McCain: Lift embargo on off-shore drilling

John McCain told a Houston audience yesterday that he supports ending the ban on off-shore drilling in order to increase domestic production of oil. The White House wasted no time in issuing support for the proposition, but the environmentalists that McCain wanted to woo may have heard enough. The moratorium on drilling has existed since the early days of the Reagan administration, but the rising price of gasoline may have doomed it:

Sen. John McCain on Tuesday proposed lifting the ban on offshore drilling as part of his plan to reduce dependence on foreign oil and help combat rising gas prices.

“The stakes are high for our citizens and for our economy,” McCain, the presumed Republican nominee for president, said at a press conference Tuesday in Houston, Texas. …

“For years, the president has pushed Congress to expand our domestic oil supply, but Democrats in Congress have consistently blocked such action,” she said.

This news comes as a relief to consumers who have waited for some promise of action at any level of the government. Thus far, the only proposals heard were those that would compound the problem of inadequate supply. Democrats in Congress attempted to impose a “cap and trade” system that amounted to nothing less than a rationing system that would effectively nationalize the energy industry. Democratic candidates continue to offer “windfall profits taxes” that would eliminate investment capital and pass along even more price increases to the consumer.

Only new supplies can address the rising demand for oil as well as runaway speculation. The latter is based on instability in a number of oil-producing nations, and not just Iran and Iraq. Sudan now teeters on the verge of a failed state, and Venezuela’s nationalization has damaged its ability to produce its sulphuric crude. Introducing major new streams of production would increase the stability of global supply and remove one of the key engines for speculation-based pricing.

Democrats, of course, objected to McCain’s shift on offshore drilling. Almost to a person, they complained about McCain’s flip-flop and the potential damage to their tourist dollars. However, a couple of key points have to be made. Most (if not all) offshore platforms would be well out of sight of beachgoers; for some reason, politicians seem to think of oil derricks built in the 1920s when discussing this issue. Spills are very rare, certainly less prevalent than oil tankers running aground or splitting open as part of the way we have to import oil now.

Also, when prices continue to rise, people fly and drive less, which means that the tourism business will suffer much more broadly than it will at the sight of a couple of oil rigs. Perhaps someone should explain that to Bill Nelson (D-FL). As an example, Continental cut a number of routes from its service yesterday to save on fuel prices.

Nothing in this effort says that states have to drill off-shore. McCain and the White House would merely remove the federal roadblocks that keep states from doing so if they desire, which is a truly federalist approach. It’s a long-overdue move that will encourage the US to take responsibility for its own energy needs, instead of begging everyone else in the world to drill their resources before ours.