Rob Perks's Blog: Moving Beyond Oil

Offshore Drilling: All Trick, No Treat

2008-10-31T15:05:53Z

This Halloween the oil industry is enjoying all the treats while we endure their tricks.

Fueled by sky-high oil prices over the summer, Exxon Mobil broke its own eye-popping records by raking in nearly $15 billion in profits. Third quarter earnings for the oil giant rose 58% over the same period last year. Other oil companies also enjoyed their biggest profits ever due to the rise in gas prices.

Despite its goodies, Big Oil still craves more sweet crude. And the industry sees America's pristine shores as one big candy store.

As if this weren't scary enough, industry's favorite hobgoblin himself -- Newt Gingrich -- is coming to town today to promote his new book: Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less.

At a book forum sponsored by the right-wing "think" tank American Enterprise Institute here in D.C., Newt will shill for Shell...and Exxon...and Chevron...and BP...etc. This is how AEI is billing his pitch:

"Gingrich warns that the pinch at the pump felt by Americans today is not temporary but rather indicative of another looming crisis, which affects not only the price of gas, but the price of food, our economy, and our national security. He thus proposes to tap the talents of the country's scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs; to require Congress to unlock our oil reserves; and to remove all the disincentives and impediments to American energy independence created by unnecessary government regulation."

BOO!!

Despite the recent dip in gas prices, it's only a matter of time before they go up again -- oil, after all, is a finite resource that is rapidly running out. No amount of new offshore drilling is going to satisfy the world's growing demand for the fossil fuel. Moreover, it's a needless risk -- to our environment and coastal economies -- at a time when there are better solutions to provide efficient, clean energy for America.

Although few are falling for Big Oil's big lie that more drilling will reduce gas prices any time soon -- and everyone seems to agree that the U.S. needs to break its addiction to oil -- many people unfortunately still see drilling as a stop-gap measure while we transition the country to a clean, renewable energy future.

But the fact is that quitting oil is possible and it is possible now. More drilling will only prolong our addiction, because the longer we wait the harder and more expensive it will be to make the changes that are necessary.

Indeed, opening protected offshore areas to drilling would only make things worse. It offers risk without any real rewards. Offshore rigs have a history of oil spills; and if we let the big oil companies drill in new areas they can sell it to the highest bidder, anywhere in the world. We don't need to risk permanent damage to our beaches so the oil companies can make even more profit selling oil to China and India. This just prolongs our dependence on oil and will not lower gas prices.

Instead of trying to drill our way out of this problem, we need to act now to become less dependent on oil. We can move away from dependence on oil by making renewables and energy efficiency a reality now. The longer we wait the harder and more expensive it will be to make the changes that are necessary.

We need to improve energy efficiency as well as invest in renewable energy and new energy technology. We need more choices for energy efficient cars, and ways to make our houses and offices more energy efficient. Where it will work, we need more choices for ways to get around, like buses and trains. We need to build our communities so people have more transportation choices.

Can we do this? Yes, we can!

Americans are resourceful, innovative people, and we can do it together. Let's start today with energy policies that work for our families and communities.

So, this Halloween, ignore the scary tricks from Big Oil and its political chronies, and focus on the treats that are in store for all of us as we move America beyond oil.

Liquid Coal a Crude Substitue for Oil

2008-10-24T14:00:00Z

The coal industry has a dream -- that one day our cars and trucks will run on liquefied coal. They tout this as a way to free America from its addiction to oil -- 60% of which we export from foreign nations, many of which don't like us very much.

Ending our dependence on oil is a worthy goal. But replacing one fossil fuel with another is not the way to do it. Especially since liquid coal is a dirty fuel that would threaten our national security by worsening global warming.

In fact, a new study confirms that trying to achieve energy independence by replacing petroleum with coal for transportation would increase our country's carbon emissions, thereby exacerbating the climate crisis. Greenhouse gas emissions could DOUBLE if coal were to replace foreign oil, the researchers concluded.

As we work to move America beyond oil, we must guard against the reckless pursuit of unconventional alternative fuel sources that promise more pollution and more climate change. Certainly, liquid coal is one of the worst dirty fuels, along with tar sands from Canada and oil shale in the Rocky Mountain West.

