ok off-shore drilling.
I think I have it straight. Republican colleagues Senator Jim DeMint and Lt Governor Andre Bauer think if we drill for oil along our beaches and in our national wildlife refuges, our gasoline prices will go down. However, let’s consider some facts:
The U.S. uses abut 8 billion barrels of crude oil each year, about 70% of it imported from foreign countries. Over a 30 year period, that’s about 240 billion barrels of crude oil. It’s estimated there are about 21 billion barrels of crude oil in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge and along our shores. Use of the total oil reserves along our beaches and in our wildlife refuges represents less than 9 % of the total consumption over 30 years which would not be restricted to use in the U.S. and which would be sold to the global market place.
Why should any sane person believe that drilling here and drilling now would lower our gasoline prices? Increasing development of alternative energy sources, conserving more, and being more efficient would probably reduce our consumption by 30% and do it faster. Just enforcing speed limits on the interstates would be more effective.
One thing drilling here and drilling now would do is make a few wealthy folks richer but any benefit to the average American is unlikely compared to other actions our so called leaders could take. The people who would make money from this are evidently pushing this idea.
While disappointed in DeMint and Bauer, I’m glad to see all of our Representatives have not bought into this political scam. I expect better from Andre Bauer, but I’m not surprised at DeMint. He just follows the Washington Mantra. Doesn’t he just want to be like Jesse Helms?
All this talk about ending our oil addiction is pure poppycock. If we really want to end our oil addiction, we need to turn our attention to alternative energy sources, not increase our addiction by further exploration/exploitation. Doesn’t Big Oil already have enough offshore drilling rights?
I’m sure that oil companies would love to drill at Myrtle Beach, Charleston, Folly Beach, etc. and they will swear up and down that not a drop of oil will be spilled. It was a shame that the Mississippi river was just doused in a huge oil spill from a barge. Disasters like that are inevitable because in the end you have a person responsible for transporting the oil and people make mistakes, drive boats drunk, pass out from heart failure, etc and then you have a big mess to clean up.
Oil companies are going to see our oil to the highest bidder and that will be China or India so it won’t make prices go down. It is a shame that Americans are investing hope in more drilling. America needs energy independence and the answer is blowing in the wind and shining in the sun.