I don’t often disagree with Captain Ed. This is one of those rare times when I must, though. In this post, Ed says that Democrats have waved the white flag of defeat on drilling on the OCS. Here’s the article that he’s basing that off of.
Democrats have decided to allow a quarter-century ban on drilling for oil off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts to expire next week, conceding defeat in a months-long battle with the White House and Republicans set off by $4 a gallon gasoline prices this summer.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey, D-Wis., told reporters Tuesday that a provision continuing the moratorium will be dropped this year from a stopgap spending bill to keep the government running after Congress recesses for the election.
Here’s the specific statement of Captain Ed’s that I specifically disagree with:
This effectively ends this as an issue for the 110th Congress. Democrats thought they could get a partial moratorium past the Republicans, one that would have kept drilling at least 50 miles off from shore, but President Bush threatened a veto on any continuing resolution with that kind of language.
It doesn’t end this issue by a long shot. One of the things that Republicans argued last week was that the sham energy bill didn’t include including financial incentives for states in the bill. This article doesn’t say that there are financial incentives for states in the CR.
Without that, all we can say is that the moratoria will have expired. It doesn’t mean that the main goal, increasing oil exploration and production on the OCS, will have been achieved. That’s the only goal that matters.
Harry Reid gives it away in this statement:
“The White House has made it clear they will not accept anything with a drilling moratorium, and Democrats know we cannot afford to shut down the government over this,” said Jim Manley, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. “We look forward to working with the next president to hammer out a final resolution of this issue.”
Why would Harry Reid issue a statement saying that he looks forward to working with “a new president” to hammer out a “final resolution” if they’ve waved the white flag of defeat?
I’d maintain that this was a Freudian slip, a tipoff that they know that they didn’t provide incentives for states to start letting leases on the OCS.
I’d further suggest that this action alone doesn’t take this issue off the table. I’d argue that this remains an issue until the ban is lifted AND incentives are included.
Until that happens, then I’ll continue believing that they haven’t waved the white flag of defeat.
UPDATE: Welcome Gateway Pundit readers. I have an additional tidbit of information about the Democrats ‘incomplete’ capitulation on drilling. Follow this link to the next post which has the additional information.
Technorati: Gas Crisis, Harry Reid, David Obey, ,Drilling, Moratoria, Continuing Resolution, OCS, Election 2008
Cross-posted at California Conservative