Check out our movie to see why liquid coal is a crude substitute. And join NRDC in the effort to stop dirty fuels before they get started.

Now is the time to rally for an end to our nation's dangerous addiction to oil by investing in a new energy economy built on cleaner fuels, better cars, improved efficiency, and more livable communities.

Don't Believe the Offshore Drilling Hype

2008-10-23T15:19:45Z

Last month I blogged about Congress letting the federal moratorium on drilling the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) expire. This came in the face of political pressure triggered by high gas prices over the summer.

The economic troubles have sparked a precipitous drop in consumption over the past several weeks, resulting in lower prices at the pump. But our coasts remain vulnerable to a renewed push by the oil industry and its allies in Congress. So it's worth a reminder that "Drill, Baby, Drill" is a catchy slogan, but not a solution to our energy woes.

Take this recent article in Peak Oil Review, for example, which explains that all of America's good offshore oil prospects already have been tapped. The entire article is a must-read, but the closing paragraph does an excellent job stating the case:

"The bottom line is that the OCS is not a panacea for today's higher oil prices. The best prospects in US waters-including most of the Gulf of Mexico and a thousand miles of Alaskan shoreline--are already open for leasing. As for the moratoria areas, it's been decades since the East and West coasts were explored. There's probably some oil there, somewhere, but it is a decade or more from market. In short, hope is one thing, hype another, and both must be seasoned with a strong dose of reality."

Robert Kaufmann, director of the Center for Energy and Environmental Studies at Boston University said it best: "This whole 'Drill, baby, drill' mantra alludes to a future that's not possible. We are not ever going to be self-sufficient in oil."

Offshore drilling is a distraction and a needless risk. We need to break our oil addiction and that requires resisting the urge for another fix. Since more oil drilling off our fragile coasts will not secure our nation's energy independence, the only sensible and serious solution is to move America beyond oil. Fortunately, there are better solutions to provide efficient, clean energy for our future.

Tales of Texas Tar Balls and other Drilling Horrors

2008-10-15T16:44:59Z

Interesting article by a Texas college professor who points out that most Americans wouldn't recognize crude oil if it oozed onto their lap.

The author of the piece, Professor John Crisp, suggests that those people clamoring to drill offshore ought to visit the Gulf coast of Texas. There they can see a sample of real crude oil, the "gooey fluid" that's pumped out of the ground and shipped to refineries before it's distilled into gasoline, diesel and other hydrocarbon products.

Although I've never been, people who visit the shores of the Lone Star State can play beach blanket bingo with all of the sticky tarballs that collect on their feet and stain the sand toys. Tarballs are the gummy globules of petroleum residue, which range from pea-size to the circumference of a pancake. No day at the beach in Texas would be complete without the inevitable tarball removal process, which usually entails painstakingly scraping goop off the skin or even using turpentine to remove the gunk.

According to Prof. Crisp, "A beach littered with tar is an apt symbol of the pollution that's associated with our industrial life."

Apparently some tarballs occur naturally, but most result from leakage or discharge associated with the production process. So it's not just the oil spills from tanker accidents and storm damage we have to worry about; oil gets spilled at every stage of the process -- from crude moving from the oil field to the refinery to its transport through pipelines and pumping stations.

Just think about how dirty you get changing the oil in your car. Now magnify that by about a billion. Regardless of the technological advances that industry likes to tout, oil is and always will be a dirty business.

There's a reason that oil drilling is known as one of the ultimate Dirty Jobs.

All the same, I'll take my beach without the tarballs -- thank you very much.

When 'Drill, Baby, Drill' Leads to 'Spill, Baby, Spill'

2008-10-07T20:17:26Z

Last week I wrote about how Congress allowed the 26-year-old federal offshore drilling moratorium to expire, but I noted that the issue is not a done deal.

Lo and behold, Rep. Nick Rahall (D-WV), chair of the House Natural Resources Committee, was quoted in a Greenwire story today that revisiting the lifting of the oil and gas bans will be the first order of business when Congress returns next year.

