BCT Editorial – 7/30/06

This page was last updated on July 30, 2006.

Tapped out; Editorial; Beaver County Times; July 30, 2006.

This is the second editorial of the same name and subject in less than 10 weeks. Since this is a rehash of previous editorials on this topic, please read my referenced critiques for most of my comments on this subject.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject editorial.

“The U.S. Senate last week voted 86-12 to open a large area of the central Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas drilling.

“But don’t go looking for gasoline prices to drop anytime soon. The vote was largely procedural, and the bill’s backers acknowledge passage will be difficult. The Senate’s measure also differs significantly from a version passed by the House, and Republicans there say the Senate’s bill is a non-starter.

“What is frustrating about this legislation is what it represents - denial of reality.

“These measures give the American people the illusion that the United States can drill its way to independence from imported oil. It can’t.”

[RWC] How dumb does the editorial author believe “the American people” are? Just about everyone knows “the United States [can’t] drill its way to independence from imported oil.”

“The only way the United States can become less dependent on foreign oil is through higher gas mileage standards for cars and trucks and alternative energy sources. Everything else is much sound and fury signifying nothing.”

[RWC] This is the latest in a series of at least five editorials (The previous four were “Drop in the bucket,” “Oil wrong,” “Dead end,” and “Tapped out #1.”) in the last 16 months lobbying against domestic exploration for and production of oil and natural gas supply.

While editorials constantly tell us “[t]he only way the United States can become less dependent on foreign oil is through higher gas mileage standards for cars and trucks and alternative energy sources,” did you note those editorials never provide the proof or the economic impact?