Even though Governor Jindal has been asking for Government intervention for the enormous gusher that keeps on giving off the coasts of his State he felt that Offshore Drilling's risks were worthwhile enough to Ask Obama To End Moratorium On Deepwater Drilling.
So even though private industry has proven they can't handle their own worst case scenario (even though they said they could) and Governor Jindal is calling for Big Government to rescue his State he still believes in throwing caution to the wind. I guess it's a good thing he's not President.
In his letter, Gov. Jindal said his state was facing "one of the most challenging economic periods in decades."
"The last thing we need is to enact public policies that will certainly destroy thousands of existing jobs while preventing the creation of thousands more," he added.
"I fully understand the need for strict oversight of deepwater drilling," Jindal wrote. "However, I would ask that the federal government move quickly to ensure that all deepwater drilling is in proper compliance with federal regulation and is conducted safely so that energy production and more importantly, thousands of jobs, are not in limbo."
As RLMiller points out, the Moratorium is right and is important. It's what many Americans have called for after the "Drill, Baby, Drill" mentality.
But what is most galling about this request is that President Obama is, hopefully, doing all he can to contain this disaster. And BP has proven to be less than trustworthy on safety issues, the last thing they need to worry about is more drilling, we need our attention on what's happening NOW, now more drilling, not more questions, not more unexplored territory, where it's obvious that our abilities to deal with the unforeseen consequences are not as bullet proof as we'd like them to be.
We are watching a most dire incident unfold and still can't know the long term consequences of its impact on the gulf. How many species might be lost? How many animals will die?
And here was Obama's response to the Letter Jindal sent...
The 6-month moratorium on deepwater drilling was instituted for a clear reason: the President believes we must ensure that the BP Deepwater Horizon spill is never repeated. This will allow for the new safety equipment and procedures announced in Secretary Salazar's May 27th report to be implemented and for the independent commission to review the cause of the spill and analyze the rules and regulations governing offshore drilling.
A repeat of the BP Deepwater Horizon spill would have grave economic consequences for regional commerce and do further damage to the environment.
Among the drilling rigs that have frozen exploration in the Gulf are 2 operated by BP, and 2 jointly operated by BP and another company. Proceeding without the moratorium would mean that BP would continue deepwater exploration in the Gulf.
Economic impacts were certainly taken into account - the moratorium is surgical and shallow water drilling, in which the risks are better known, is continuing under stricter safety rules. Additionally, oil and gas production is continuing at the existing set of production wells, so we are not expecting short term effects on our oil and gas supply.
Under the administration's legislative proposal to assist those harmed by the spill, workers unemployed because of the 6-month moratorium would be eligible for unemployment assistance. The proposal would also create jobs for cleanup, restoration, renovation and recovery. And the Small Business Administration is currently offering economic injury loans to impacted businesses on the Gulf Coast.
Sounds like Obama has been thinking ahead of Governor Jindal and doing what he's been asking the Obama Administration to do, do something for those who have been hit hard by the gusher, those in his State and beyond. Something that more drilling probably wouldn't be able to do, because most shrimp boat captains probably don't have a lot of interest in more deep sea drilling, or the shop owners who've lost business along the coast. How about all those who will have long term health issues because BP told them they didn't need safety equipment to help in the clean up? More drilling in deep waters won't help them either.
And more drilling in deep waters in the gulf certainly won't help all the animals that have died and continue to die out of sight from the cameras and the people who might not realize just how big the nightmare is.
But rather than call for more drilling, thankfully it seems that President Obama might be headed on the right track according to Treehugger. We need to stop our dependence on oil since most of it that is left will be harder to get to and will lead to more injury and environmental impacts that me may not be able to mitigate (we have many that we can't now, that we pay for in so many ways).
This is what we need now, is not the same old policy but a new one, one that shows us the alternative to what's gotten us to where we are now. Because what we are doing now is NOT WORKING. It is not a long term solution for a very long term issue, energy.
The votes may not be there right now, but I intend to find them in the coming months. I will make the case for a clean energy future wherever I can, and I will work with anyone from either party to get this done. But we will get this done. The next generation will not be held hostage to energy sources from the last century. We will not move back. America will move forward.
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The catastrophe unfolding in the Gulf right now may prove to be a result of human error - or corporations taking dangerous short-cuts that compromised safety. But we have to acknowledge that there are inherent risks to drilling four miles beneath the surface of the Earth - risks that are bound to increase the harder oil extraction becomes. Just like we have to acknowledge that an America run solely on fossil fuels should not be the vision we have for our children and grandchildren....
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The time has come, once and for all, for this nation to fully embrace a clean energy future. That means continuing our unprecedented effort to make everything from our homes and businesses to our cars and trucks more energy efficient.... And it means rolling back billions of dollars in tax breaks to oil companies so we can prioritize investments in clean energy research and development.
But the only way the transition to clean energy will succeed is if the private sector is fully invested in this future - if capital comes off the sidelines and the ingenuity of our entrepreneurs is unleashed. And the only way to do that is by finally putting a price on carbon pollution.
So we can see that Republicans, demonstrated by Governor Jindal and the additional comments by Senator Vitter, who stated Obama "could kill thousands of Louisiana jobs." are going in a backwards direction, yet again.
Democrats, however, are looking forward, ahead to other alternatives to killing more people and ecosystems and all the species that live there. Without those things, there are no jobs gentlemen. Our world view has to get much bigger than this if we are going to grow beyond the oily minded mentality of "drill, baby, drill" and learn that the alternatives can be just as lucrative, less harmful to living things and create just as many jobs and opportunities for Americans.
As frustrated as I have been with this Administration over various issues, I'd much rather look forward and I hope you will too because it's obvious that if we continue to put pressure on Democrats to reach for the Alternatives to oil, coal and all the other dirty fossil fuels that have done so much damage to our environment, maybe we can outgrow this industrial age thinking and move into another century.
And some photos from the AP, photos that BP didn't want you to see, that I wrote about last night in the eKos Earthship.