"We will be conducting extensive oversight hearings on the lifting of moratoria on offshore drilling," Congressman Rahall said.

That's good news and a smart move. It's a safe bet that many people who falsely believe that drilling will lower gas prices will think twice about the issue once they realize that, as it stands now, drill rigs could be located as close as 3 miles off their beloved beaches. That may be okay for folks in petrol-states like Texas and Louisiana, but not necessarily for people who enjoy the pristine beaches - and healthy tourism-based coastal economies - in places like California and up and down the Eastern Seaboard.

Indeed, I doubt that most of those chanting "drill, baby, drill" over the summer were even thinking of the potential consequences - "spill, baby, spill" - for their local shoreline.

Consider what happened during the most recent hurricane that ravaged the Gulf Coast. The Sarasota Herald Tribune reports tremendous spills and infrastructure damage in the wake of Hurricane Ike.

With a storm surge only about half the size that forecasters had predicted, Ike still managed to cripple nearly three dozen offshore platforms while completely destroying 52. (Recall that Hurricanes Katrina and Rita destroyed twice as many platforms, plus over 100 pipelines, in 2005.) Aside from the oil supply disruption and related pollution from the damaged and destroyed oil rigs, Ike spilled an estimated 500,000 gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico and the marshes, bayous and bays of Louisiana and Texas - primarily from onshore facilities, tanks and other oil industry infrastructure.

Just imagine how much worse it likely would have been had the storm surge been 20-feet, as anticipated, instead of 12-feet? Are people really willing to accept that risk off or on the coast of Florida, Virginia or New Jersey? And for so little gain, since expanded offshore drilling is not expected to make a dent in prices at the pump? Let's not forget that hurricanes are an annual occurrence - and they're likely to get bigger and more violent due to global warming - so it should give pause to anyone who wants new drilling to take place off America's shores.

Now I realize that pointing out the seemingly obvious threat of offshore drilling is not the preferred message when it comes to engaging the public in a discussion during this time of energy crisis. But I honestly believe that most people who now indicate stronger support for drilling are dealing in the abstract notion that spills are rare, that technology for extracting oil is safer, or that out of sight is out of mind. Reminding them what's at stake seems like a logical step.

Then again, others may disagree - and prefer that we avoid engaging in a debate over drilling when the conversation should focus on the bigger picture, namely the need to move beyond the role of dirty fossil fuels in favor of delivering on the promise of a clean energy future. My esteemed colleague and NRDC communications expert, Daniel Hinerfeld, certainly thinks so. And I take his point.

But as someone who lives in a coastal state, loves the ocean and abhors the idea of my favorite beach covered in black ooze, I admit that I'm having a hard time letting go of the drilling debate. What about you?

End of an Era: Offshore Drilling Ban to Expire

2008-09-29T16:43:42Z

At midnight on Tuesday, September 30th, the federal moratorium on drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) will be no more. The OCS drilling ban, renewed every year by Congress since its enactment in 1981, will be allowed to lapse. The action becomes final with the passage of a $600 billion continuing resolution, which President Bush is expected to sign, that for the first time in 27 years is missing language to extend the annual ban.

This important coastal protection had withstood every effort to repeal it over the years but withered for lack of political will in the face of high gas prices. The oil companies finally achieved success by pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into a PR-fueled lobby blitz that saw members of both parties in Congress exploiting the "drill, baby, drill" mantra. People fed up with $4/gallon gas wanted action - any action! - and so they were hoodwinked by snake-oil peddling and political pandering.

Sadly, many elected officials who get that drilling won't lower prices at the pump or put a dent in our country's oil dependence nevertheless were unable to stop Big Oil and its friends in Congress. And in this election year, President Bush's threatened veto of a federal spending bill authorizing renewal of the drilling ban made the risk of a government shutdown too great for the Democrats to ignore.

So what happens now? With the expiration of the OCS moratorium, new drill rigs could be placed only three miles from the shoreline anywhere on the entire Atlantic and Pacific coast, as well as a part of the eastern Gulf of Mexico. (However, leasing will remain banned within 125 miles or more of Florida's gulf shores until 2022, per a compromise law passed in 2006 that opened more than 8 million acres of the gulf acreage to new leasing in exchange for bigger shore buffer protection.)

