Americans Rejected 'Drill, Baby, Drill' -- Bush Should Respect Our Choice
Part of the change Americans just voted for in overwhelming numbers was to move away from the failed energy philosophy of "drill, baby, drill" to a more farsighted strategy, emphasized by Barack Obama, based on clean, renewable energy and efficiency. Yet on the very day that we raised our voices for change, the Bush administration dragged us in the opposite direction.
The Bureau of Land Management cynically chose November 4 to announce a last-minute plan to lease huge swaths of majestic wilderness in eastern Utah for oil and gas extraction one month before President-elect Obama takes office.
As its clock runs out, the Bush administration also is trying to open-up drilling all over the Rockies and Alaska, to green-light oil shale leasing, and to weaken the Endangered Species Act. Though sad, it's no surprise, coming as it does from the same crowd that designed a misguided national energy policy in secret meetings with the oil, gas and coal industries.
The BLM didn't just try to slip the audacious Utah lease maneuver past the American people on an historic election day, it actually hid the ball from its sister agency, the National Park Service, and then rejected the Service's request for more time to review the scheme.
Among the 360,000 acres to be auctioned for industrial development is pristine land near Canyonlands National Park, adjacent to Arches National Park and Dinosaur National Monument. This Christmas gift to the dirty fuel industry includes parts of Desolation Canyon, named in 1869 by the explorer John Wesley Powell, which has been proposed for national park status. In fact, the BLM itself described Desolation Canyon nine years ago as "a place where a visitor can experience true solitude -- where the forces of nature continue to shape the colorful, rugged landscape."
Words alone cannot do justice to the beauty of these places, but they do capture the absurdity of the Bush plan. Oil and gas drilling in Desolation Canyon? Industrial development along the meandering Green River? The thought makes one wince.
The Obama transition team already has signaled its opposition to the leases, and said that once in office the Obama administration will try to reverse them. Let's hope that's possible. Utah's eastern expanse is one of America's few remaining wilderness treasures. It's our land, it's our legacy, but will it still be here for our children and grandchildren? We made our wishes about that known loudly and clearly on election day.
We voted to take control of our own destiny by breaking our addiction to dirty fuels. We voted to re-power America with clean energy from wind, solar and geothermal power. We voted to use of our greatest resource, American ingenuity, to build economic, energy and climate security, and to preserve our natural heritage. Yes we did. And yes we can.
Robert Redford, an actor, director and environmental activist, is a Trustee of the Natural Resources Defense Council and is the founder of Sundance, in Utah.
This post also appears on NRDC's Greenlight blog.
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Great post, Mr. Redford!
The Repugs need to get over themselves. The fact is, fossil fuels are over. They are dirty, they are doing in the planet, and they are almost gone. There is no point in scarring what little remains of our pristine landscape.
President-Elect Obama said in the interview on 60 Minutes that energy solutions are now more important than ever because when the price drops, we get complacent. That may have been the most important thing said during that interview. As long as we can afford to fill our tanks, we don’t care what we use; we only care when it gets so expensive it hurts.
I live in the “Rust Belt” and see everyday the sad effects the wrong choices made by the automobile companies are having on people here. I do think we should help out the Big Three, but with fairly rigorous strings attached. They must retool to make energy efficient vehicles. It can be done. The auto industry retooled in record time for WWII and they can do it again. AND as long as the taxpayer is paying the salaries of the upper echelon of management, let’s not let them make more money than God. There are millions of people really hurting in this country; let’s not make them pay bloated salaries for management.
We CAN do this. We just have to want to bad enough.
Fossil fuels aren't even close to "over". This is even more true with the recent collapse in energy prices, because when energy prices go down, so does demand for alternative energy.
WE have to make sure the issue doesn't get put on the back burner as fuel prices drop. The problem will not go away, and it's up to us to not get amnesia. We need to become and remain a country of activists. It's the only way anything is ever going to get done.
We need a huge new gas tax to do two things: Pay for free healthcare and education and force change toward mass transit and fuel efficiency. Detroit will not change unless they are forced, that much is obvious
That is untrue.
The demand for alternative energy is becoming a life and death issue.
The supply of fossil fuels is diminishing rapidly.
Maybe you want to celebrate and "clean up" when oil prices, fuel goes sky high, not many on board with that notion and the oil money train is running out for you and the GOP that have given them limitless power.
How ironic that the Bush administration opposes most any attempt to help/bail out the US auto industry while their overriding energy agenda is "DRILL, BABY DRILL" for yet more oil to satisfy America's over-dependence on internal combustion machines, including GM, Ford, and Chrysler automobiles.
