Where CAN We Drill?
The Party Of No speaks out again. Sure, the New York Times isn’t officially part of the Democratic Party, but come on…the formal designation is little more than a nicety.
Last week, the Bureau of Land Management signed a decision to allow new oil and gas leasing on some of the most important and most fragile grasslands left in America. At risk is an expanse of wild Chihuahuan Desert grasslands – the largest still in existence – in the Otero Mesa area along New Mexico’s south-central border.
The delicacy of the region is not immediately apparent to the eye. But under the desert grasses – which sustain a genetically important population of pronghorns – there is a layer of soil just thin enough to keep invasive shrubs at bay. Below that layer lies an underground reservoir of water, which also needs protection. The Bush administration is determined to force its way onto the Otero Mesa. Gov. Bill Richardson, backed by a coalition of ranchers and environmentalists, is determined to stop it.
So, no drilling in a desolate tundra, no off shore drilling, presumably no drilling in residential areas, or commercial shopping districts, and I doubt we can drill in downtown Manhattan, and now no drilling in a grassland. Um, I thought the Left wanted us to reduce our dependence on foreign oil? Where are we going to get it?
It isn’t enough to preach energy efficiency. If we all start driving Yugos, the need isn’t going to go away. How many nations have conserved their way to prosperity?
Either the Left will have to get serious about drilling and other sources like nuclear power, or they are going to have to come to terms with the role of the Middle East in the global economy. It isn’t enough to sniff and sneer about SUVs and ‘no blood for oil’. Perhaps they can offer some real solutions for once?
Filed under: Economics
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