Never let it be said that President Obama doesn’t keep things interesting. I was rather surprised this morning to see this story on CNN. He is set to announce plans today to open up large sections of the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the Virginia coastline to offshore drilling.

“To set America on a path to energy independence, the president believes we must leverage our diverse domestic resources by pursuing a comprehensive energy strategy,” said a statement provided by an administration official, who did not want to comment on the record ahead of the president’s announcement.

“The president will announce today additional measures that will boost domestic energy production and promote clean energy innovation,” the statement said.

In his announcement today, President Obama will also disclose that oil leases that had already been approved in Alaska’s Bristol Bay will be canceled. I am not sure what the motive or reasoning behind this move is, but I do have an observation about it. I do not believe oil production was underway in Bristol Bay, but it had been approved. That means the paperwork was completed and process was started that would supply more domestic oil for America’s use. Now those oil leases will be canceled and we will move to another source of drilling, which means more and more paperwork before any usable production will take place. I have to wonder if it would not have been better to continue the work in Bristol Bay, since it was already in progress. This is not meant as a condemnation of President Obama’s actions, but I do question the efficiency of doing it this way.

At the very beginning of the article, CNN says this could be a move to pull in Republican support for some of his other energy initiatives. I would venture to say that is probably correct and I have no problem with that. Anyone who says we do not need a better energy policy is naive. For years, the Republicans have wanted more and more drilling and the Democrats have resisted, saying we need to pursue other energy sources. In reality, both parties are correct.

It is imperative that we find other sources of energy, if for no other reason than to reduce or eliminate our dependency on foreign oil suppliers. That dependency has been a thorn in our side for much too long. On the other side of that coin is another reality; those other energy sources are years away from fruition. As much as the clean energy advocates, of which I am one, want to have clean and renewable sources of energy, it will be years before our country is able to viably fill that need. In the meantime, we need to have a way to supply our own energy. Our national security demands it.

So, I echo the calls for more drilling and I say we need to go about it quickly, as it has been much too long in the making already. We also have to understand that we can not rely on drilling alone. As much as it may pain both sides of this argument to work together on this, I don’t see any other way to do it. If all we do is push for more drilling and all the Democrats do is say no, no, no and delay it in every way possible, nothing will get done. New drilling will stop and in the years it will take us to get other energy sources up to speed, our country will become even more dependent on foreign oil. I think that is an unacceptable option.

Tags: Alaska, Bristol Bay, Foreign Oil, Gulf of Mexico, National Energy Policy, Offshore Drilling, President Obama

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 31st, 2010 at 6:51 am and is filed under News/Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.