Gulf Spill Turns Tide Against Off-Shore Drilling

There's just no way to look at the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and say that "the glass is half full." As we all know, thanks to the 24-hour news coverage of the disaster assailing us like, well, an oil spill, the glass isn't half full or half empty: It's gushing over. And the Gulf's ecosystems, communities, and industries are, to put it in a nutshell, over a barrel.

But there may be one silver lining to this thoroughly depressing disaster, which is that the tide may be turning against offshore drilling. Even the most ardent backers of oil exploration seem to be reconsidering the wisdom of allowing more drilling in our nation's coastal waters, as "drill, baby, drill!" sounds a little too much like "spill, baby, spill!"

Today, for example, the L.A. Times reported that Governor Schwarzenegger is terminating plans for new drilling off the coast of Santa Barbara. "I see on TV the birds drenched in oil, the fishermen out of work, the massive oil spill, [an] oil slick destroying our precious ecosystem," the governor said. "It will not happen here in California."

I'm sure I'm not alone in applauding Schwarzenegger's backpedaling, but let's not forget that this did happen in California, and in the Santa Barbara Channel, in fact: In 1969, a blowout on a Union Oil platform caused a spill that befouled the California coastline (and the northern Channel Islands) with 100,000 barrels of oil. Today, Santa Barbara's beaches still aren't exactly worthy of "Baywatch."

According to projections, the proposed drilling could have earned 100 million dollars a year to help California deal with its budget crisis. But now the governor says it's not worth the risk.

“If I have a choice between 100 million dollars and what I see in the Gulf of Mexico," Schwarzenegger said, "I’d rather just figure out how to make up for that 100 million dollars.” (Incidentally, Meg Whitman, a Republican candidate to replace Schwarzenegger, has said in the past that she supports more offshore drilling off the coast of California; let's see if she decides to be "for it before she's against it." )

Now all eyes are on Washington. President Obama is under fire from the Left for his pre-Spill decision to expand offshore drilling in the Atlantic (an action which was, to be fair, effectively an olive branch to conservatives in an effort to shepherd through the probably now-doomed Climate Change bill). He's also under fire from the premature and opportunistic Right: Matt Drudge and company are, predictably, calling the disaster Obama's Katrina (though he actually flew to the Gulf in the first few days of the disaster, whereas President Bush flew over The Big Easy and surveyed from the windows of Air Force One).

So far, the President has declared a moratorium on new drilling. Senators from the Gulf region are cobbling together all kinds of plans to curtail exploration, including Bill Nelson of Florida, who is calling any Climate Bill that accommodates more offshore drilling "dead on arrival." (Other portions of the current climate change legislation are also controversial.)

If the Kerry-Lieberman-Graham bill is doomed, anyway, there's little reason for the President to kowtow to Graham on issues like offshore drilling. His best bet might be to turn his back on the Graham-backed bill—and along with it, offshore drilling—and double down on the CLEAR Act.

Let's hope Obama (like Schwarzenegger) reverses course and says that when it comes to approving more offshore drilling, the chances are "Nil, baby, nil!"

Photo Credit: U.S. Government