The first question is whether any coastal states will let that happen. No doubt some, like Louisiana and Texas, would welcome more rigs but others, like Florida and New Jersey, would surely use any legal means at their disposal to protect their beaches and coastal economies.

Then there's the typical bureaucratic process for leasing federal areas for drilling, which realistically means that the first exploratory drilling rigs wouldn't be up until five years from now at the earliest. That is, unless the new president or a new Congress decided to reinstate either the executive or congressional OCS moratoriums - or both.

So the oil industry may have won the fight, but the war over offshore drilling is far from over. Stay tuned.

Drill, baby drill makes me ill, baby ill.

2008-09-15T18:24:09Z

This is the week that Democratic leaders in Congress are expected to bring their energy legislation to a vote. Although details have yet to emerge it’s a safe bet that opening some offshore areas to oil drilling will be a key part of the package, presumably along with measures meant to weaken our oil addiction through policies that promote more solar, wind and other clean, renewable energy.

Predictably, Republican leaders who purportedly support “all of the above” energy strategies are ready to reject the Democratic compromise proposal because it doesn’t go far enough on drilling. Their “drill, baby, drill” fixation calls for opening all coastal areas to more oil drilling, and as close to our beaches as possible.

It’s ridiculous that drilling has arisen as the linchpin of any energy legislation. In the face of high gas prices most people, it seems, have been hoodwinked by the false notion that drilling will ease their pain at the pump. Let me repeat: this is Big Oil’s big lie. It’s a hoax, a scam, a sham – and a shame.

Don’t bother trying to find the truth in newspapers, many of which have botched the reporting on this issue – pitting this as a simple “he said/she said” story with no clearly defined answer. On the contrary, the facts are very clear: Drilling here and now will NOT lower gas prices today, tomorrow or really ever. Drilling is not a solution, but a distraction being used by elected officials to score political points during an election year.

Don’t take my word for it. A little-noticed article by the well-respected independent journal Scientific American explains the situation quite well.

The article asks: Can offshore drilling really make the U.S. oil independent? In other words, can “drill, baby, drill” give us our fill so we won’t have to rely on oil imports from foreign nations?

Well, the article begins by recognizing that there remains quite a bit of oil lying untapped under America’s soil and off our coasts. However, our nation consumes roughly a quarter of the world’s total oil supply, yet we have less than 3% of the word’s supply. Even though oil companies have access to more than 80% of all available U.S. oil, drilling the last 20% would not make a dent in our available supply. The math just doesn’t add up. So our problem is not really one of supply, but demand. We need to use less oil – which is in fact happening now that the price of gas is so high that people are driving less.

As the article points out, there are many places where oil companies could be drilling right now in the U.S. but they don’t. For example, companies have yet to take advantage of the nearly 86 billion barrels of offshore in areas already available for leasing and development. Why not? More important, why the clamor to open up even more of our fragile coasts to drilling then?

Energy expert Robert Kaufman answers that question in the article, saying “Oil company stocks are valued in large part based on how much proven reserves they have.” Translation: just having more promising leases in hand would be worth billions of dollars.

So Shell (and others) are playing a cynical shell game with American consumers. They want more of our oil to increase their companies’ stock portfolios. Even if they never drill it, just having it on their books is profitable. And if they do ever decide to drill in those places, the sale of our “American” oil would not be restricted to America – it would be sold on the world market. And you can bet the price of that won’t be cheap.

Unfortunately, the distortions in the ongoing political debate are drown out by the truth. Congress is about to capitulate to the oil companies by giving them permission to further exploit our coasts and special places. Drilling for the truth is being pushed aside for…well…more drilling.

I, for one, feel ill, baby, ill.

Singing the Wrong Tune on Energy

2008-09-12T14:40:58Z

Confession: I’m don’t care much for country music.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of Bluegrass and enjoy listening to legendary country artists like Johnny Cash, Charlie Daniels and Emmylou Harris. But today’s mainstream country music just doesn’t do it for me – most of the songs seem indistinguishable.

