The Gulf of Mexico acreage has been protected by a drilling moratorium for the last 25 years, which Congress has renewed annually, to protect the sensitive coastal environment.
Environmental groups have raised concerns about lifting the long-standing drilling prohibition, saying doing so only feeds the insatiable US demand for fossil fuel, while calling for the development of alternative energy sources.
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
US Senate backs opening protected US coastline to oil, gas drilling
1 comments:
Call me old-fashioned, but if we took all the effort that is being directed at arguing over drilling rights versus environmental concerns, and put it into improving the efficiency of solar, wind, geothermal, and hydrogen power, we could be off the "petroleum teat" by now, IMO.
Heck, HEMP oil is easier to come by for pete's sake. The byproducts are much more fun than ruined beaches, too.
But I'm just an old, out-of-touch hippie... :)
Kyle