Get ready for another White House push on drilling in ANWR

[bluestateguy]

Higher gas prices, power outages, pipeline bursts. All of this will be used by * and Karl Rove to make yet another push for turning ANWR into a playground for the oil companies. Why, everything will be just fine and gas will be plentiful and cheap if those mean Senators would just let the oil companies plunder the hell out of ANWR!

[radfringe]

1. not unexpected

the blackout will be used as the boogieman to push for it

also don't be surprised if the power companies cry poor mouth and AWOL inc. gives them a ton of money in bailouts, more regulations will be flushed down the toilet to give the power companies more "flexibility" to raise rates etc...

this will all be spun as "encouraging competition" as a way to "lower consumer costs"

[bluestateguy]

3. No. It's the fault of the ENVIRONMENTALISTS!!

Controlling Congress, the White House, a majority of governorship and state legislatures will never be enough for these people. They always want ever more control.

[Katie]

2. How Does Delay& Bush Get away with this?

If it wasnt for Tom Delay, House republicans & bush himself, the 2003 blackout needn't have happened at all- 3x times they voted against upgrading the grid- for 350 million this could have been prevented- now it has cost the states involved billions. Someone should really hold their feet to the fire for this.

Look at this: When President Bush weighed in on the issue he quickly politicized the situation. He argued in favor of modernizing the grid, adding that he’s “said so all along.” This statement should immediately be filed under the long list of Bush administration falsehoods concerning energy policy.

In June 2001, Democrats in the House advanced a proposal that would offer $350 million in federal loans for the express purpose of updating the outdated power grid. House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-TX) blasted the proposal, calling it “pure demagoguery” and arguing that Democrats “have no credibility on this issue whatsoever.” House Republicans voted it down. Then they voted it down again. And then a third time. Three straight party line votes killed the bill, while the White House worked behind the scenes to orchestrate the death blow.

After the bill was scuttled, Democrats issued a supplemental report once again arguing for the need to address the situation. Included in their statement is this prophetic excerpt:
“The obsolescence of the nation's electric power transmission grid has become an emergency that requires immediate attention. The problem is not one limited to just California, or even the Western states: it is clearly a national problem that potentially affects all citizens.”

http://www.thedailyenron.com/documents/20030815132640-93614.asp


REP. ANTHONY WEINER (D), NEW YORK: Well, we wouldn't have had to pass that if in the 106th Congress, when President Clinton proposed putting real stiff standards that all energy companies had to put in place, if that hadn't been killed by the Republicans, who kept saying, oh, deregulation, isn't it great? Yes, deregulation is great. Someone burns their toast in Ohio and we lose billions of dollars of revenue here in New York City, or there is a storm in Canada and we're all stuck in subway trains for hours on end.

We have to reach a point where -- energy deregulation has gotten us Enron, higher prices and now blackouts. I'm not so sure it's been such a great deal. And in a zeal for the Republicans to try to embarrass Gray Davis and Bill Clinton, we now have no standards in place, no loan guarantees in place, and blackouts all over New York City.
NOVAK: Surely you're not saying the electrical industry is deregulated. It's one of the most regulated industries in America.

WEINER: Well, since power deregulation, when we started worshipping at the altar of letting the private sector do these things, they haven't had a very good track record, now have they, Bob?
http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0308/15/cf.00.html


Scientists Had Warned of Weak Power Grid
NEW YORK - Scientists and engineers with the National Research Council (news - web sites) warned the White House and Congress about the vulnerability of the power grid as recently as November, saying nationwide weaknesses needed to be repaired — and fast.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&ncid=716&e=4&u=/ap/20030815