But this little country ditty grabbed my attention.

Evidently the song was commissioned by Newt Gingrich’s oil industry-funded front-group to help push its cynical “Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less” agenda.

The song speaks for itself: Somewhat catchy tune but jam-packed with misinformation. Check out these ridiculously lame lyrics:

Hello…..Is anybody out there listenin’ in Washington D.C.
This is the suffering voice of America crying out for relief
Now I don’t know what a gallon of gas costs up on Capitol Hill
But we sure know what it costs down here in Realityville
And the damage already done has been a mighty heavy toll
And if we’re gonna fix it we gotta start right here at home

CHORUS:
Drill here, drill now
How ‘bout some oil from our own soil that belongs to us anyhow
No more debatin’ we’re tired of waitin’ everybody shout out loud
Drill here, drill now

Every time a foreign tanker pulls up to our shore
They got us over a barrel while they bleed us a little more
And think how much it costs just to bring it all that way
And how many American jobs that’d make if we were drillin’ in the USA
Oh and God forbid if our oily friends should decide to cut us off

We’d be standin’ around with our britches down now listen to me ya’ll
You can tell the winds of change are blowin’
Yes and we recognize that need
But tractors, trucks, cars and planes can’t run on tomorrow’s dreams
So while we’re workin’ on the future we can’t ignore today
Cuz who knows how much time the alternative might take
Somethin’s gotta be done right now cuz friends it won’t be long
Before this great big country comes grinding to a halt

You can bet some tone-deaf, high-priced, scruples-challenged PR flunky cooked up this fact-free song. I suggest some musician out there help set the record straight by recording these alternative verses of my own:

Hello…..Everybody out there listen up to the lesson in this song
Don’t suffer fools named Gingrich, who’s getting paid by old Exxon
Now I know what a gallon of gas costs to give my car a fill
But don’t you dare be suckered by those who just wanna drill
We’ve got so little oil on our land and offshore
We could drill every beach and backyard and you know they’d just want more

CHORUS:
Drill here, spill now
It’s time for real energy that’s clean and green, instead of industry’s cash cow
No more debatin’ we’re tired of waitin’ everybody shout out loud
Clean energy, here and now

Think how every time you go to gas up your tank
Those oil company execs laugh all the way to the bank
If you remember how little oil is left anyway
You realize renewables will bring a much brighter day
Oh and God forbid if our oily friends should jack up the price
Oh, wait, they’re already doing that so don’t even think twice

You can tell the winds of change are blowin’
So get those turbines up to speed
Time to make the tractors, trucks, cars and planes go green
And why wait for tomorrow when the future starts today
Cuz addiction to oil is for fools who dwell on yesterday
Somethin’s gotta be done right now cuz friends it won’t be long
Before the wells run dry and we say goodbye to a path that’s all wrong

Take that all you polluter-friendly music hacks out there! Nashville, you know how to reach me. Have your people call my people. Thank you…goodnight!

Coal River Mountain in the Crosshairs

2008-09-11T19:50:00Z

It took over 300 million years for the Appalachian mountains to form. But apparently it only takes a few years to flatten one.

And that’s just what rapacious coal companies have been doing to hundreds of mountaintops over the past decade throughout Appalachia – illegally, of course, but with the tacit blessing of the Bush administration.

The latest mountain to find itself in the crosshairs is West Virginia’s Coal River Mountain.

The Massey Energy Corporation, one of the nation’s worst offenders when it comes to environmentally destructive practices, is pulling out all the stops to start blasting Coal River Mountain. The company’s proposed 10-square-mile mountaintop removal coal mining operation would devastate the last intact mountain within a 50-square-mile area in northwest Raleigh County.

As the name implies, mountaintop removal mining destroys mountains to acquire the coal below. It releases heavy metals and sediment into valleys and streams; destroys croplands, pastures, and forests; generates toxic wastes; and leaves billions of dollars in cleanup costs that are rarely effective or fully paid. The pollution generated by this mining can persist for centuries, threatening entire communities, killing fish, vegetation and wildlife, and permanently harming the ecology of the region.

