Solutions have many parts
Published 3:03 pm Thursday, April 1, 2010
Taking a balanced approach to a controversial issue, as President Obama is doing on energy policy, inflames critics on all sides.
Given the reaction to his proposal to open vast areas of coastline to oil and natural gas drilling, the president’s arrow has landed near his centrist target. “Drill Baby Drill” Republicans expressed unhappiness that the president’s plan doesn’t go further, but the loudest dissent came his own supporters — environmental groups and anti-drilling Democrats who accused Obama of selling out.
Anticipating that, Obama addressed critics during his announcement on Wednesday.
“There will be those who strongly disagree with this decision, including those who say we should not open any new areas to drilling,” he said. “But what I want to emphasize is that this announcement is part of a broader strategy that will move us from an economy that runs on fossil fuels and foreign oil to one that relies more on homegrown fuels and clean energy. And the only way this transition will succeed is if it strengthens our economy in the short term and long term. To fail to recognize this reality would be a mistake.”
Indeed, Obama’s proposal to open areas of the Atlantic, eastern Gulf and Arctic coasts to oil and gas exploration (the entire Pacific Coast would remain off limits to drilling, and Alaska’s heavily fished Bristol Bay would enjoy renewed protection) follows his approval in February of loan guarantees for two new nuclear power plants, which many environmentalists also oppose because of the unsolved problem of what to do with radioactive waste. Obama seemed focused on a different byproduct, though: thousands of good-paying, much-needed U.S. jobs.
The president’s green credentials remain strong. On Thursday, he finalized the first national rules regarding vehicle fuel efficiency, requiring U.S. cars and light trucks average 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016. (Washington state pushed this along by being one of the states to adopt California’s more stringent fuel efficiency standards.) The president’s budget and last year’s stimulus bill contain transformative investments in clean and renewable energy.
The oil and natural gas eventually yielded from new offshore drilling won’t change our overall energy picture dramatically. No single strategy, including even more drilling, will in a nation that consumes 20 percent of the planet’s petroleum. It will take a variety of strategies to wean America away from its appetite for oil and its dependence on foreign powers to feed it.
Obama understands that, and is acting accordingly.
