Obama's short sighted decision on off shore drilling in Atlantic

William O'Keefe:
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Environmentalists and now the President have used fear to thwart the economic best interest of the nation. As the late, H L Mencken once observed, the aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed by menacing it with an endless array of hobgoblins, most of which are imaginary. As a result a campaign of fear, our nation has imported far more oil than it had to.

Coastal states from Virginia south have made clear that they want to develop their offshore resources because oil and gas development will bring investment that creates jobs and will improve their economic well-being. The just released Five-Year Plan denies them that right. Washington elites and bureaucrats, including the President think that they know best how those coastal states should manage their resources and economies. Looked at objectively, that is an extreme form of arrogance.

The President is using the Five-Year Plan as part of his war on fossil fuels and to create his legacy as the world’s leader on combatting climate change. He has acted on illusion at the expense of our economic well-being. The argument put forth by the Secretary of Interior that drilling would be adverse to commercial and military interests is shallow at best.

Offshore platforms have an adverse impact but many more wind turbines wouldn’t? That clearly does not pass the straight face test.

The fact oil and gas prices are at historic low is irrelevant because companies that make multi-billion dollar decisions do so on the basis of a long-term planning horizon and the likely prices that will exist over that time frame. Oil prices are cyclical. That history and the willingness of companies to invest their money should demonstrate the economic viability of offshore development.
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The environmental movement is all about attempting to frighten people into turning decisions over to a control freak government.  I do not even buy the "adverse impact" suggestion with respect to drilling platforms.  They, in fact, improve the lives of sea creatures who construct habitats around them.  While they might be considered a hazard to navigation in some areas they are also an aid to navigation in the open ocean giving ships and boats a fixed point to clarify their position.  As I have noted before, when racing sailboats offshore we used to use them as rounding marks.

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