- Top Features:
- War Room
- Glenn Greenwald
- Broadsheet
- Joan Walsh
- Camille Paglia
- Since You Asked
- Follow Salon:
Read other letters about this article
I am persuaded that offshore drilling in the US will do little to reduce gas prices, and this oil would come on the market only years from now. But there are two points that get little attention.
1- we need gas prices to rise, not to fall. This is the only way to persuade our economy to be less profligate with oil. The current difficulty is due to the sharp RATE of increase. We cannot change the nation's automobile fleet in a couple of months. If gas prices had been significantly higher all along, most people would own more economical cars, and we even might have more public transportation.
2- On the other hand, the environmental argument against offshore drilling smacks of sanctimonious hypocrisy. Looking behind the cloak of righteousness, is the expectation that offshore drilling will take place abroad, e.g. Nigeria. Exporting pollution to third world countries is not a noble pursuit.
