Bill Morem: Offshore drilling is a cynical sop

The news that President Bush wants to open up offshore oil leases to drilling comes as absolutely no shock to those of us who live on the Central Coast. He’s been trying to do just that from the day he took office almost eight years ago.

What’s also less than shocking is that he’s trying to make the argument that it will reduce gas prices. He’s used that canard every time.

Over the course of his regime, Bush has tried to use the Department of the Interior to pull an end-run around coastal drilling moratoriums.

When that didn’t work, he tried to use the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to change the rules of the federal Coastal Zone Management Act. Those rule changes would have severely limited a state’s say in coastal federal projects. Congress and the courts upheld states’ rights with regard to offshore drilling.

What’s so incredible about Bush et al. and their single-minded adherence to offshore drilling being a panacea for our energy ills is that it’s been panned as a chimera by both sides of the political aisle.

For example, the Energy Information Administration of the U. S. Department of Energy said last year that opening the coasts to drilling wouldn’t have any real impact on oil prices before 2030.

So, in no particular order, here’s why the promise of offshore drilling is such a cynical sop to those hurting at the pump:

• At current national consumption rates, the amount of oil off the California coast would last for a little more than a year, according to oil industry estimates.

• Economic and oil industry experts agree that even if the oil were within the refinery pipeline in 10 years, it would represent pennies per gallon savings.

• The oil industry has chosen not to expand capacity by exploring some of the 68 million acres of public lands that have already been designated for that use. One wonders why.

The caveat that such drilling can be done in an environmentally sensitive manner has been trotted out.

Really? If Bush and Co. were really concerned about that aspect, why did they lower the number of safety inspections on the state’s 23 offshore platforms to four per year from 12 when the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in 2003 blocked offshore gas and oil exploration without first getting Coastal Commission approval? Smells like sour grapes that probably haven’t improved with age.

Even oilman T. Boone Pickens sees the light: “I’ve been an oil man all my life, but this is one emergency we can’t drill our way out of. But if we create a new renewable energy network, we can break our addiction to foreign oil.”

No, this is a campaign wedge issue, one that’s been trotted out courtesy of a bankrupt energy policy that was forged in secrecy and is being cynically touted to a nervous America as a cure to high gas prices.

I shouldn’t be shocked, but I’ve got to ask: Have these people no shame?

Reach Bill Morem at bmorem@thetribunenews.com.