Obama Team Slams McCain’s “Failed” Energy Record

[Hope And Change]

Obama Team Slams McCain’s “Failed” Energy Record


Monday, June 23rd, 2008

Obama Memo on McCain’s Energy Record

McCain’s Reversal on the OffShore Oil Drilling Moratorium Is Out of Step with California

As a candidate for President in 1999, John McCain told voters in California that he supported the moratorium on offshore oil drilling. However, he will be campaigning in California today with a very different position.

Last week, as rising gas prices continued to be a prominent issue on the campaign trail, McCain reversed his position and announced that he now supported lifting the ban on offshore drilling saying that it would be “very helpful in the short term resolving our energy crisis.” However, John McCain knows that this isn’t the case. Just a few weeks earlier, McCain himself admitted that resources from offshore drilling would take “years to develop” and it’s reported that his top economic advisor conceded that “offshore drilling would have no immediate impact on supplies or gas prices.” Even the Bush Administration’s Department of Energy found that that further drilling would not have a significant impact on production until 2030 and the effect on prices would be “insignificant.”

The moratorium has broad bipartisan support in California, including from both U.S. Senators and Governor Schwarzenegger, because they understand that further drilling won’t deliver real relief, but will subject our coasts and coastal economies to real risk. In fact, McCain will be campaigning in California today near the site of a devastating oil spill in 1969.

The question is whether we are going to offer the American people real answers and genuine relief or the same, tired Washington gimmicks and special interest favors that have failed our families and country for too long. With his proposal to lift the moratorium on offshore drilling that, as even the McCain campaign admits, wouldn’t produce any increase in resources for years and his gas tax gimmick that economists agree wouldn’t significantly reduce the price of gas if at all, John McCain has chosen to offer more of the same instead of change.

Despite Telling Americans that Offshore Drilling Will Be Very Helpful in the Short Term, McCain Admits That it will Take Years to Develop and Will Not Have An Effect on Gas Prices

· Today, McCain Claims Offshore Drilling Will Be “Very Helpful in the Short Term Resolving Our Energy Crisis” “With gasoline prices rising and the United States chronically dependent on foreign oil, the Republican presidential contender said his proposal would ‘be very helpful in the short term resolving our energy crisis.’” http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=5178009> , 6/16/08>

· McCain Admitted Offshore Drilling Would Take Years to Develop: John McCain on impact of offshore drilling: “ith those resources, which would take years to develop, you would only postpone or temporarily relieve our dependency on fossil fuels.” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/18/mccains-offshore-drilling_n_107872.html?view=print> , Greensdale, WI 5/29/08>

· McCain Adviser Holtz-Eakin Admitted That Increasing Domestic Oil Production Would Have No Immediate Impact On Gas Prices. According to the Los Angeles Times, McCain’s senior policy adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin told reporters on a conference call that, “allowing new offshore drilling would have no immediate impact on supplies or gas prices. But, he said, ‘there is an important element in signaling to world oil markets that we are serious.’”

· Bush Administration, Department of Energy: Effect of Offshore Drilling on Prices “Insignificant.” The Department of Energy’s Annual Energy Outlook 2007, prepared last February by the Energy Information Administration, an independent statistical and analytical agency within DOE found: “The projections in the OCS access case indicate that access to the Pacific, Atlantic, and eastern Gulf regions would not have a significant impact on domestic crude oil and natural gas production or prices before 2030… Because oil prices are determined on the international market, however, any impact on average wellhead prices is expected to be insignificant.” http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/ftproot/forecasting/0383(2007).pdf> , 2/07>

· Republican Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio: Linking Lower Gas Prices and Drilling “Disingenuous,” “Flawed.” “For anyone to represent that someone drilling off the coast in Florida is going to lower gas prices here or anywhere in this country is disingenuous and a flawed argument,” he said. “Oil drilling could take 10 years before any oil is pulled out of the ground, and there are a large number of leases held by oil companies that are not being exploited now. We can’t say we need more until we’ve exploited those.” http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2008/06/rubio-linking-d.html> , 6/18/08>

McCain Changed His Position on the Offshore Drilling Moratorium

· Campaigning In California in 1999, McCain Endorsed The Moratorium On Offshore Oil Drilling. “For a moment, Republican presidential hopeful John McCain almost sounded like a San Francisco liberal. The Arizona senator said yesterday that gays and lesbians would be welcome to serve in his administration. He decried the influence of money in politics. He endorsed a moratorium on offshore oil drilling.”