What makes the situation with Coal River Mountain even more appalling is that leveling this particular mountain will deprive the community of one the state's best potential locations for a cleaner alternative: wind power. That's right, a wind farm there not only would save the mountain but also produce jobs. In fact, studies commissioned for the Coal River Wind Project show that this site has enough wind potential to provide electricity for more than 150,000 homes, and would generate approximately 50 well-paying, 21st Century permanent jobs for West Virginians in the region.

The folks in West Virginia are rallying to save Coal River Mountain, and you can help. Send a message right away urging Governor Manchin to stop the Massey mountaintop removal operation and to act on his commitment to renewable energy by permanently rescinding Massey's permits for the Coal River Mountain mining operations.

At a time when more and more Americans are looking to declare our nation’s independence from dirty energy, it's an outrage to think that one company – driven by short-term profit – can get away with wiping a majestic mountain off the face of the earth for a rock that heats up our planet when burned.

Clean, renewable energy is not just the path for our future, it’s already here. And with your help, we may yet be able to harness the power of the wind on top of Coal River Mountain.

Answering “All of the Above” Earns a Failing Grade on Energy Solutions

2008-09-11T18:18:11Z

Answering “All of the Above” was rarely a good idea during multiple choice tests back in school. It always felt like that choice was meant to trip you up. These days it seems that some in Congress are using the same tactic to trick the American people into choosing to support bad energy policy. Here’s how it works:

Rising gas prices over the past few months have put a pinch in our wallets. Since our transportation system runs on oil, consumers find themselves stuck. While it’s probably the case that the days of cheap gas are gone for good, people are demanding relief at the pump.

Republicans in Congress are offering a rather simplistic – and fundamentally false – “solution” to a rather complex energy problem. Let’s just drill for more oil!

Never mind that America has only 3% of the world’s oil supplies and we use roughly 25% of all oil. Even oilman T. Boone Pickens knows that we could never drill our way to energy independence. Yet “drill, baby, drill!” is what many politicians are recklessly clamoring for.

So in the face of these facts, the drilling proponents in Congress are pushing an energy plan that hinges on drilling everywhere possible – particularly off our coasts and in protected wilderness. Yet this scheme is packaged as a smattering of several energy production policies, mostly “dirty” energy like liquid coal, oil shale and nuclear power mixed with a little dash of clean energy like renewables and efficiency.

They call this: “All of the Above.”

As our new ad reveals, “All of the Above” is all hat, no cattle. This scheme is really about subsidizing fossil fuels and extending our nation’s dangerous addiction to oil. These dirty energy measures would come at the expense of the clean energy that is needed – NOW – to power America.

The real solutions(PDF) to our country’s energy crisis can better be summed up this way: Clean. Energy. Relief.

Visit our website to find out more about how “All of the Above” is the wrong answer.

Big Oil’s Big Friends in Congress

2008-09-10T16:13:37Z

House Republicans gathered en masse on the steps of the Capitol this week, ready to launch a choreographed full-throated cheer for more drilling before the Washington press corps. But a funny thing happened on the way to the forum. The politicians were met by a throng of protestors who effectively drowned out the “drill everywhere” chorus with their own chants and cheers. The Repubs tried to shout “drill, baby, drill” and “all of the above” but all the reporters were able to hear was the crowd yelling back “spill, baby, spill!” and “all about oil”, among other creative cat-calls.

Like cockroaches fleeing a dirty kitchen when the lights go on, the pols abruptly ended their ‘news’ conference and scurried back into the Capitol. Read some of the coverage here and here to get a flavor of the follies.

Though it seems crazy that any responsible elected official would support policies that feed the nation’s dangerous addiction to oil, it’s probably not surprising when you consider the motivation of those most eager to drill our coasts and special places. As this analysis (PDF) by NRDC reveals, Big Oil’s biggest boosters in Congress voted consistently against clean energy solutions…not once, not twice, but a whopping 61 times.

We’re talking about measures that would have increased renewable energy and improved energy efficiency – real solutions that trump any potential benefit from more drilling. Indeed, NRDC’s latest analysis (PDF) confirms that clean energy is the quickest and cheapest way to lower gas prices by guaranteeing immediate and sustained oil savings for consumers.

