News that the Bush Administration is going forward with the sale and lease of public lands in Utah for oil and gas exploration has the predictable cast of characters manning the ramparts. Seemingly clueless to the energy needs of this county (even under the most aggressive of alternative energy scenarios, we're married to oil for decades), the environmentalists are of course, in a tizzy.
The thing to be remembered here (and I don't think it is forgotten by savvy members of the Obama transition) is that it is GOOD that the Bush folks are closing these deals on the way out the door. This way, PEBO can claim that the cost of getting out of the deals is excessive in a time of fiscal crisis, and they can "blame" the increase in energy exploration on the Bush Administration. This one works perfectly for what appears to be a pretty pragmatic bunch in Chicago.
Forgive my ignorance on this issue, but I recall during the campaign when the question of making additional lands available for oil and gas exploration came up, opponents countered that the oil companies already sit on over (and I'm pulling this number out of the air) something like 50,000 acres of land currently unexplored. If this is the case, and the land under oil company control is not viable, why not propose a land swap?
ReplyDelete