· In 1999, McCain Told a California Newspaper That He Supported The Moratorium On Offshore Oil Drilling. “In response to a query of the candidates, Gore and Bradley promised to support the existing moratorium, in addition to opposing the leases. Both also say they will work with the seven oil companies holding leases to find alternatives to drilling. That could mean canceling the leases, or buying out the companies in a deal like the one that secured the Headwaters Forest. McCain supports the current moratorium, but hasn’t decided on the pending leases. Steve Forbes hasn’t replied to questions about oil drilling.”

· McCain Called For Dissolving The Ban On Offshore Drilling; Houston Chronicle Headline: “Most Oil Execs Respond Favorably As He Touts Policy And Raises Funds In Campaign Trip Here.” “The oil industry generally approved Tuesday as Republican presidential candidate John McCain charted his policies on energy with a speech in Houston. … McCain said the federal government should ease regulations on offshore oil drilling and refinery construction and expand the use of nuclear energy, but press for eventual reliance on alternate energy sources such as wind and sunlight. …. As promised, he called for dissolving the federal ban on offshore oil drilling on the Pacific and Atlantic coasts and some parts of the eastern Gulf of Mexico.” http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5843453.html> >

McCain is Holding a Fundraiser Near the Site of Major Oil Spill that Helped Inspire the Creation of Earth Day

· McCain is Scheduled to Hold a Fundraiser in Santa Barbara Today. “Presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain will be in Santa Barbara on Monday, June 23, for a private fundraiser with some of the bigwig local Republicans…The reception will be held at the home of Carol and Bill Foley at 4181 Creciente Drive.” http://www.independent.com/news/2008/jun/17/john-mccain-come-santa-barbara/> >

* Former Senator Gaylord Nelson, The Founder Of Earth Day, Said He Came Upon The Idea Of Earth Day In 1969 While In Santa Barbara After He Saw The Disastrous Effects Of An Oil Spill At A Unocal Platform Off The City’s Coast. “Earth Day, which now is celebrated annually on April 22, immediately took hold in the 1970s within a country that was alarmed by such environmental debacles as the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill, the spontaneous combustion of the oil-slicked Cuyahoga River in Ohio that same year and the widespread poisoning of birds by the use of the pesticide DDT. … Nelson said he came upon the idea of Earth Day in 1969 while in Santa Barbara, where he spoke at a water conference and later went to take a look at the disastrous effects of an oil spill at a Unocal platform off the city’s coast. The next day, he said, thinking about the many ‘teach-ins’ against the Vietnam War being held on college campuses at the time, ‘It suddenly dawned on me — why not a nationwide teach-in on the environment?’ It was, as it turned out, an idea whose time had come. When Nelson got back to Washington, he started gathering support and money to make what soon became known as ‘Earth Day’ a reality. Mayors, governors and students immediately got on board.”

* Los Angeles Times: The 1969 Santa Barbara Spill was the “Worst Oil Spill In The Nation’s History And Would Remain So Until The Exxon Valdez.” “In the winter of 1969, Santa Barbara’s blue waters turned black, its tan beaches turned black and its conscience turned green. The black–3 million gallons of oil that began leaking Jan. 28 from an offshore drilling site–would eventually be contained. But the green–the color that came to symbolize the environmental movement–would not. Its influence rapidly spread from the tar-stained shores of Santa Barbara to the white marbled halls of Washington. … The Santa Barbara oil spill was, in the words of Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, ‘the event that galvanized public awareness of the environment and support for a decade of profound change.’ The flash point for the new consciousness can be traced to a mile-deep spot on the ocean floor, about five miles off the Santa Barbara coast. There the Union Oil Co., now Unocal Corp., was searching–safely, it claimed–for oil. At the time, federal standards required offshore drilling sites to be outfitted with well casing, a steel lining that helps prevent blowouts, to at least 300 feet below the ocean floor. But the oil company had obtained a waiver from the U.S. Geological Survey that allowed it to install casing 61 feet shorter. The federal exemption proved disastrous. When the drilling proceeded into a highly pressurized zone of oil and gas, it caused an explosion so powerful that it cracked the ocean floor in five places. Oil spewed into the water at the rate of 1,000 gallons per hour for a month before workers could begin to slow it down. Before it was over, an oil slick coated the coastal waters and stretched 35 miles from Rincon Point, on the Santa Barbara-Ventura County line, to Goleta. The oil was so thick and heavy at some beaches that breaking waves were silent. It was the worst oil spill in the nation’s history and would remain so until the Exxon Valdez polluted Alaska’s Prince William Sound with 11 million gallons of crude oil in 1989.”