Now if we could only harness the power of all that hot air emanating from the halls of Congress, America’s energy crisis would be solved. Until then, let’s hope our elected leaders stop pushing to increase oil company profits at the expense of real changes in our nation’s energy policy that will actually help ease people’s pain at the pump and break America’s oil addiction.

Texas T. and Me

2008-08-18T14:10:38Z

He came on like a Texas tornado, after first approaching as quietly as a ninja wearing those soft-soled shoes, to take center stage as boldly as a tophat-and-tails circus ringmaster, letting his ideas gush forth like a newly tapped oil well and blowing people away with his vision for wind farms as far as the eye could see.

I didn't even know who T. Boone Pickens was, and now he's all over the place, like spaghetti on a toddler's face or a blind drunk in a demolition derby.

So many now adore this man, almost as much as the Italians once loved Mussolini for ensuring reliable train service.

Never mind, it seems, that he also espouses an English muffin oil drilling philosophy - every nook and cranny - and offers a nuke plant in every neighborhood if that's what it takes to meet our nation's energy needs.

Yes indeed, this blustery yet charming old cowboy from the dusty plains is America's newest J.R. Ewing - love him or hate him, by golly he's fun to watch. Everyone's tuning in to see what he does next.

I just want to know what the 'T.' stands for.

I also wonder whether winning this silly contest is worth the risk of ticking off a billionaire oil tycoon with a Texas-sized temper and time on his hands.

Offshore Drilling? Endless Bummer.

2008-08-15T01:11:58Z

I was lucky enough to grow up not too far from the beach, so I've spent a good part of my life – but not nearly enough – surfing. I rode my first wave as a teenager off the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Since then I’ve enjoyed the swells off the coasts of Virginia, New Jersey, Delaware, Florida, California and Hawaii – not to mention a few exotic locales like Puerto Rico and France.

Over the years I’ve transformed from a perpetually tanned shredder on a 6’ thruster to a paunchy, pasty ‘soul surfer’ on a bulky longboard. I went from a wetsuit-clad all-year surfer shooting house-high curls during hurricanes to a weekend warrior content with thigh-high chop on warm sunny days only. Some kids dreamed of growing up to be firemen, fighter pilots or football stars; I longed to be a pro-surfer, getting paid to travel the world, ride endless waves and live the laidback beach lifestyle.

Of the lucky few who fulfilled my dream, none is more famous or accomplished than Laird Hamilton – big wave rider extraordinaire. Among surfers, Laird is a living legend. And he’s not just an amazing athlete who lives by the sea and makes his living playing in it; Laird is also an environmental advocate who cares deeply about protecting the oceans. Which is why it’s great that he’s speaking out against offshore drilling – a snake oil 'solution' to rising gas prices that will do nothing but perpetuate America’s addiction to oil.

Whether or not you surf, and whether you love the beach or never bother visiting the ocean, the fact is there’s already a heckuva lot of drilling already happening offshore. But with the U.S. only having 2% of the world’s oil reserves, risking more of our precious shorelines, pristine beaches and coastal economies won’t make a dent in prices at the pump.

Totally, dude.

Ask the Candidates, Get Candid Answers

2008-08-13T19:00:53Z

We expect much from our elected leaders yet rarely do we get the opportunity to engage them on the issues we care about. So many members of Congress, yet so little chance to actually ask them where they stand on important issues of the day.

Those running for office and their opponents spend most of the time on the campaign trail speaking to us rather than with us, it seems. They tell us what they believe – or usually just what they think we want to hear.

It’s time all of us got the chance to question those seeking our vote. Now it’s easy to do: www.CandidAnswers.org .

This website is the first-ever online survey that allows users to directly ask their candidates for Congress specific questions about key environmental policy issues. And when they answer, the site serves as an online voter guide so people can compare their candidates’ positions side-by-side. NRDC Action Fund and a host of partners are sponsoring the site. Policy experts at these groups developed the questions, which were reviewed and approved by a bi-partisan panel that included a former Congressman, Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY). Straightforward questions in search of candid answers – that’s what the website is about!

