Marvin Gaye's 1971 hit "became one of his most poignant anthems of sorrow at the world dealing with the environment." And I imagine to the eco-extremist left, the Obama administration's blatant hypocrisy on offshore drilling is bit of a sorrow as well.
From WSJ:
Less than four months after President Barack Obama took office, his new administration received a forceful warning about the dangers of offshore oil drilling.Hey Dems... how's that hope-and-change thingy workin' out for you?
The alarm was rung by a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., which found that the government was unprepared for a major spill at sea, relying on an "irrational" environmental analysis of the risks of offshore drilling.
The April 2009 ruling stunned both the administration and the oil industry, and threatened to delay or cancel dozens of offshore projects in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico.
Despite its pro-environment pledges, the Obama administration urged the court to revisit the decision. Politically, it needed to push ahead with conventional oil production while it expanded support for renewable energy.
Another reason: money. In its arguments to the court, the government said that the loss of royalties on the oil, estimated at almost $10 billion, "may have significant financial consequences for the federal government."
The U.S. Court of Appeals reversed its decision and allowed drilling in the Gulf to proceed—including on BP PLC's now-infamous Macondo well, 50 miles off the Louisiana coast.
The Obama administration's actions in the court case exemplify the dilemma the White House faced in developing its energy policy. In his presidential campaign, President Obama criticized the Bush administration for being too soft on the oil industry and vowed to support greener energy forms.
But, once in office, President Obama ended up backing offshore drilling, bowing to political and fiscal realties, even as his administration's own scientists and Democratic lawmakers warned about its risks.
RTWT at the link.
Posted this also in RWN comment thread:
ReplyDeleteActually, in terms of hope and change for offshore drilling policies, the answer to your question for me is: Not so good. I'm disappointed in Obama on this point.
However, the question I'd ask you, Mr. Douglas, is what your opinion was of the Obama administration's actions in the court case at the time? I suspect you might have been cheering it. Or do you think Obama should have accepted the April 2009 ruling and thus allowed the delay or cancellation of dozens of offshore projects in the Gulf and in Alaska?
Let me add something else here: You seem to be mocking Obama for following the Bush lead in terms of offshore drilling policy. But, in this case, don't you wish some of that Hope and Change had actually materialized? Or do you believe the Bush policy was the correct policy?