There is Bipartisan Support for the Moratorium in California

· Gov. Schwarzenegger Opposes Bush and McCain on Offshore Drilling. “Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Wednesday he opposes lifting a ban on new oil drilling in coastal waters, breaking with President Bush and Republican presidential candidate John McCain. Schwarzenegger, who has endorsed McCain’s presidential bid, said the federal offshore drilling ban was not to blame for soaring gas prices. A federal moratorium has been in place for 27 years. ‘We are in this situation because of our dependence on traditional petroleum-based oil,” Schwarzenegger said in a statement that referred only to Bush’s call for the ban and did not mention McCain. ‘The direction our nation needs to go in, and where California is already headed, is toward greater innovation in new technologies and new fuel choices for consumers.’”

· U.S. News & World Report: Gov. Schwarzenegger “Stood His Ground,” Declining to Join Bush and McCain in Calling for an End to the Moratorium on Drilling. “California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today stood his ground on offshore drilling, declining to join a call by fellow Republicans, including President Bush and John McCain, the GOP’s presumptive presidential nominee, to lift a moratorium on drilling off the coast of California and other coastal states. … ‘California’s coastline is an international treasure,’ Schwarzenegger said in a statement today. ‘I do not support lifting this moratorium on new drilling off our coast.’”

· Rep. Capps Opposes Lifting the Moratorium on Offshore Oil Drilling. “President Bush’s recommendation to Congress to lift the moratorium on new offshore oil drilling was widely criticized by elected officials in California on Wednesday. Rep. Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara, whose coastal district includes San Luis Obispo County and much of the state’s coastline with existing oil leases, was quick to criticize the president‘s recommendation and the pro-drilling stance of Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain. Capps wants the ban on new coastal drilling upheld and more emphasis placed on enhanced efficiency and alternative energy sources. ‘We need real leadership to address our energy needs, not political gimmicks and recycling bad ideas that have repeatedly failed in the past,’ she said.”

· Sen. Boxer Opposes Lifting the Moratorium on Offshore Oil Drilling. On June 18, Senator Barbara Boxer issued a statement criticizing both President Bush and John McCain for their support of lifting the moratorium on offshore oil drilling: “Offshore oil drilling threatens America’s $60 billion coastal economy, and we certainly don’t need to lift the moratoria to allow new leases when the oil companies hold 68 million acres of undeveloped leases. We need to get serious about America’s energy security—that means going after the oil speculators now in order to bring down gas prices, and make the important, long-term investments in alternative fuels, hybrid technology, and energy efficiency.” http://boxer.senate.gov/news/releases/record.cfm?id=299327> , 6/18/08>

Sen. Feinstein Opposes Lifting the Moratorium on Offshore Oil Drilling. On June 17, Senator Dianne Feinstein issued a statement reiterating he support for the moratorium on offshore oil drilling: “There are some who believe that the only solution to our skyrocketing energy crisis is to drill, drill, and drill. And one of their primary targets is the Outer Continental Shelf. Congress chose to protect these federal waters from oil exploitation in 1981. And Congress has voted to renew that ban every year since then. But today, these federal protections are under attack. Let me be clear: lifting the moratoria is a false promise and an unnecessary risk. … Efforts to reopen the federal waters off the coast of California to drilling could allow unreliable oil rigs to be as close as three miles to our beaches. Californians are all too familiar with the consequences of offshore drilling. An oil spill in 1969 off the coast of Santa Barbara killed thousands of birds, as well as dolphins, seals, and other marine animals. And we know this could happen again.” http://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=NewsRoom.PressReleases_id=9821bc43-a38a-7b77-34e9-0e92876d9b06 <http://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=NewsRoom.PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=9821bc43-a38a-7b77-34e9-0e92876d9b06> > , 6/17/08>


http://thepage.time.com/obama-memo-on-mccains-energy-record/

[peoli]

1. This info is McGood. Thanks.