The only time I actually succeeded in asking a candidate – face to face – his position on an issue I cared about was when I was running the PIRG canvass in Miami back in 1992. I read in the paper that presidential candidate Bill Clinton was going to be in town addressing Democratic state legislators at their annual conference.

At the time we were working to prevent drilling off the Florida coast (déjà vu!) and trying to drum up support for a proposal in Congress to buy back the federal leases held by some oil companies in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. I drove a few volunteers over to the convention site and we quietly slipped into the ballroom. Our plan was simple: spread out and try to position ourselves along the receiving line after Gov. Clinton finished his speech. Whoever got to him would ask him a question about drilling.

I worked my way up to the front of the audience, against the wall near a set of flag poles. Near the end of Clinton’s speech I saw a young campaign aide staging a group of military veterans near the flags. It seemed probable that the governor would head toward them for a photo op. Sure enough, after he finished talking Clinton offered perfunctory handshakes to a few officials below the podium and then strode briskly toward the old soldiers.

Just before he got to them I moved in and reached my hand over the velvet rope cordoning off the audience. The governor shook it – but I didn’t let go. I looked him in the eye and asked our set question: “Governor, if elected president would you support the plan to protect Florida’s coast by having the government buy back federal drilling leases in the Gulf?”

He smiled at me, paused, then with a slight shake of his head waved off a staffer approaching to hustle him away from me. At this point it seemed that all eyes in the room were focused on our exchange. Still smiling, Clinton asked, “What does Senator [Connie] Mack say about that?” I replied that the senator supported the buy-back plan. Without missing a beat he answered: “Then I would definitely support buying back those leases.”

Clinton then moved quickly on to those vets. But all of sudden I was surrounded by local reporters and a few TV cameras, all wanting to know what we discussed, why I asked, and who I was. The next day stories mentioned our exchange and one of the local news stations aired a brief interview with me about our campaign. And sure enough, after Clinton won the presidency the buy-back plan won approval in Congress.

Getting the chance to ask the future president a serious question was a unique thrill I’ll never forget. But like most people, I can forget getting such a lucky opportunity again. That's the beauty of CandidAnswers -- it enables everyone to seek answers from our congressional candidates. It's super easy to ask them via email and a convenient way for them to respond.

You ask, they answer. Simple. We hope you'll try it!

Drilling is no laughing matter -- or is it?

2008-08-05T18:27:57Z

High gas prices have become the dominant political issue this summer. Clearly, people are feeling pain at the pump and they want the government to do something…anything…everything (!) to ‘fix’ this problem. Unfortunately, many in Congress are exploiting this situation by clamoring to open up America’s protected lands and coastal areas to drilling.

At a time when we’re facing a serious energy crisis in this country perhaps it takes a clever cartoon to put the debate over gas prices in perspective.

It’s irresponsible at best and disingenuous at worst for our elected leaders to promote the false hope that somehow drilling off more of our beaches and in special places like the Arctic Refuge will make enough of a dent in oil supplies to lower prices at the pump. (Kudos to the good folks at Good magazine for explaining this in an entertaining video.) Without a doubt, the only ones who benefit from this gambit are the Big Oil companies already raking in obscene profits at our expense.

Getting going now on long-term clean energy solutions to wean ourselves off oil is the path our leaders should be charting. But even near-term solutions offer real relief in terms of cost-savings for drivers. Making our cars and trucks go farther on a gallon of gas, for example, promises much more and extended relief to consumers than drilling ever could – see the evidence. And simple vehicle efficiency steps can save drivers hundreds of dollars on average right now.

So what can drilling do for us? Not much, if anything.

Remember that America consumes roughly 24% of the world’s oil supplies yet the U.S. has only 2% of the world’s oil reserves. Do the math: drilling is not a credible answer to the price pinch we’re all feeling. Despite what President Bush claims, opening up our remaining offshore protected areas is a crude gimmick – pure and simple.

Years from now, after the current crisis gets resolved through a clean energy future, I trust that we’ll look back on the energy wasted debating the ridiculous notion that drilling for oil is a panacea for our problems and we’ll all laugh. Otherwise the joke will be on us.