Offshore drilling is a false promise

We need a cleareyed view of our energy situation. By Dianne Feinstein from the July 22, 2008 edition There is no quick fix to $4.50-a-gallon gas, no way to provide instant relief to consumers we know are hurting. Yet President Bush and others continue to push the false promise of offshore oil drilling. Just this week, the president lifted the executive order banning drilling that George H.W. Bush put in place in 1990. And he's asked Congress to lift its own moratorium on oil exploration on the outer continental shelf – which includes coastal waters as close as three miles from shore. This would be a terrible mistake. It would put our nation's precious coastlines in jeopardy and wouldn't begin to fix the underlying energy-supply problem. And it surely wouldn't ease gas prices any time soon. The vast majority of the outer... [read full story]