Doesn't this mindset only perpetuate Detroit's propensity to continue building gas guzzlers--and the American buyers' inclination to continue buying them?
Ironic? What is ironic is that so many American voters chose to put an oil man into the White House and then wonder why things are to lucritive for oil companies and the prices at the pumps went to high.
Hello!
Obama should just issue an Executive order nullifying the action. Or order a stay until the issue is "investigated", and shelve it. Hey why not? Two can play this game.
I have seen many interesting programs on places in Europe that use several types of methods for enery, solar, wind etc and combine all of it in conjuction with the existing and if those countries can do it we can and everyone would benefit. History has shown that oil is not the answer and we need alternatives and yet we keep looking at oil - all it benefits are the oil companies. I want my daughter and her children to see some of the monuments that I visited as a child and have them look the same way.
You're confusing carbon sources. Oil is used in transportation and some home heating, not electricity production. In this country electricity is produced by burning coal, nuclear energy, some wind energy, and a miniscule amount of solar energy.
If we could "green up" our transportation by using electricity and biofuels to power our automobiles and natural gas to power trucks, most of this country's need for oil would be over.
In the summer in Louisville, KY the utility companies reverts to using gas/oil to produce electricity during peak A/C usage.
Perhaps before tossing the bush mess into the circular file forever, President Obama can use a bit of bush's arrogance in declaring the presidency to be the mantle of Emperor and simply state that any bush tamperings in the wills of the people (who have chosen a different way to do things) that have taken place SINCE THE ELECTION are simply null and void. No loopholes either, such as saying this matter had been discussed on November 3rd and is thereby exempted.
In choosing Obama to be our next President, the American people have spoken LOUDLY that we are fed up with the skullduggery and corruption of the republican party. No one would think badly of President Obama if he were to do just that. No one with any intelligence, that is. The hard-core sore losers of repus will howl their heads off, but they can and should be ignored. Heaven knows 97% of the nation was ignored under the bush/cheney dictatorship. bush doesn't have the smarts to know the world is laughing at his little-boy tantrums of creating as much trouble as he possible can before he is gone.
Per the polling data, American's overwhelmingly support drill, drill, drill.
Per Rasmussen:
68% Back Offshore Drilling, Only 44% Think Obama Agrees
Friday, November 14, 2008
Sixty-eight percent (68%) of U.S. voters support offshore oil drilling as a way to keep gas prices down, but only 44% are confident that President-elect Barack Obama agrees with them. Thirty-four percent (34%) say Obama will oppose offshore drilling as president, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Twenty-two percent (22%) aren"t sure. (See Crosstabs)
Just 20% of voters are opposed to offshore drilling, with 12% undecided.
How relevant is it that someone living in Idaho or Utah or Missouri wants to drill off the shores of California, Florida, Oregon, Virginia, or Maine? How about letting the people who are going to be affected by Exxon's oil spills decide whether or not they want to put their lives in the hands of a corporation that has proven itself untrustworthy?
As a resident of California, should I have the right to demand that more nuclear power plants be built in neighboring states to supply me with more energy? I don't think so. The same argument should apply to deciding whether or not to legalise additional oil derricks close to shore in my State.
I believe that if the 80% knew more about the issue they would think again. Drilling seems like a good idea, but when one realizes that it does nothing to solve the mess we're in and only further destroys our environment, they might change their minds.
It's really nice to think that it's okay because the drilling won't be in "my" backyard, but what about the people who actually have to watch and deal with the physical realities of the process? People need to look past their own nose when making decisions like this.
That's the beauty of Politics: You convert Fiction into Fact, based upon who wins. Your statistics are factual, albeit temporal as it will change with the prevailing winds and the price of Gas, but the "Facts" that we select President-elect Obama means we're against offshore drilling is neither factual nor reasoned.
That's the main reason as an Engineer I've always found the concept of Political Science nothing more than an oxymoronic marriage of two diametrically opposed fields.
And there's the rub. Rasmussen poll shows that 68% of U.S. voters support offshore oil drilling AS A WAY TO KEEP GAS PRICES DOWN. People have been convinced by Republican propaganda that drilling will bring down the price of gas. It won't. Oil is traded on the world market, and oil extracted from the U.S. will be sold back to the U.S. at the price set by the world market.
I suspect if the American people knew that drilling and digging and blasting wouldn't bring down the price of gasoline, they wouldn't have approved the "Drill Baby Drill" idea. But that's not what the pollsters asked.
