Greens: Leave the oil in the soil!
The following is an e-mail from the Green Party of the United States:
Leave the Oil in the Soil!
Dear ,
Were you sickened as we were by the chants of “Drill, Baby, Drill” at the Republican convention? But it got worse. In a cynical election year attempt to win voters hurt by skyrocketing gas prices, the Democrat-led House voted to allow oil companies to drill for oil along the nation’s coastline; effectively breaking a long-held promise not to do so. If they can do this, what other promises will they break?
Democrats would rather angle for short-term political gain rather than promote real solutions like renewable energy, building local economies, and reducing consumption solutions that will take us into the postpetroleum future. Only the Green Party offers real solutions for tomorrow’s world. We are running candidates to promote Green solutions; and electing officeholders who put these ideas into practice in our communities. We take no money from oil companies, investment firms, or insurance companies; In fact, we don’t take any corporate money because we think corporate money in politics is wrong. If you agree, and want to see a clean, sustainable future, contribute some of your green today!
[Donate to GP Fund]
Green Party vs. Republicans and Democrats
The Issue: Offshore Drilling
Since 1981, drilling in the waters of the Atlantic and Pacific off U.S. shorelines has been banned under a federal moratorium. Last week, in response to high gas prices and continued dependence on an oil-based economy, the Democrat-controlled House voted 236-189 to open these offshore areas to exploration and drilling. If passed into law, the House bill would allow oil drilling 50 miles from shore with a state’s permission and 100 miles from shore without a state’s permission. The bill would also remove restrictions on oil shale drilling in the western United States (which the National Wildlife Federation called a “double disaster” for our climate), eliminate some tax credits currently held by oil companies, and require that 15% of U.S. energy production be by renewable sources by 2020.
The Republican view:
The McCain/Palin rallying cry has been “Drill, Baby, Drill!” House Republican leaders spent the summer holding weekly press conferences calling for resumed drilling. Sarah Palin, the Republican Vice-Presidential candidate, strongly supports oil exploration in her home state’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. John McCain – who asks crowds at his campaign rallies for their support for drilling for oil wherever they happen to be standing – states that he will “cooperate with the…Department of Defense in the decisions to develop these resources,” illustrating his belief that U.S. energy policy and the invasion and occupation of oil-rich nations are clearly linked.
The Democratic view:
The key word has been “compromise”. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi traded support for a 27-year old moratorium on offshore drilling for slightly higher taxes on oil companies, who will likely immediately continue making record profits by passing increased costs onto customers. Instead of focusing on the need for new, truly clean energy sources, Barack Obama trumpets his willingness to work across the aisle on increasing vehicle fuel efficiency (instead of replacing polluting engines with replacement technologies) and further development of so-called “clean” coal. Obama’s support for new coal development (and the mountaintop removal and strip mining we use to obtain it) is a step back to a 19th-century, not 21st-century, energy strategy.
The Green view:
We oppose the toxic and environmentally-destructive national oil-based energy strategy. We agree with the experts who insist that new sources of domestic oil could not be discovered, processed, and refined within a decade. We urge immediate investment in strategies that can have both a short-term and sustainable impact on our national energy strategy, such as solar, wind, and other non-polluting alternative energy sources.
As Green Party Presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney says, “Leave the Oil in the soil.” We support leaving it in the soil, ocean floor, shale, and wherever else the oil parties imagine they might find it.
Help the Green Party win investments in sustainable alternative energy sources by investing in the McKinney/Clemente campaign and the Green Party of the United States. Democrats have called for increasing investments in renewable energy sources by a paltry 15% over the next decade – we can make real changes if you pledge to increase your support of the Green Party and its candidates by 15% right now!
Email: office@gp.org
Office: PO Box 57065 Washington, D.C. 20037 202-319-7191 or toll-free (US): 866-41GREEN
September 30th, 2008 at 7:04 am
Drill, Baby, Drill!
September 30th, 2008 at 9:39 am
Seriously, the “green energy” alternatives are so expensive that there’s no way for us to afford them as it stands right now. Sure, I hope that they come down in price, and that research is successful. But to federally fund programs to further this with taxpayer dollars just isn’t prudent.
September 30th, 2008 at 11:15 am
We need to drill as well as working to develop geothermal, solar, wind and nuk’s
September 30th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
We absolutely have to put reaserch sollars into alternatives and NO drilling. We can cut military spending to finance it.
September 30th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
How about we compromise and cut both military spending AND entitlement spending to finance it? Nothing would make me happier than to see the welfare/warfare state go away.
September 30th, 2008 at 11:06 pm
Unless we solve cold fusion,
DRILL NOW!
Funny how alternative energy is screwing up our economy more then saving the enviorment.
We need a better alternative to oil, but until that alternative can take oil’s place perminantly, we need oil as much as we can right now.
October 1st, 2008 at 1:52 am
I am all for cutting CORPORATE WELFARE. We can agree on that; but not the safety net that helps my friends who are disabled and unable to work. Believe me, disabled people can sometimes work but sometimes can’t work; employers want reliable workers who won’t need so much sick time. It’s a legitimate concern. It’s a fantasy to think that people will help others out. We need single payer health care, an end to insurance that profits on others ill fortune, massive cuts in military spending, re-regulation of out of control greedy selfish corporations, an end to corporations having the rights of individuals, taxes on religious institutions and buildings, massive cuts in corporate subsidies. Taxes CAN be lower if we change our priorities and adopt a progressive agenda.
October 1st, 2008 at 10:47 am
Drill now. Some people have seen too many old movies with gushers spewing oil all over the landscape. Once the new well is drilled and put in production, there is nothing like the visual dispoilation caused by windmill farms.