I wish we can simply erase the last 8 years of Bushy - Chenney years from our history. Our grand children will look down upon us wondering how we let these thugs steal the election in '00 from right under our nose and what was blocking our vision in '04.
So many lies, deception, tearing up the constitution, fear and hate mongering. Too many to even count or recall in one paragraph.
Before Bush, I used to make fun of the democracies in third world countries. I had no idea my own words will come and bite me. The last 8 years seems like we were ruled by a dictator drunk on his "well-earned" power.
Bob, please give me one example of when Bush ever respected the will of the American people?
You just KNEW there would be no response to that question! I give you points for using "Bush" and "respect" in the same sentence though. Good one.
The American people support drilling on the THE PROPERTY THE COMPANIES ALREADY OWN and for which they have been given drilling rights. We do NOT support drilling in federal reserves, off the coastline or in anyplace that will damage an ecosystem or harm the environment any further. Mr. Redford is a good guy, but misses on one mark. That is Bush not respecting our choice. Fact is, Bush has no idea what respect is. If he did, he would treat us with respect and behave in such a way that he would have earned ours. The summit shows that Bush is the only leader in the world who is not deserving of respect. There is the reason.
Standing ovation due here, MissingAmerica.
I miss America too. I remember walking down the streets of Trenton, New Jersey, when John Kennedy was President. The very air vibrated with optimism, people worked at their jobs and DREAMED! You had the sense that anything you wanted was within your reach if you were willing to work for it.
The soul of this country died when Robert Kennedy was also assassinated. I will go to my grave believing the repub party had a VERY great deal to do with those deaths.
The corruption, thievery, twisted logic, and lying that has come to represent the United States and which has brought its standing in the world down to a level approaching that of Idi Amin and South Africa's Apartheid is now part of the nation's past, if luck holds with us.
May all the Gods, where- and whatever they may be, protect our new President and his family and get this nation back on track again as the finest nation in the world.
For better or worse the Constitution can be re-written and whatever Bu$h and Cheney implemented needs to be revisited and revised.
Start with Obama's vote to listen to our phone calls or please allow American's to listen to his. I am thinking big bucks here boys in a new reality bites tv series. We have seen first hand with our pensions how motivated you money changers are.
Feel like a frog Robert? Read the article, "The End." by Michael Lewis of "Liars Poker" fame. And JUMP
Makes "All the Presidents Men" look like altar boys. We now know what happened to them too. This is about what was allowed to happen to all of us. As in "the people of planet earth."
All due to repect to Mr. Redford, interpreting Obama's win as a rejection of "Drill Baby Drill" is a stretch. It may have been one of the many, many ways of thinking people want to get away from, but it's not like that's the issue that delivered the White House to Obama.
In fact, despite there being a minority percentage of Americans who oppose drilling in the U.S., I don't know anyone who opposes an increase in domestic oil production as part of a comprehensive energy plan that includes all resources available.
What I would like to see is a common sense approach to the domestic oil production conversation, instead of one extreme (Drill-Baby-Drill) and the other (fighting to keep or reverse the status quo). Clean energy sources are indeed the answer going forward, I agree. That said, all options should be on the table at this point, which should include air, hydro, solar, natural gas, and yes, drilling for oil.
Agreed. Good points all.
Americans don't agree with drilling in the Parks or places that ought to be parks, you're an idiot. Americans do agree (erroniously, 10 year wait for results) that more drilling on land already set aside for the oil industry is useful. You're full of it.
Who or what determines what places "ought to be parks"? Second, the idea it would take 10 years to "wait for results" for drilling is not accurate There are many areas where infrastructure is already in place which could see results in less than a couple years. The deep water areas would take longer unless some deep sea rigs were made available from other sites or some of the current backlog for National Oilwell Varco, the company that builds deep water rigs, gets cancelled.
In the conservative circles I travel, nearly all are for clean fuel and energy alternatives. I guess democrats think all republicans are rich and want to keep paying high prices for fuel and energy costs. They couldn't be more mistaken.
The American people overwhelmingly support drilling, so why isn't Mr. Redford saying we should listen to them?.
Anyway, NOT drilling hurts the poor and lower-middle class most. It is devasting the auto-industry. It is devastating for the UAW and their families. We should move ahead on all levels (including drilling) and won't democrats be surprised if Obama does?
I will believe that democrats really give a darn about the environment when they oppose the biggest ecological disaster America has ever faced: the massive population explosion caused by democrats abusive immigration policies.
Where do democrats think all the continued strain on our water systems, roads, food supply, clean air, and public services are coming from if it is not from the highly fecund reproductive immigrant population explosion they have encouraged?
Most of our enviromental problems would have been solved by now (we've solved so many already) if democrats had not layed the foundation to turn America into a country with the population of India, thus straining all our resources and quality of life.
Until democrats put a moratorium on immigration, or at least a limit on those who have had the monopoly on it for some time now, I will NEVER believe they care about the environment.
Lionsden,
If nearly all of your conservative friends are for clean fuel and energy alternatives (and for a better economy) then they would be voting a straight democratic ticket. Just search Google for the 'Analysis of Congress Environmental Record'. The republicans in office have done everything in their power to stop the progress of renewable energy at the expense of our environment & our economic future. The reasons they have voted against clean energy is simply a matter of taking care of the oil industries and an unwillingness to adapt. The technology IS HERE to move away from oil completely. (Check out sciencedai
And as for immigration, you certainly are right that there are too many people in the world, but again you need to look at voting records. Democrats & Republicans alike are for reform, but want to make sure they don't lose the large population of Hispanic voters. Hillary Clinton is for building a wall between Mexico & the US to stop the enormous number of people entering the country illegally.
Personally, though, how can you blame them? We are drying up Mexico with our dams & there aren't any resources for them. If you were living there, you would do the same thing to save your self and your
We probably don't disagree that clean energy and fuels are best; we probably do disagree on how to make that happen.
I think energy is a "national security" issue and (some of it) falls under the authority of the Federal Government. That's why I approve of Federal Lands and leases for shale extraction, etc.
I was a hippy (with all that entailed: organic foods, getting off the grid, trying to live without a car, etc). I even know how to card, spin, and make yarn. I can make a garment from critter to closet. I can grind wheat and make fresh bread and I know how to do bake it in a fireplace.
Having been a nature nut myself (I actually once met Robert Rodale and attended a camp at Mother Earth News) I think I've gained some perspective and experience.
I'm of the opinion that the technologies we develop are as natural as the sun shining above. I don't believe that any synthetic chemical we create is FOREIGN to our planet, galaxy, or universe. How could it be? It's not like we obtained these substances from an outside universe. Their transformation is a natural process coming from the natural processes of the natural human mind.
That said, natural substances in excess can kill us: Tsunamis, for example. And Easter Island shows us we can kill ourselves off, in pre-indust
The key is balance and I think you would agree?
ah, spoken like a true republican. I love the sound of shrill bitterness in the morning.
Dude, what are you talking about? If the immigrants weren't in this country, they would not cease to exist. They would just be in another part of the planet, south of here. It's all one planet. And, by the way, have you noticed lately who is busy building the roads, etc? Smiling, spanish-speaking brown people! And ya know what else? They pay taxes. In conclusion, you are talking crazy talk. Stop getting your political ideas from Walton and Johnson.
why not consider that those who "overwhelmingly support drilling" were simply misinformed about this being our only choice? we've been slavish to gasoline-powered transport for far too long, and even if we drill what little oil reserves we have, it's been proven that this will not reduce the eventual and permanent roller coaster of oil prices, nor make a significant dent in our need to import from foreign sources.
polls are linguistically rigged, and we all know it. the only lasting solution to our need for oil is to find alternatives to it, unless you're into leaving your children with no better solutions than we have today.
blaming democrats and immigration is false, and proves a steadfast belief that in order to solve our collective problems, we only need to point outward, at others. transport thyself into the 21st century, and suggest something constructive, please.
Hello. Who is opposing birth control and women's rights regarding their own bodies which produce the offspring that use the dwindling resources. Why don't all men get neutered. That would help with the overpopulation problem. Oops. That might offend their rights.
Immigration the problem? Not hardly.
Face it...GWB doesn't give a damn about our environment.
I would say that leaders of the Democratic Party do not "give a damn" either as the most destructive ecological disasters are yet to come and democrats have created it through a population explosion of their own making.
Not only will the rampant and excessivie immigration that democrats promote cause an overpopulation nightmare here in America, we are broke to address the stresses on clean water supplies, water purification, and infra-structure repairs it will bring.
As far as automobiles and fuel, democrats have brought in tens of millions of hispanics who, appear to love cars even more than Americans. Hispanics are at home in the Democratic Party and democrats have yet to feel the impact of bringing in millions of car-crazy folks into their party.
I'm looking forward to watching that develop. lol
This is why Pelosi should have pursued impeachment. The guy will stop at nothing. How can Obama reverse all of his criminal actions?
OIL IS SO 1990's....
perhaps. nevertheless, people are still killing and dying over it. every day.
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